Jurassic Park, as famous and important as it is, has definitely lived up to its classic praise. I, in all honesty, had not seen it until my sophomore year of high school, and I can confirm that it is as good as most make it out to be. I recently watched this film again as a homework assignment in my Introduction to Film course, and it only further refreshed my appreciation for it. With its original plot and futuristic use of CGI (for its time), Jurassic Park and director Steven Spielberg deserves every ounce of positivity that it received.
This is such a critical and important film for its time period, I honestly do not have much to say about it other than its necessity as a moviegoer to see. The plot of the film is something that has never been seen before, especially back in 1993. While there are a few sequels and a semi-remake (Jurassic World starring Chris Pratt), this film has stood its test of time. There had not been rarely any original science-fiction films for decades before its release, and the introduction of dinosaurs into our everyday life scared and excited many people. This film did such a great job of bringing this idea to life. Even though the general public was never an element of the film, the scientists and park "testers" were subjected to the use of dinosaurs and (obviously) there was not a positive reaction. The aspect of plot that I enjoyed the most was Dr. Grant's (Sam Neill) reluctance to want to have children since the beginning of the film. The subplot of the film pitted him with Hammond's (played by Richard Attenborough) grandchildren trying to survive among the dinosaurs, and he learned that children were not as awful as he had previously thought. The only minor issue I had with plot details regards Hammond's hiring of Nedry, played by Wayne Knight. Nedry was responsible for the selling of the dinosaur embryos to a third-party who were going to use them against Hammond's team. Nedry, while working for Hammond, was very rude and obviously suspicious in the way he spoke to his boss. From a business management stance, it does not seem like Hammond would have wanted Nedry to be working for him with that kind of attitude. But that's just my opinion.
Looking back at the acting and performances by all of the cast, everyone did a fantastic job. Sam Neill, along with Laura Dern, were great as their roles of work partners turned potential lovers. Their chemistry with the rest of the cast worked very well, even with the schmoozy but intelligent Malcolm, played by everyone's favorite Jeff Goldblum. His performance was personally my favorite among the rest, as he embodied his snarky character so well. Topped off with a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson, the cast of Jurassic Park really brought this film to life.
The most talked-about and innovative part of the film, however, is its use of CGI. This was one of the first films to use CGI that actually looked great. Done before in films like Westworld and Tron, CGI was a relatively new concept in films because it did not look exactly like reality. It was not believable in films really until the release of Jurassic Park, which has proven itself to be a milestone in this technology. The dinosaurs and accompanying special effects were beautiful, and when they needed to be, terrifying. This truly brought the film to life because without the existence of realistic-looking dinosaurs, it would have been a very cheesy movie. And it might not have done as well as it did.
In conclusion, this film is a must-see for anyone who is a fan of film, whether you are studying it or not. You can not fully appreciate the existence of today's CGI and Jeff Goldblum memes until you have seen Jurassic Park.
My Rating: ★★★★½
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