A groundbreaking classic film adaptation

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2009)

Jurassic Park was a pioneering film in a number of ways. Firstly it showed that computer technology was the future of film making, secondly that dinosaurs were not the monsters we perceived them to be and finally that a film can be successfully adapted from a book. Jurassic Park accomplishes these things and more.
I was amazed when I first heard this film was originally adapted from a novel. Indeed Jurassic Park is a classic piece of sci-fi fiction, written by respected author Michael Crichton. The book documents man's relationship with nature and his struggle to control it for financial gain.
The film itself does follow along this route but deviates for the mainstream audience. Primarily this is a suspenseful thrill-ride rather than a philosophical piece about man's desire to harness the power of nature. There are some parts of the film that explore these ideas but nowhere near the intensity of the book.
The movie is quite dissimilar to the book. The characters for example are almost completely different. Alan Grant for example likes children in the book but hates them in the film. Hammond is far more egotistical and manic in the book while characters such as Arnold, Gennaro and Wu barely feature in the movie. Not really a criticism but if for some reason you've never seen the film but read the book then the film doesn't follow the plot to the letter.
What really stands out however in this film is not the people but the dinosaurs themselves. For the first time the dinosaurs are perceived as mere animals rather than monsters. Even the predators, the "villains" of the film, are forgiven for only "doing what they got to do". In that respect the dinosaurs do get a lot of notice in this film.
Furthermore Jurassic Park introduces two of the biggest characters in "monster-movie" history. The T-Rex and the Velociraptor. Through the great power and size of the T-Rex and the evil, calculating persona of the raptors we find some of the most memorable characters from the "monster" genre and also some of my earliest memories of fear.
Certainly the kitchen scene and to a lesser extent the T-Rex attack scene are two of the most atmospheric and suspenseful scenes from that time. The kitchen scene in particular is a classic.
However Jurassic Park is not just a film that re-introduced the public to dinosaurs, it is also is one of the first movies that pioneered CGI on the screen. For the first time a film was shot with CGI being a major part in the make up rather than just being a shiny extra. This means that Jurassic Park was an pivotal moment in film history and one of the most important film from the 90s. Certainly from a technological point of view.
However this is not just a film that relies on technology to pass it by. It does have heart. Spielberg does put emotion into the movie. The scene with the Brachiosaur and the landscape with the herbivores is a beautiful piece of cinema. So to is the music which helps ratchet up the tension but appropriately creates a sense of melancholy and reflection when needed. Combined with the CGI this gives the film excellent production values and really hammers the idea home that these are sentient creatures not Godzilla like monsters.
So in conclusion Jurassic Park, while being a simple monster film on the surface, is so much more at heart. It is a film that helped pave the way for CGI, gave audiences some of the most memorable pieces of cinema in history, while making the excellent novel palatable on the big screen. A groundbreaking classic.