Jurassic Park

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To wrap up a month of Summer blockbusters, one that certainly bears mentioning is 'Jurassic Park'. It's interesting to consider the fact that CG was so brand-spanking new at the time that filmmakers were still utilizing it as not much more than really good looking special effects. The primary example predating this was probably 'Terminator 2', two years prior with the T-1000. And while 'Toy Story' was the first full-length CG film in 1995, I tend to consider 'Jurassic Park' to be what really, truly brought CG into the spotlight. While the T-1000 still looks great, this brought dinosaurs to life for us dino-obsessed kids at the time, and before this the best we could do was stop-motion.

This movie had such an impact that when a contest was held to name Toronto's basketball team in '94, it was narrowed down to eleven names; two of which were dinosaur references - "T-Rex" and "Raptors". Of course, we all know what we landed on, but considering "Towers" was the runner up, it's probably a good thing. The film spawned all sorts of merchandise as well, some of which I had, including a massive colouring mural that took up about 4-6 feet of wall space. I was 10 going on 11 when this was released, so I wasn't after a lot of the toys and such. But I was still very much into it, because even then I understood that this was a ground-breaking film. Sequel after sequel would follow, but none of them to this very day can hold a torch to the awesomeness that is 'Jurassic Park'... well, except maybe the improved quality of the CG effects, but dammit, this was 1993, so for the time it looks incredible.

The story of course involves wealthy industrialist John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) inviting paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to an island he owns, off the coast of Costa Rica - Isla Nublar. Here, he hopes to have the two experts analyse what he has created and approve his attractions for opening his park. This is influenced by the park's investors insisting on a thorough inspection to ensure the park's safety. The investors' representative lawyer, Mr. Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) comes along as well, inviting mathematician and chaos-theorist, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Although the group is blown away by what Hammond has created (an interactive "zoo" that holds cloned dinosaurs as opposed to everyday animals), all manage to see the inherent danger that lies within the park.

Soon, the group is sent on a tour along with Hammond's grandkids, Tim (Joseph Mazzello), a young dinosaur geek, and Lex (Ariana Richards), a young computer geek (though she prefers to be called a "hacker"). Meanwhile, the park's head programmer, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) has plans to steal fertilized dinosaur embryos and deliver them to Hammond's corporate rival based on a bribe. This will involve shutting down the park's security system and racing against the clock as a bad storm is rolling in and he needs to collect the embryos as well as get to the last boat. As a result, the park's security grid shuts down, dinosaurs escape, chaos ensues. This separates them into groups; while Ellie, Malcolm, Hammond and others (techie, Mr. Arnold - Samuel L. Jackson, and raptor expert, Muldoon - Bob Peck) work on restoring power and communications to the island, Grant, Tim and Lex find themselves having to maneuver through a dangerous array of should-be-extinct wildlife - half of which is out for a good meal.


At this point, 'Jurassic Park' has become one of the most repetitive franchises out there, and it's so stale that after 'Fallen Kingdom' in 2018, I have no real drive to go to another one. The premise is more or less always the same - in some form, it's generally "ignore what people say is dangerous and get into a situation that's potentially gonna kill us anyway". It's always people making dumb decisions and paying the price, while Ian Malcolm remains to this day the voice of reason that no one listens to - still the smartest character in 'Fallen Kingdom' if you ask me. Anyway, the bottom line is that in this original film, it all makes sense for that first time around, and the cautionary tale of "playing God" is established along with some decent character development, especially with Grant and Hammond.


Seeing this as a 10-year-old kid on the big screen, I can remember it being a hell of an experience. I remember being totally on-edge when the T-rex got out, as well as the kitchen scene with the raptors. But I also remember being in total awe of what I was seeing. Remember when 'Avatar' came out and we were all totally mind-blown by how awesome the 3D was? This was that for 1993. It was a film that gauged every emotion, and to this day I enjoy watching it as a good slice of nostalgia. It doesn't quite look as good now as it did back then, considering how far we've come with technology. But it's probably the best overall story between all of the films, regardless. That said, I can actually still recommend Netflix's 'Camp Cretacious' where we see something else happening during the events of 'Jurassic World'. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best 'Jurassic' thing that has been released since this original film - but this is still the golden child of the collection.

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