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Thursday, July 4, 2013

JURASSIC PARK

Here's a film that I consider to be a real sequel to "Jaws"; a film that Steven Spielberg calls "Jaws on land"; and became such a huge hit that it just got re-released in theaters in 3-D this year. This is...

  


Scientists, a lawyer, and two children are invited to a Dinosaur themed amusement park of Dinosaurs who have been cloned and brought back to life. However, once they visit the park everything backfires and the Dinosaurs go after the humans. Why not call the film a sequel to “Jaws”, it carries the same aspect as "Jaws". It's directed by Steven Spielberg; it involves man going against monstrous animals that eat people; it has fun characters; it carries the same type of suspense as “Jaws” and believe it or not Spielberg used a T-Rex sound for the shark in some scenes. So yeah, it pretty much is a sequel to “Jaws”, or at least a spin-off. In fact, if you look carefully when you first see Wayne Knight's character on the computers, he's actually watching "Jaws".  The film can also be considered a Dinosaur version of "Frankenstein". Man tries to take on the role of God but it all ends with chaos, that's pretty much the premise of "Frankenstein". I also might as well point out that I love the premise and find it to be very creative and cool.




I'm going to admit the characters are kind of cartoony but you know what they're still fun and likable. Sam Neill as Dr.Grant gives a very good performance. What I really love about the character and performance is how his character develops from hating kids to loving them and the chemistry he shares with the two kids in the film is great. Ok, its not a deep story arc, or emotionally touching, but its still done really well. Laura Dern as Grant's girlfriend, well I'm going to be honest, her character is a bit bland but with that said I'm glad she wasn't put as the typical damsel in distress and Dern's performance is good. Richard Attenborough as the guy who runs the park who "Spares No Expense" is really fun and likable, and personally I think this is his best and iconic performance. Oh and how he says "Welcome to Jurassic Park" is just epic. The kids played by Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello, at first you think they're going to be annoying characters, but no, they're smart, innocent, likable, and are the characters that you hope that don't get eaten. Jeff Goldblum as Dr.Malcolm; I'm just going to say it; this is his best performance and is the funniest and perhaps the best character in the movie. Obviously his performance is not Oscar worthy, but you know what it's Jeff Goldblum at his Goldblumest. Much like Christopher Walken or Peter Lorre who are so odd that you just have to enjoy them in whatever role they take whether it's good or bad; Jeff Goldblum falls under that category and this film shows it. He's funny, he's cool, he's an asshole, he gets really good lines, and on top of it, his character is actually just as smart as our lead hero. On a final note that I like to do with any Jeff Goldblum performance is try counting the amount of “uhs” he says in a film. Other performances by Martin Ferrero as the lawyer; Bob Peck as the park's badass game warden; Samuel L. Jackson as the chief engineer; and Wayne Knight as the funny architect of the park's computer systems are all funny, likable, as and give a really fun performance.





Out of all these years, the special effects still hold up and are still realistic. The Dinosaurs don't look like fake CGI or animatronic Dinosaurs; they look like real Dinosaurs and look like they're really there. It was amazing then and it's still amazing now. The T-Rex, oh my god is this character awesome and scary. Screw every other T-Rex you've seen on film, this one beats them all and its roar, all I'm going to say is Godzilla eat your heart out! The build up to it, my god is it suspenseful and always keeps my heart pounding. The scenes when it tries to kill and chase our characters, man do they hold me on the edge of my seat. The T-Rex even has cool shots such as the famous rear-view mirror shot in which makes the T-Rex closer than she appears or that last shot with the T-Rex inside the visitors’ station roaring and standing like a Dinosaur bone exhibit as a banner falls down saying "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth". There's also a lot of cool and suspenseful scenes such as the kids hiding from the velociraptors; the cliff scene (Even though that cliff just came out of nowhere); The T-Rex chasing the car (Though for some reason, the car is in a completely different area, before Goldblum tells them to "Go, Go, Go"); the electric fence scene and so on and so fourth. While making the Dinosaurs scary, Spielberg also shows the gentle sides of the creatures just to show that Dinosaurs aren't all that bad. I should also mention that how the Dinosaurs are made and how it's presented is really cool and fun. Yeah it's been proven that Dinosaurs can still see you if you don't move but with that said it's a Sci-Fi fantasy, so I'm going to give that flaw a pass. As for the film’s music composed by John Williams, one word can explain it and that word is EPIC!

While the film does have its flaws it's still a great and epic film and the flaws don't really bother me or distract me in the least and I don't think it stopped the enjoyment from people who saw this film either. Just like humanity, no film is perfect, not even "The Godfather", "Citizen Kane" or heck even the original "Star Wars" trilogy (I'm not talking about flaws in enhancement). "Jurassic Park" has a creative premise; fun and likable characters; Hollywood's depiction of Dinosaurs at their best; special effects that are still amazing; a film filled with plenty of thrills; and being the true sequel to "Jaws" compared to the actual “Jaws” Sequels (By the way, Spielberg saw "Jaws" as a sequel to "Duel", don't count on a review on it for next 4th Of July though but will eventually get to that).

RATING 5/5

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