When I saw Jurassic Park, I loved it. I thought "wow, wouldn't it be cool if they really could grow dinosaurs from
crusty DNA found in a fossilized mosquito". However, people I talked to who read the book did not like the movie - they
preferred the book. Since I read basically no books a year, I am oblivious to the difference and can appreciate the
movie as it is without any prior prejudice about how it should have mirrored the book. Even if you do like the book
more, you have to be impressed by the giant step forward in computer graphics used to produce the photo-realistic
dinosaurs. This movie spawned a new way of producing special effects which made it possible to realize even more
fanciful places and creatures in future films.
Still the best since 1993! ,
May 10, 2008
"Jurassic Park" has always been one of my favourate films ever since I was a child. Excellent direction, good editing and a well chosen cast makes the film worth a watch. The film hasn't lost its spice in all these years, its entertains me today as much as it did then. I had always wanted the movie on Dvd and finally glad to get it. The dvd is perfect with great picture quality and sound and has some interesting features like 'the making', etc. In other words, if you loved "Jurassic Park" wholeheartedly, this is the Dvd for your collection.
"Welcome to Jurassic Park...",
April 29, 2008
...one of the more overrated films in cinema history. Not since "1941" had there been a film so undeserving of its pre-release hype. The difference is that that overblown piece of worthless and moronic celluloid was not particularly successful at the box office, whereas "Jurassic Park" rumbled through movie theaters large and small like a ferocious theropod fearsome enough to make even T. rex cower in fear. This great beast gobbled up more money in its creation than had ever been spent on the scientific study of dinosaurs. It invaded our book and toy stores. It crashed through the walls of science museums, leaving profits in the millions of dollars and lines in the hundreds of meters.
The object of all this hoopla was a piece of filmmaking which is mediocre at best. The story is mishandled and the characters uninteresting. The actors almost always fail, even in the most dramatic scenes, to convey any emotion other than that of being tickled pink at being in Hawaii to film a major motion picture which would make them lots of money, and was sure to catapult them to some degree of stardom, since the most formidable kind of merchandising and promotion machine would make certain it was the smashingest smash hit in recent memory. The script was written as if its authors were thinking, "This will be based on a great best seller, and it can't fail to be a hit. Let's just write this script so that the film will be as easily promotable as possible, with lots of picturesque scenes, and include most of the plot points of the novel so that people will be able to say, 'Ah, yes! I read that.' But we'll keep the characters undeveloped so that people won't have to care about them." Indeed, the film seems to be to the novel what the "Welcome to Jurassic Park" Golden Look-Look Book is to the movie. Even the sets feel this way. As for the much vaunted special effects, they were not nearly all they are cracked up to be, even in 1993. Every frame of the film gushes with merchandisability. Not one exudes the least amount of fear, terror, or almost any other quality generally ascribed to this film by the audiences who greeted it.
The only aspect of the movie with any verve or originality is the background score by the wonderful John Williams. I especially appreciated his use of chorus at the moment when a Velociraptor figures out how to open a door -- the ultimate triumph of the past over the present, and of chaos over stability.
A movie that needs no introduction,
April 8, 2008
This movie probably doesn't require reviewing at this point, but for the sake of continuity in reviewing movies I watch over the weekends, I feel I have to do it. Obviously this movie needs no introduction at this point; it's already considered one of the best films Spielberg produced. It all started with a book written by Michael Crichton, and whoever said it would make a great movie is now, clearly, a millionaire. This is one of those things where the million dollar idea is true. Granted the novel to movie transfer isn't a hundred percent, but few novels that go to movies are. I've personally never read the book, but from people who have, they've told me it's not hugely inaccurate, so that's a good sign. Granted a novel is almost always better than the movie, but I'll still watch the movies if they don't change the novel a ton.
The movie was expertly executed, as the billionaire in the film is apt to say "we've spared no expense". The story is based around a live zoo-like theme park where the billionaire has spent a large amount of money on research to figure out how to reconstruct dinosaur DNA so they can physically bring them back to life with what we know about genetic research already. As you can see it's a very ambitious film. The story is very impressive from the perspective of a "what if" scenario. It's probably not all that applicable in the real world, but it certainly is a great premise for a film and it's presented in a fashion that seems like it's almost possible. I think that fact alone makes the movie even more impressive to watch. Also they seriously ramped up the industry of animatronics to produce this film! Huge amounts were spent on the robotic elements to make the dinosaurs interact with the world in a very realistic fashion. This was an ingenious move over having computer graphic dinosaurs. I think, even by 2008's standard, CGI would do it a disservice!
Basically the billionaire character, Hammond played by Richard Attenborough (famous for his documentary narrations), has a problem in opening his park, which is located on a remote island. His investors and officials won't let him open the park to the public unless it's examined by a team of experts. The movie is about that team's examination, sounds kind of boring from what I'm saying, but that is until something goes wrong. The viewer is astounded by the sheer beauty of the creatures and the park throughout the entire film. They developed special grids that are fenced off with high electricity wire... that is until the power goes out. This is where the movie gets really exciting.
My favorite character was the paleontologist Alan Grant played by Sam Niell. I have to say, I like the characters Sam Niell typically plays and this movie was no exception, but maybe I'm slightly biased in this perspective. Granted the third Omen wasn't anything special, but I thought Niell was really good in the film in the end! Jeff Goldblum's character, Ian Malcolm, was pretty good, but he does get a little annoying once in a while. That's kind of his point though. I have to admit that I still don't quite understand why a Chaos Theory Mathematician was needed to survey a park about dinosaurs. I understand the paleontologists, but not the mathematician, it just seemed out of place to me. Maybe it was explained in the book. Many people will enjoy seeing some smaller characters roles show up, such as the one played by Samuel L. Jackson. Granted he's not as bada** as he normally is in films. Sienfeld fans will surely appreciate the appearance of Newman as the character Dennis Nedry who interacts with Sam Jackson a lot and that pairing was simply a great idea! It made those scenes pretty funny.
There were a few scenes here and there that were mentally jarring because some parts were just silly and characters probably wouldn't do that in the real world, but the point was to create a suspenseful moment or to move the story along. So I suppose I can forgive the part where Grant tells Malcolm not to move and then Malcolm does... it made for an intense moment.
Anyway, I don't want to give very much of the film away just in case someone hasn't seen it. I know, that sounds shocking at this point, but I know people that have never seen the original Star Wars films and that just shocks me. Either way this movie is superbly filmed and very well written. I simply can't recommend it enough and I can't really think of someone who wouldn't enjoy the sheer adventure of this film. So take a nice tour through Jurassic Park if you haven't seen this yet, they've spared no expense.
