Jurassic Park

Released: June 11, 1993

Studio: Universal

Genre: sci-fi/fantasy/monster

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 402.80 Worldwide: 1109.80

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 900.64 Worldwide: 2183.50

Directing: Steven Spielberg

Screenwriting: Michael Crichton, David Koepp

Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Wayne Knight

Review:

“Dinosaurs are recreated from genetic material for a theme park on a remote island. Chaos erupts during a test run when the dinosaurs break free and prey on the park guests. Landmark visual effects brought dinosaurs back to life.” ^A07

“When dinosaurs first ruled the movie-Earth, they did so in a herky-jerky stop-motion manner that while charmingly effective, required a fair dose of disbelief-suspension.” ^E18 Spielberg, however, makes us feel “for the first time they could be real, breathing animals (as opposed to monsters).” ^E18 The credit goes both to the “astonishing animatronics work” ^E18 of Stan Winston and the groundbreaking CGI from Industrial Light & Magic.

Critic Roger Ebert said Spielberg was so devoted to creating the dinosaurs that the human characters suffered. Ebert calls them “a ragtag bunch of half-realized, sketched-in personalities, who exist primarily to scream, utter dire warnings, and outwit the monsters.” ^RE

Richard Attenborough as the millionaire who creates the dinosaur theme park is “basically a good soul” ^RE but “realizes the error of tampering with nature.” ^RE Two dinosaur experts (Neill and Dern) are invited, along with a mathematician (Goldblum) to preview the park before it opens.

“An unscrupulous employee (Wayne Knight) shuts down the park’s computer program so he can smuggle out some dinosaur embryos.” ^RE “The subsequent events – after the creates get loose – follow an absolutely standard outline” ^RE although “there is a high technical level to the execution of the cliches” ^RE because the director is Spielberg.