Jurassic Park

 Summer of 1993 Movies-Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is one of the best known and loved summer films. Its really not hard to understand why because it has a great concept as it plot-dinosaurs are brought back to life and are put in a theme park for people's enjoyment. It has probably has the most important technological breakthrough to ever hit films as its biggest selling point-cgi-which allows just about anything to be brought to life. The film was based on a novel by Michael Crichton who is one of the most interesting people to have worked in film. He was an MD who got his MD from Harvard. He wrote novels so he could pay for school. His first novels were written under a pseudonym because as he explained in the making of "The Andromeda Strain" (the first novel of his to be turned into a film and the first novel published under his real name) that a key component of grades in Medical School is peer evaluation. And he thought that if his classmates knew he was writer they would think less of him, thus their evaluations would be lower. Even after attaining success and fame under his real name he continued to write books under a pseudonym. Eventually he would write books under his real name. He also became a writer/director. Because he was doing this he didn't write as many novels. By 1989 his writing/directing career was over with because for the most part his films weren't very successful. The Jurassic Park novel came out in 1990 and the film success (he co-wrote the script) allowed him to get back into film-making but mainly as writer/producer. The film grossed $1.03 billion which made it for awhile the most successful film ever made. This was one of the first films that relied heavily on the foreign box office to become a hit.  In fact it was the film's foreign grosses that allowed it to become the highest grossing film. The film also do well with the critics 93% per Rotten Tomatoes. So with this kind of success at both the box office and with critics it has to be good? Depends on what you want from a film. If your looking for a film that is a spectacle than this is the film for you. When the dinosaurs are first seen it is pretty magical. It also has a memorable score by probably the greatest film composer of all-time: John Williams. If on the other hand you want a film that you have an emotional attachment to or a great plot that carries you away than its not. I fall into this camp. The human characters in this film are given no room to breathe. They really serve no purpose except to be killed by the dinosaurs or to give exposition. A real shame considering that 2 of characters when give time are memorable. Those are John Hammond and Dr. Ian Malcolm. John Hammond is the creator of Jurassic Park and he has two of the most famous lines in the film "Spared on expense" and "This park was not built to cater only for the super-rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals." As portrayed by Sir Richard Attenborough he comes across as the kindest grandfather with a real twinkle in his eyes who happens to be a billionaire. But as the film goes on his part diminishes and he is kinda of cast as the villain which also hurts him. Jeff Goldblum has an absolute field day with the part Dr. Ian Malcolm. He serves as the conscience of the film and the Greek chorus. He also has the funniest line in the film via this exchange with John Hammond-
"All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked!"
 "Yeah, but, John, if The Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."
What prevents him from dominating the film is he gets hurt (a broken leg) and is given morphine to help with pain. This makes him passive for much of the movie. So positive was the response to this character that when Michael Crichton wrote a sequel called "The Lost World" he made Dr. Ian Malcolm the main character. There was just one small problem he had appeared to killed him off in the original novel. This was explained away by saying that it was untrue. The fact that the acting is weak in this film is surprising given that the film's director Steven Spielberg is well-known for being able to successfully combine strong characters with spectacle. I think the reason the acting is weak is because Spielberg mind wasn't totally on the film when he was making it and because he wasn't physically present when the film was being edited. He was prepping Schindler's List when Jurassic Park was being shot and he was shooting Schindler's List when it was being edited. He edited Jurassic Park via satellite and he left the primary editing up to his friend George Lucas. As many a film lover will tell you and George Lucas will admit strong characters/acting aren't a forte of George Lucas this may explain why the film is heavy on spectacle and light on strong characters/acting. At the end of the day this film was a huge success at the box office, is fondly remembered by many people, was a watershed for special effects, and spawned a successful franchise. The latest entry Jurassic World released in June of this year is already in the top 5 of the highest grossing films of all time and the main theme from the this film recently top the Billboard Classical Digital Songs. An impressive feat that just adds to the legacy this film has attained.