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All Movie Info
Starring:
Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, B.D. Wong, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight
Directed By:
Steven Spielberg
Written By:
David Koepp, Michael Crichton
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Jurassic Park (1993)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
November 9th, 2007
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I saw 'Jurassic Park' as a kid, and was absolutely thrilled and amazed by it, and I still think it is an incredible piece of work, with special effects that still defy the imagination. It is one of several record-setting Steven Spielberg blockbusters; it may have earned more money than Jaws or ET, I don't know. It is not as good as the former, but is better than the latter, even though I have a special place in my heart for that little alien who just wants to go home. I have never read the Michael Crichton novel, if that means anything. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), an elderly billionaire, starts a park on an exotic island. Before it goes public, he invites paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to visit his new attraction and tell him what they think of it. Grant is initially very impressed, in awe of how John and his team of scientists created dinosaurs. And the process is explained to them; it involves using frog DNA to fill out the genetic material taken from mosquitoes trapped in amber, which sucked the blood out of real dinosaurs millions of years ago. Or something like that. The science is ultimately unimportant, and may not even be possible, but then I couldn't say for sure. All of the dinosaurs are female, but Malcolm notes that nature will eventually find a way to create life, and if you know that frogs can sometimes change sex, then you have an idea of how right Malcolm is. Basically, computer whiz Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) shuts down the security systems so he can steal a frozen embryo, which he plans to sell for a small fortune, and this leads to a series of events that finds the dinos getting out of their pens and wreaking havoc. Grant ends up rescuing John's two grandchildren.
The T-Rex is perhaps the most impressive of all, several tons of raw power, and we see it as it munches on lesser creatures, including the smart and fast Raptors. The special effects are what make this so much fun, even though the dinosaurs are introduced to us rather quickly, unlike the shark in Jaws, which makes a sudden and surprising appearance more than an hour into the movie. Neill, Goldblum, and Dern are all excellent, I like the Goldblum character most of all, he provides comic relief in addition to savvy observations and criticisms of John's project. But Neill is the star, and makes for an unlikely, but convincing hero. It was scary when I was younger, but not so much now, I realize it is more sci-fi than horror, but it is rather intense and never lets up for a minute, once it gets going.
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