My Review of "Jurassic Park"

Jurassic Park is a classic monster movie that came out back in 1993. I remember when this first came out. In fact, I may have actually seen this movie in the theatres when it first came out. Obviously, I marveled at the special effects of this movie at the time. Though, there's more to this movie then a lot of eye popping visuals. This is a very well crafted movie with meticulous camera angles that really tell the story.

The movie starts off with paleontologists Grant and Ellie. They're both digging for fossils and researching for their various studies. Oddly enough, there are a few tourist onlookers to see what they're doing. I don't quite remember paleontology being that popular before the movie but who knows.

They're soon interrupted by a rich entrepreneur by the name of Hammond. He needs them to approve his mysterious dinosaur park so that insurance companies would allow the park to open to the public. He promises Grant and Ellie to fully fund their research projects for the next three years if they go. Ellie and Grant agree and are met with a few others at the park.

From start to finish this movie is a visual spectacle. Everything is done up on a huge grandiose way. I truly felt like this was going to be an epic adventure from the moment they get on that helicopter to go to Jurassic Park.

This could have been a simple by the numbers humans survival tale but they added a few little sub plots to the movie. First off Ellie and Grant seem to be in a stagnant relationship. It seems that Grant isn't willing to expand on their relationship by flirting with the possibility of children. Here we add Hammonds grandchildren to bond with Grant. He kind of discovers that having kids isn't so bad. It's a little heavy handed but moves the overall plot along pretty well.

There's also the constant talk about the power of nature versus the human power to control nature. Ultimately, we know which side the movie's opinion will lean towards because it lends itself to a better movie. It's just fun that they're able to bring this element to the movie to build up more tension.

The main villain is Nedry, a security code writer at the park. He is unsatisfied with the pay that he is getting so he underhandedly meets with a different company. Rather than moving to the new company he decides that he will steal dinosaur samples to give to the competing company. This kind of has some plausibility but they did it in somewhat of a cartoony way. It definitely shows how much of a 90s movie this is with the cartoony nature of each of the characters.

I also even liked the build up of the monstrosity of the velociraptors. They mythologize how dangerous they are from the very beginning. The expert hunter, Muldoon, really builds upon the dangers of this species. There's a huge payoff by the end of this movie with this sub plot and it really adds to the intensity of the movie.

Watching this movie again after so many years I noticed that the visuals still hold up but are starting to show its age. What really got me excited was the terrific camera angles that really help tell the story of this horrifying park. The music is epic and really gets you immersed in the lore. I was totally absorbed.

Overall, this movie is a classic and probably the best movie of the franchise. I'll have to review the others to confirm this but from my memory I think this is the one I enjoy the most. This is still very enjoyable after 30 years. I was surprised as I thought it wouldn't have aged too well but a good movie is a good movie. I have to give this movie an 8.5 out of 10.