Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park was yet another smash hit for Steven Spielberg back in 1993 and it as well as the animatronics stand up pretty well over 20 years later. It might feel slightly underwhelming at times but definitely still carries the ability to entertain.

Without giving away too much plot, although most should have already seen it, Jurassic Park plays out like a modern day King Kong story. John Hammond (played by actor/director Richard Attenborough) is a white haired billionaire with an eye for spectacle. He has put his money to good use (so it seems) pouring resources into a new sort of attraction. This is no Disneyland and as such the stakes are much higher.

He calls upon the services of a paleontologist Dr. Grant (Sam Neill) and a paleobotanist Dr. Sattler (Laura Dern)  to give the seal of approval on his grand endeavor. There's also a nosy lawyer who is curious for the sake of his investors. Round out the group with an authority on Chaos Theory (Jeff Goldblum) along with Hammond's grandkids and you have all you need.

These lucky few are the ones who get shipped out to a remote island off Costa Rica to see first hand the majesty of Jurassic Park. But rather like a Frankenstein, Hammond does not know what he has created. What was meant to be good turned sour all too quickly except in this rendition of the story he gets a little from a pudgy programmer who is looking out for himself.

There's not much character development to speak of, but if you have real life dinosaurs terrorizing island you do not need much else. Accompany it with a truly epic and iconic score from John Williams and you have something quite special and quintessentially 1990s. If kids did not want to be paleontologists before they undoubtedly did after Jurassic Park.

As Dr. Grant so aptly puts it "Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?"

That is the general intrigue behind Jurassic Park besides the awesome fact that we get to see a T-Rex, Raptors and many other dinosaurs recreated. This is not necessarily a kids movie due to the intensity at times, but it definitely is meant for the young at heart. Those are the people who unashamedly love dinosaurs.  But then again who doesn't love dinosaurs?

4/5 Stars