It's Jurassic June everyone! It's the time of year when us fans can gush even more over one of our favorite franchises of all time 'Jurassic Park'. Most of you know my opinions on this franchise already, however I just wanted to give my praise and my appreciation for it during its own month so for the next few weeks I will be going over each film in the series and try to give an honest review despite my reasons behind the review itself. Let's start with 1993's 'Jurassic Park' then shall we?
Everyone knows the story by now: a group of scientists are invited to a private resort where prehistoric creatures have been resurrected to be used in a theme park/zoo by John Hammond (played by the late great Richard Attenborough). Naturally, things go wrong, people die, disaster collapses the park and lessons are learned. For a summer blockbuster, 'Jurassic Park' always seemed to have more to it than others. It's science-fiction background gives it some grounding and realism that makes it easier to swallow even the most ridiculous parts of the story. However, I always felt that a lot of what made the novel so grand is missing in the film adaptation from time to time. The moral & ethical discussions are detailed enough in the film for it to get the message across, however I would have liked to see them play with it more.
Luckily, the main attraction of 'Jurassic Park' the dinosaurs still hold up amazingly well for being nearly 25 years old now. The T-Rex (or 'Rexy' as we fans like to call her) still just rules this flick, she is badass. The other dinosaur effects work well too, with scenes ranging from aah and wonder to perilous chases, the dinosaurs keep the film together and the mixture of practical and CGI (new at the time) give them their durability and longevity. The acting by the characters unfortunately do not hold up as well. Sam Neil is always fine to watch, while Laura Dern is really dull and almost does nothing until the end (she really didn't get to do anything in the novel either, so I guess I'm SOL). Jeff Goldblum has become a sort of divisive performance nowadays however back then it was considered amazing for a film like this one. I personally still get chuckles out of Ian Malcolm and he's still the best character in the film by far. One set of performances that may surprise people is that the kids in this film are NOT annoying for once. They actually factor into two sequences that help progress the film itself and help our heroes save the day.
'Jurassic Park' holds up really well for its 23rd anniversary this year. It's missing a lot of story and character development that made the novel so great, however the action, the dinosaurs themselves, and the awe inspiring world that director Steven Spielberg created for us. I still love 'Jurassic Park' even to this day, it's still amazing and it's easy to ignore many of its flaws because it's just so damned enjoyable. While a rating seems irrelevant, if it were 1993 again I'd give 'Jurassic Park' an A-.
DID YOU KNOW?
-Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson were both considered for Dr. Alan Grant before Sam Neil
-Was the highest grossing film of all time until 1997's 'TITANIC'
-Director Steven Spielberg holds the record for most pay for any single film ($250 Million paycheck)
-Paleontologist Dr. Jack Horner was the basis for Alan Grant and has been the consultant on the franchise ever since the original.
No comments:
Post a Comment