Cast: Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight

Category: Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi

Every so often a film comes along with such visual features that it takes the rest of the cinematic universe into the next step of fantastical film-making. Let’s do some number crunching. Starting with The Wolfman in 1941, and followed by Kubrick’s A Space Odyssey (1968) and this film in 1993, it would take almost 17 years before Avatar (2009) would take the mantle held by the Velociraptors and the T-rex as the most impressive creatures seen on the big screen.

Eccentric millionaire John Hammond has created the ultimate theme park on a conveniently secluded island, and he wants to offer a sneak preview to a select group of individuals. Of course, the prehistoric attractions don’t much appreciate being detained for the amusement of others, and begin to cause terrifying havoc as soon as they take the opportunity to escape from their enclosures. An extremely imaginative plot adapted from Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name, it sets the foundation for a rip-roaring battle for survival.

Spielberg has the uncanny ability (when dealing with films of this genre) to present images and set pieces that are intimidating and startling to an audience of all ages, without being genuinely threatening. I think I can relate to a lot of people when I say I first saw Jurassic Park some time before my fifth birthday, but was never afraid of the creatures in the film, unlike other monster movies I experienced in my early childhood (yes, yes, it’s all a rich tapestry).

Having said that, it is grandly impressive to look back on this film and appreciate, to a greater degree, the way Spielberg builds suspense with the utmost professionalism required in a disaster movie. Cleverly building up to the revelation of the beasts by stunning us with the visual treat of cuddly herbivores, when we do finally meet the imposing Tyrannosaurus, it is one of the film’s best set pieces. Furthermore, it is preceded by one of the most recognizable images in the history of cinema; the rippling glass of water signaling impending fear, a shot which has been infinitely parodied since this film’s release.

However, even the aforementioned scene pales in comparison to the cat-and-mouse game played between the children and the raptors towards the climax; still my favourite individual scene of any movie. Persistent use of extreme close-ups and eye-level shots crucially prevent the viewer from getting a large enough view of the room to anticipate what will happen next, and one cannot help but grimace every time Tim inadvertently knocks over the ladle, and the raptor’s head pricks up immediately upon hearing the ominous clanging.

While the acting is competent throughout, the real stars are the dinosaurs, to use the most obvious of clichés. Time has been surprisingly good to the employed CGI, with its creations standing up admirably to those created using the proliferation of technology in modern cinema. In arguably, my long-term fascination with dinosaurs has contributed to such a positive review, but the foreboding nature of this film (positively falling short of being a pretentious cautionary tale of science-out-of-control) puts Jurassic Park somewhere in the middle of my all-time Top 20 list.

9/10.

Author Bio: Johnny Hollywood

One day, a good friend started calling me Hollywood because of my never-ending desire to talk about films, and the nickname stuck like glue. There’s only one thing I love more than reviewing movies, and that’s discussing them with everybody and anybody, so never hesitate to tell me what you think about my work.