Revolutionary technical feat

Rating: 8/10 (23 January 2004)

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
"Jurassic Park" has gone down in history as one of the highest grossing films of all time, and another milestone in the career of Steven Spielberg. Some critics have bashed the film, saying that it is nothing more than a special effects orgy riddled with cheesy scenes and cliches. Although the film is crafted in the fashion of the summer blockbuster, it is impossible to deny that it was an important gain in the field of cinema as a whole. It is an enjoyable film with many suspenseful moments and helped pave the way for the further development of CGI in order to dazzle film audiences.
I read the book after seeing the movie (I was about 10 years old at the time), and I couldn't help but feeling how the movie would have been so much cooler if they'd included some other scenes. These include the aviary scene with the pterodactyls, the whole rafting journey, the raptor nest, and the eventual destruction of the island. However, it is understandable that many of these scenes were cut out due to time and money constraints. In most cases, the books hold more gold than the movie versions anyway and edited scenes are sometimes better left to the imagination. Thus, the lack of consistency with the book has certainly not detracted from my view of this movie as a whole.
The obvious strong point of the film is the groundbreaking work in computer effects. This was the first time that computers were able to realistically portray animals in full sunlight and weather effects in a film. The most striking aspect of this milestone is that the animals created are enormous. Dinosaurs have always permeated the imaginations of countless people because of their gargantuan size and the mystery surrounding them. We have all been reduced to seeing pictures of the dinosaurs as they might have looked millions of years ago, or seeing their fossilized remains in museums. "Jurassic Park" was able to bring the huge beasts to life, created a strata of terror, gentleness, and above all: sheer size. The earth shakes under the weight of a 100 ton Brachiasaur coming down on all fours after feeding on a tree and as the Tyrannosaur chases down a jeep.
The dinosaurs as character elements are equally amazing. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is one polarity of terror, melding enormous size with speed and a deafening roar that makes a lion sound like a kitten. On the other pole are the absolutely terrifying velociraptors. They are small, but their high intelligence and ability to hunt with precision in a pack make them creatures of nightmares. The hunting scene in which Lex and Tim are trapped in a kitchen with two raptors is very effective. Perhaps equally as scary are the dilophasaurs: small dinosaurs that appear playful at first, but become almost demonic, blinding prey with a paralyzing secretion that they spit. The creators took a few liberties with the dinosaurs (velociraptors are actually smaller and dilophasaurs are 10 feet tall), but these are mere details that won't harm the experience of even a dinosaur nerd like myself.
The emphasis stays with the dinosaurs and their ability to awe the audience, as it rightfully should. There are some very good actors in this movie, which is interesting for a summer blockbuster. Also, critics should be able to acknowledge that the acting is above average in this film. To back this up, I point to the sequel "The Lost World". That movie had talented actors as well such as Julianne Moore, but the writing and acting was very sub par. Sam Neill plays his part well, portraying a paleontologist who is both excited beyond his wildest imagination, and saddened by the fact that his profession will soon become obsolete. Laura Dern plays a good counterpart to him, and Jeff Goldblum shines as the eccentric mathematician Ian Malcolm.
"Jurassic Park" does contain many cliches. The whole journey of Sam Neill towards becoming a father figure for the two children is somewhat heavy towards the end for example. Also, the whole scene with the lawyer "getting what he deserves" by being bitten in half after cowering on a toilet is rather ridiculous. However, the movie is filled with very memorable gags that remind the viewer that this movie was made to entertain. The T Rex nearly bites off the rearview mirror which reads "objects in the mirror are closer than they appear" and at the conclusion of the film, a banner that reads the "when dinosaurs ruled the earth" flutters down amidst his bellowing roar. It is simple elements like that which provide an amusing feel to the film without having to rely heavily on spoken quips.
In conclusion, "Jurassic Park" taught us that things of our imagination could be realistically portrayed on the screen in a way that can both dazzle and scare. This is a very entertaining movie, and is certainly the best film of what I believe to be a poorly executed and unnecessary series.