My son was excited when I told him that I was asked to review the Jurassic Park movies as he’s a huge dinosaur fan. I pulled the Blu-ray from our collection and watched it again which brought back memories to when I first saw it upon its release in 1993. This film came to theaters with much fanfare and grew in popularity was released by Universal Pictures from director Stephen Spielberg and screenwriter Michael Crichton (who also wrote the book). Spielberg has always been an excellent director as he’s done several big movies including Jaws [1975], the Indiana Jones movies and many more. Jurassic Park did so well that it spawned 2 sequels as well as the Jurassic World films adding to this fun franchise.

Richard Attenborough, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill

Jurassic Park tells the story of the theme park created by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) who is looking for recommendations/opinions from dinosaur experts Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill (Dead Calm [1989])) and his partner Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern (Grizzly II: The Revenge [1983])) as well as Dr. Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum (The Sentinel [1977])). There’s also the lawyer Gennaro (Martin Ferrero (The Incredible Shrinking Woman [1981])) who is there to investigate primarily on behalf of the investors. Upon their arrival as they head to the main building they witness the living dinosaurs, which amazes all of them (it’s true movie magic), leading to the discovery and revelation of how it all happened. While at the facility they question the safety of the dinosaurs to the public and that’s when they find out that they don’t breed because they are only females from Dr. Wu (B.D. Wong (Bird Box [2018]) which Malcom questions due to the fact that you can’t always have females because life finds a way.

We the audience have also encountered shady employee Nedry (Wayne Knight (Treat [2021])) who is up to no good and sabotages the park but gets his due by being killed by a Dilophosaurus that spits out burning black venom goo. Soon Hammond’s grandchildren show up Tim (Joseph Mazzello (The Hollow [2004])) and Lex (Ariana Richards (Tremors [1990])) and this is where the movie truly begins when they are taken on a tour of the actual park with computer self-driven the jeeps, which leads to seeing no dinosaurs aside from a sick Triceratops, and Ellie helps transport it back to facility. Of course, problems occur due to what Nedry did and the “guests” are now in danger, the high voltage fences begin to fail throughout the park and the jeeps stop, they hear the roar of the T-Rex; Gennaro is scared and flees in terror, leaving the kids behind and of course gets eaten by the dinosaur. Grant and Malcolm save the kids by distracting the T-Rex, but Malcom gets hurt, hence it’s up to Grant to be the protector (he dislikes children) but does an excellent job. He is rescued by Ellie and Muldoon (Bob Peck) delivers the line “Must go faster” as the T-Rex chases after his meal on wheels. Eventually, after discovering the dinosaurs are breeding, they make their way back to the compound, where Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson (Snakes on a Plane [2006])) works to reboot the system and everyone is surrounded by the Raptors who are the most vicious of all the dinosaurs and are saved by the T-Rex (sorry for the spoiler but I’m sure everyone has seen this movie).

Ariana Richards, Sam Neill, and Joseph Mazzello

This movie really is excellent and the effects and how the dinosaurs look real to a child are amazing, there’s some fun comical lines, along with a strange pose from Malcolm. It may be a little scary though due to some of the killings/eatings, but any true dinosaur fan will love it, after all it is a PG-13 flick. My son isn’t 13 and saw it when he was 10 when I thought he could handle it and he just “ate it up.” I recommend this film to a family with teenagers.

Jeff Goldblum in a weird pose

TAGLINES:

  • Life finds a way.
  • Return. Relive in 3D. Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the adventure 65 million years in the making. [3D re-release]
  • Celebrate the 20th anniversary in 3D and IMAX 3D.
  • Welcome to…
  • Unleash the Beasts.
  • Caution! Alive Inside.
  • The Park is open.
  • An Adventure 65 Million Years In The Making.
  • The most phenomenal discovery of our time… becomes the greatest adventure of all time.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107290/

IMDb Rating: 8.2/10

3C Rating: 8.0/10

Followed By:

The Lost World: Jurassic Park [1997]

Jurassic Park III [2001]

Jurassic World [2015]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom [2018]

Jurassic World: Dominion [2022]