A generation's touchstone experience

Rating: 10/10 (17 June 2013)

Some alchemy makes everything about "Jurassic Park" gold. So many elements shouldn't work, but do: the dinosaurs should age with the technology that created them, but they don't; the acting and writing should register as corny, but instead they come across as charming. I am an admirer of the movie, but more than that, I am one of many people for whom it has become something of a touchstone experience. Like lots of others, many of whom are in my age range (I was about 10 when the film came out), I have seen it countless times and still watch it every couple of years. Every character has become a familiar, friendly face. At this point it is the people more than the dinosaurs that seem to drive the film, and I can't resist speaking their dialogue along with them. I use some lines even when I'm not watching the film; "I can afford more glasses," I've often said in Wayne Knight's voice when my wife has been unable to find her glasses, and "That's, that's chaos theory" in Jeff Goldblum's stutter is another favorite of mine. But as well as I know the movie, I still see new things on each viewing. When I saw the 3D re-release in theaters in May 2013 I noticed details I had never noticed before, like the mermaid on the restaurant facade where Dennis Nedry meets the "secret agent" from InGen's rival corporation, and the "Moet & Chandon" label on the bottle that John Hammond opens at the dig site in Montana. The enduring freshness of the film will keep me coming back, as if I could ever stay away from such a fun, nostalgic trip.