The greatest mind trick of all time.

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2008)

When I first went to see this in a theater back during year '93 I was blown away for being a typical nine year old. Time went on, my collection of dinosaur toys grew and I dreamed of an effects artist career. So it's an understatement to say that I was merely inspired. I'm certainly less gullible presently when it comes to movies. I've felt for a certain period that the first movie lacks a lot of substance thanks to it's sequels. But as of today I now accept this movie for what it is, a great sci-fi piece of it's own that entertains if you have the right sense of mind to allow it to while adding to that a remarkable tale. The story is clever in all it's simplicity, about man needing to learn about the responsibilities to the power of altering nature. The characters aren't overly complex and can sometimes give you the usual cardboard image. But all that they manage to represent with success is enough to still make us care about their fates. But the most valuable aspect is in how the movie handles the dinosaur effects, the first time computer animation is used to enhance a scenario too impossible to show practically while still managing to enhance said practicality with magical end results. This reciprocity is a total success. It was ironically also the last time a movie would use CGI as an enhancement instead of a replacement. No such luck with it's two follow-ups where the dinosaurs become out-shadowed by a cast of human characters with too much saturation for their own good starting with The Lost World that totally messes up the moral successfully represented here in favor of larger sequences and laughable human motives with Jurassic Park 3 dumbing down the rest as, some may say, the final nail to the coffin. In the sequels the entire concept has become mere overcomplicated padding to sell the excuse of "dinosaurs chasing people" and forgetting what actually made it so good here. That really is a shame. It is because of it that to me there is only one true Jurassic Park, a promising concept of man playing god with a moral dilemma strong enough to reach out to the reality which we ourselves live in but sadly diminished by neglect in the follow-ups. A watered down yet entertaining version of a smart science fiction novel that manages to keep most of that smartness without compromising the enjoyment. 7/10.