Film review: Jurassic Park (1993), directed by Steven Spielberg

Jurassic Park is based on a novel by Michael Crichton, who also wrote the screenplay, and the film was groundbreaking when it came out. Oh gosh, such marvellous, computer-made dinosaurs!

On a remote island somewhere on the Seven Seas, eccentric millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has set up a brand new theme park. Using the latest genetic technology, he’s managed to clone dinosaurs! They’re alive and roaming inside big enclosures all over the island!

The park can’t get insurance unless it’s deemed safe for the public, so Hammond calls on the experts – palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill), palaeobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and chaotician Dr Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). They all get to go on a trip to the island, and be the first visitors of the breathtaking, mindblowing Jurassic Park.

As Dr Malcolm would tell you, chaos has a tendency assert itself, and soon enough they find themselves trapped on an island. In a tropical storm. Surrounded by free range dinosaurs. The scientists didn’t just go for the kindly herbivores, of course, ohh no. Beware the Tyrannosaurus Rex!

Also starring Samuel L Jackson as Ray Arnold, Wayne Knight as the sneaky Dennis Nedry, Joseph Mazzello as little Tim and Ariana Richards as “hacker girl” Lex.

This is such a classic. Back in the day, the CGI dinosaurs were truly breathtaking, and although the graphics today are even better, they’re still not bad by any means. They have stood the test of time remarkably well.

The biggest reason why I think this movie is fantastic is because of Sam Neill. Yeah, go fig. The thing is, Alan Grant is such a great character. His way with kids in the first half of the film has me in stitches every time. Such a shame he gets to come around and like them by the end – it would have been so much more fun if he hadn’t. Oh well.

Then there’s Jeff Goldblum. His character is both amusing and charming. Can’t go wrong with that. Samuel L Jackson gets to play a man you’d definitely believe could kick a raptor’s behind, but maybe that’s just because he’s Samuel L Jackson, and that man kicks all kinds of behind whenever he shows up on the silver screen.

In contrast, there’s the cowardly token fat person, who of course is the traitor. Couldn’t they have been a little bit more original than fat computer geek slob who won’t stop eating? Seriously?

Considering the health and safety madness of today, you’d think anything even close to Jurassic Park would get a great big AWW HELL NO from any authorities. This, however, was made in the early 1990s, when things worked slightly differently. Not to mention the whole fictional bit about cloned dinosaurs.

Still, it’s one of those films that always entertains both young and old, and even if you’ve seen it several times before, it doesn’t cease to be a good watch.

4 out of 5 amber-encased mosquitoes.