On my girlfriend's big list of films she hasn't seen, there are several quite ridiculous entries, of which the biggest was possibly Jurassic Park. Just how someone can be a kid in the 1990s and not manage to see Jurassic Park is a serious mystery. The fact that as I write this Jurassic Park is available for free on Amazon Prime is something to just be thankful for.
Just in case you've been living under a stone for your whole life - a plot summary: John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) is an unthinkably rich former flea circus operator who has harnessed the power of science to create actual, real-life dinosaurs. He has created a theme park to house the dinosaurs and wants a seal of approval from some actual palaeontologists - enter Sam Neil and Laura Dern. What follows is part theme park ride, part horror, part story of the hubris of man - but mostly a tale about family. It is one of the most famous, and high-earning films of all time. The film's logo is iconic. There have been any number of sequel and spin-offs. The film's place in cinema history is certain.
The success of Jurassic Park lies mainly in the special effects that even 27 years on still just holds up. Actual dinosaurs. But the success also lies in the way the film sits exactly on the line between not enough and too much. Just enough to scare the kids, not too much to get a 15 certificate. Just enough about family to tug at heart strings, but never straying into cheese. Its final hour is relentlessly paced, but with a set-up so well-crafted that each mini crisis flows perfectly into the next without being at all repetitive. The film's effects are the film's primary draw, but it is instructive to reflect on its structure, and how well Spielberg sticks to the maxim of show-don't-tell. Witness the scene introducing Sean Neil's character, in a series of simple interactions we learn Alan Grant 1) is a palaeontologist 2) doesn't like kids and 3) likes partner-in-dinosaurs Ellie. We also learn that a T-Rex sees with motion and that Velociraptors hunt in packs and the ones you don't see are the ones that get you. All simple, natural, character-building dialogue. It's done again when mathematician Jeff Goldblum explains Chaos Theory to the audience through the medium of flirting with Ellie. And then again when Hammond tells everyone his backstory. By the time the film ramps up into chase mode at some point in the middle of the second act we are armed with all the knowledge needed to understand every movement and beat of what's to come. This is how you make films. Spielberg really is a master.
So regardless of if you've seen it before (I will assume you have) or not - Jurassic Park is still great.
