Even after all this time, after all the movies that employ CGI (computer generated images) to bring they're monsters to life, this movie still manages to amaze me. Even if this is the 200th time, I've watched it.
And I think the true measure of a movie is if you can watch that movie over and over and still be amazed by it. If the places you where thrilled and chilled by still thrill and chill you then you can tell that you are watching a truly good movie.
I don't
give a rat's ass what Roger Ebert says, Jurassic Park is such a movie. With
revolutionary FX in one hand, and Steven Spielberg in the other, this movie packs a double
whammy that blew me away in the theater and still does on home video.
The story, for those who live in caves, concerns millionaire John Hammond. Hammond, with the help of his money, has discovered a way to bring dinosaurs back to life using preserved DNA. What do you do once you have a living dinosaur? You put it on display, 3 bits a gander, of course. And Hammond has gone and set himself up a "biological preserve" called Jurassic Park (ta da!). The problem is that "The Investors" (who are never named) have some very serious issues about what might happen if dinosaurs interact with humans. To allay they're fears Hammond brings in some experts to give the park and endorsement. We have our paleontologists Dr. Allen Grant (Sam Neil) and Ellie Satler (Laura Dern), our mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblume) and Hammond's grandkids Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Alexis (Ariana Richards).
Since this movie must have some action the dinos break loose and start chowing down on people. What separates this from other "dinosaurs-break-loose-and-chow-down-on-people" movies is that this one is that here most of the characters spend they're time predicting that the dinos will break loose. Plus we have this whole Godzilla-esqe "mess with mother nature and shit will happen" subtext to undercut the movie, as opposed to earlier movies in which just parade out special effects for they're own sake.
Which is not to say Jurassic doesn't do that too. It comes on screen and does its little dog and pony show like any other movie. What's different here is that you have good actors and good SPFX. Both can be good on they're own but you can not deign that they are two great tastes that go great together.
Probably the best actor in the bunch is Jeff Goldblume. I don't care
what anyone else says, his "goffie scientist" never wares thin on me. Why?
Simple, he plays it so well, so well in fact that he steals every scene he has. Even when
the real stars of this movie, the dinosaurs, make an appearance.
Sam Neil seams to have the uncanny ability to play any part he's in well no matter what it calls for. He's always been one of those actors who you know by name yet could never recognize. Since he's now gone from bit parts to Moterola © adds we know his popularity went up at least a little bit.
Laura Dern had defiantly come along way since the time when the only roles she should play where those of high school students. She hasn't aged a day, and she can still act well.
Richard Attenburogh as the very Santa Clause like Hammond seams more fitting of the role of old Saint Nick then he is for the role of a millionaire. I suppose he got all his money by not being a ruthless capitalist tycoon, but by being a nice, sweet guy. Yeah, right. But who cares? He plays the role just as well as every one else.
I don't mean to give the impresion that Jurassic is a great movie. It is however, a good movie. Is the acting as ground breaking as the special effects? No. But so what? The only real thing I can find really wrong with this movie is that it leaves out all the wonderful information that Michael Chrichton included in his novel. The characters are poorly underwritten and not the well rounded. In fact only Goldblume and Attenborough convey a sense that they're characters are anything more then what appears on screen.
But does it really matter? I say no. This movie is pure entertainment, with good acting, good SPFX, and the fact that Steven Spielberg just plain knows how to direct and action sequence. If you've lived all you life in a cave and suddenly dissuade to come out, this is defiantly the movie you should go and see.
RATING(OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE)
