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Member since:02.07.2005
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* * * Please note: This review first appeared on www.dooyoo.co.uk under my dooyoo alias of dlb74 * * *
It's hard to believe that it's been 13 years since Steven Spielberg's dinosaur epic hit the cinema screens. In the run-up to the release of the film, we'd been hearing the usual studio hype such as the fact that you wouldn't have seen anything quite like Jurassic Park before.
This time, they were right.
I have to say I was completely and utterly blown away by Jurassic Park the first time I saw it in the cinema. It was packed full of the sort of thrills that you would expect from a Steven Spielberg film. The man certainly knows his stuff and appears to have the ability of having the entire audience on the edge of it's seat - or maybe even under it - without even trying!
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THE PLOT:
The story revolves around the character of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), a some-what eccentric but very rich old man who runs the Ingen corporation and has invested in the extraction of dinosaur DNA from pre-historic mosquitoes that sucked the blood of the dinos before being entrapped in tree-sap that became amber over millions of years.
From this DNA, he has cloned living, breathing dinosaurs and placed them into the ultimate theme park for the public - Jurassic Park.
However, the problem is he needs to get endorsement from several reputable people - namely dinosaur expert, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), palaeobotanist, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician and chaos theorist, Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Hammond has grudgingly allowed his lawyer to be present too - so that he can show off his work and discover the full financial potential of this amazing place.
The group
is also joined by Hammond's visiting grand-children - much to the displeasure of Alan Grant - who doesn't like children.
Of course, all does not go to plan - and spectacularly so. A tropical storm hits the island during the first "tour" of the park. Matters take a huge turn for the worse when a greedy employee of Jurassic Park hacks into the computer system and shuts down power in a majority of the park in order to steal frozen dinosaur embryos - which are to be bought by a rival company of Ingen. Unfortunately the power is also shut down on the electric jeeps that are carrying the group as well as that of the electric security fences that contain some of the park's more dangerous inhabitants.
As the dinosaurs escape into the stormy night, the stranded group have to run for their lives from one incredible peril to another. Meanwhile, back in the control room, Hammond tries to get the power back online along with the one remaining member of his technical team, Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson - and as this is a Spielberg film, don't be expecting Sam to come out with "God-damn! There are mother-f**king dinosaurs running around Jurassic mother-f**king Park!!!").
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THE ACTING:
The acting in Jurassic Park is very good - with a great cast working convincingly well against the dinosaurs. It's one of those rare films that I could probably count on one (okay... well maybe two) hand(s) - where you not only care about the characters but actually feel very scared for them.
The kids in the film are very convincingly terrified with their dino-encounters while the adults try to keep a cool head - even though they're just as scared. The cast works very well together - Sam Neill and Laura Dern are convincing as the romantically involved couple while Jeff Goldblum is great as Ian Malcolm and manages to bring a lot of humour to the film which is a welcome relief between some of the thrills and frights.
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THE SPECIAL EFFECTS:
Considering that Jurassic Park is now about 13 years old and still looks as good now as it did upon it's release says pretty much all that needs to be said about the special effects. They were special then and are still special now. The seamless blend of CGI from Industrial Light and Magic along with the incredible on-set puppets created by Stan Winston and Phil Tippett is so convincing, you never have time to stop to draw your breath - let alone doubt the dinosaurs that are running amok on the screen!
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THE MUSIC:
I couldn't possibly review this film with mentioning John Williams' stirring score. From the memorable main theme, the score ranges from very quiet tracks right up to some very suitably tense music to accompany the on-screen action.
I would easily rate this alongside some of John Williams' other classic scores such as Star Wars, Superman and E.T. etc...
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MY HISTORY WITH THIS FILM:
As I mentioned above, I was blown away by Jurassic Park upon seeing it on the big screen for the first time - and went to see it a total of 7 times if my memory serves me correctly. I remember that when I knew a big scare was coming, I would watch the entire audience jumping in their seats. An absolutely perfect response from a master film director.
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THE DVD:
This is the first version of the Region 2 DVD that I'm reviewing here as I bought my copy before the entire Jurassic Park was re-released as a four disc boxset.
The picture and sound quality is absolutely brilliant.
Sadly, there is no commentary track from Spielberg as he never records them - being of the impression that it's unthinkable for anyone - including himself - to talk over a film... Why worry? It would just further the cinema experience at home!
Presentation ratio: 1.85:1 Anamorphic PAL
Available languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 German Dolby Digital 5.1 English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Although I don't have the world's most incredible surround system (no DTS - just 5.1) I can say that Jurassic Park sounded amazing and gave my speaker system one hell of a work-out! My floor rumbled during the scene where the T-Rex first breaches the fence around her enclosure as a thunder storm rages overhead. The sound was so intense it had me wiping beads of sweat from my forehead. It was that good.
The extras are pretty extensive too:
"The Making Of Jurassic Park" - 50 minute documentary which details the production of this incredible movie.
"Early Pre-Production Meetings" - featurette - which is very unusual and at the same time very insightful. This shows Spielberg and company getting together with ideas and plans for the film. It certainly shows us something we rarely get to see.
There are several storyboards including: "T-Rex Attacks", "Jeep Chase", "Velociraptor In The Kitchen", Omitted "Baby Trike Scene" and "Original Ending" which are all very interesting - especially with the storyboards for the scenes that never made it into the final film.
"Phil Tippett Animatics: Raptors In The Kitchen" - featurette which was a test to see whether or not the scene could be carried off with a Ray Harryhausen-esque effect. Obviously, the ideas changed before the film was made but this is still a very interesting chance to see one of their experimentations that didn't make it into the film.
Among the other extensive extras are:
Production photographs, a dinosaur encyclopaedia, talent profiles of the cast and crew.
There are trailers for Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park: The Lost World and a teaser trailer for Jurassic Park III.
There are some extra DVD-rom features including: - Screen Savers - Web Links and - Live JP III Events
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MY CONCLUSION:
This film is aging very well indeed - and should still look good in another 13 years. As convincing as the dinosaurs are, they would be nothing without a reliable cast of human characters - and this film delivers on that count too!
A monster movie of epic proportions, Jurassic Park thrills in all the ways you'd expect from a master director at the top of his game. 100% Spielberg magic! A magical, dino-filled thrill ride of a movie... What else can I say?
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
On remote Isla Nuba entrepreneur John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has built the ... more
ultimate theme-park, populated by genetically engineered dinosaurs painstakingly reconstructed from DNA extracted from prehistoric amber... and, of course, frogs! Adapte...
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Sep 3rd, 2006
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