Viewed in
1994, 1995, 2013
Formats
VHS, HDTV
Premise
Based on Michael Crichton's novel about cloned dinosaurs breaking loose in a theme park.
Loved
Jeff Goldblum.
Liked
Strong visual effects, charming cast.
Thoughts
To my surprise, the movie held up pretty well.
One reason for its longevity was because it created human characters that we cared about. Sam Neill brought a low-key leading man's coolness. He was more than just a cool accent to lend gravitas. (Having said that, in hindsight, it was obvious they had written the character for Harrison Ford to channel some of his wry Indiana Jones mojo. A fascinating cinematic "What If".) Laura Dern was convincing as a smart, independent character, still sadly a rarity in science-fiction action flicks these days. Their sense of wonder and amazement in the first third of the movie really sold the audience that the CGI dinos were really there. Whodathunk, good acting begets memorable moments!
The kids did a good job of selling the peril, Ariana Richards sported a fantastic blood-curdling scream. Samuel L. Jackson was like one of the players you watch on TV, asking "why aren't they playing that guy more minutes?". His "Hold on to your butts" quote still rocked. But all the humans (and arguably dinos) paled compared to Jeff Goldblum's awesomeness as an uber-intelligent, quirky mathematician. Spouting philosophical insights, zingers, and pick-up lines like an out of control sprinkler, he gave the movie an unexpected jolt of energy and humor. And let's not forget that chest.
As for the 65 million year old reptiles, director Spielberg's skills enabled the dinosaurs to remain scary and lethal. The majority of the visual effects were still practicals, animatronics, human stunt work. Suffice to say, those did not age much. With the help of smart dialog and likable characters, Spielberg was able to keep the audience interested while keeping the dinosaurs hidden for a large part of the movie (a la Jaws), which made them more and more intriguing, and dangerous.
However, when they finally appeared in CGI form, the outdated technology doth reveal itself. In this day and age, it was really obvious which effects were computer generated and which were puppetry. Much like visual effects of that time period, the lighting on these digital creatures were too bright, lacking the contrast to blend in with Hawaiian landscapes and studio sets. They're not eyesores, but it was clear they came from another era. It would've been interesting to see if the 3D IMAX conversion alleviated or exacerbated the flat-looking CGI.
The digital dinos weren't the other things that aged poorly. Obviously, old technology in the movie, such as CD-ROMs, CRT, and hacking techniques monitors that evoked plenty of unintended chuckles from me. Wayne Knight's portrayal of a fat, bespectacled, slovenly computer nerd was stereotypical. The lawyer-bashing reminded us that period in the 1990's when we overused that joke like we used air ducts in movies. Also, recent findings of T. Rex as a scavenger would make it chasing after live humans and dinos obsolete behavior.
One odd flaw not related to being outdated was Richard Attenborough's accent. I swore he used at least three different British accents and an Australian accent.
Bottom line, Jurassic Park was still really fun escapism. There humans were likable, Jeff Goldblum was brilliant, the dinosaurs were mostly convincing, and the action/danger was still exciting.
