Film Review - Jurassic Park

OK, I know I'm supposed to love this film. I know it made piles of cash. I know its special effects were the best ever made to date. I know all these things. But quite frankly, I was bored!

Jurassic Park did have the best special effects to date when it was released. Yes, you will believe you are looking at real dinosaurs. The big problem with Jurassic Park is the story runs out halfway through the movie, then the film is nothing more than people getting chased by animals.

There is a central theme to Jurassic Park. It's that just because we might be able to bring back an extinct species, it doesn't mean we should. Jeff Goldblum plays the chaos theorist who delivers this message, and it's very telling that as soon as Goldblum is injured, the story ends.

Sam Neill and Laura Dern play the main course for the dinosaurs. Their chemistry feels very genuine. In the early parts of the film, they are digging up dinosaur bones in the Badlands and discussing why he doesn't want kids. By the end of the film, he's learned to like kids, having gone through all the courses of a meal with them.

I can't knock this film for concept, or the creative methods used to bring it off. Most of the acting is quite good. But when you sit in a movie theater and find yourself yawning and wondering how long before the banner that reads "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" will fall across the view of the camera, there's a serious flaw in the narrative of the film. Nice try, but I want more story.

Dust Bag Full

Film Facts

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Released in 1993

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewed by Mongo