The first Jurassic Park movie burst into theatres in 1993. It still holds up now, almost thirty years later.
While Aaron and I were getting ready for dinner last weekend, we turned on the TV in the hotel and saw The Lost World: Jurassic Park was on one of the channels. We ended up sitting through the last half of the movie! Aaron derided the film as being a bad movie, but I dissent. Okay, it’s not the best in the Jurassic Park series, but I personally think that any Jurassic Park movie is better than mostly any other movie.
Yup. I said it.
I don’t know what part of my brain decided dinosaurs were so cool when I was a kid. Maybe it’s because the original film came out just before I was born; the following sequels had an impact on pop culture at the time, encouraging further education on the subject of dinosaurs. MAYBE. Who can say?
At any rate, I first discovered Jurassic Park was a thing at summer camp when I was six. It was called a horror movie, and I thought it’d be too scary for me to enjoy.
Some seven years later, maybe less, I was proven wrong. It was one of the first movies I ever loved.
This past week, I decided to sit down and watch all five (yes, all five) of the Jurassic Park movies. Now that it’s all fresh in my brain, I can’t understand how anyone wouldn’t like them.
The Music of Jurassic Park
Firstly, the score alone takes my breath away every time I watch any of the movies. The main theme is so triumphant and full of adventure, as you’d expect if you were to visit a theme park filled with dinosaurs! The basic piano motif is filled with wonder, the same kind of wonder you’d probably feel if you were to suddenly wake up to the face of a Brachiosaurus. I think that the score is almost instantly recognizable. That said, I will give credit where credit is due: John Williams can’t make an un-iconic film score. Two notes and you’re scared to swim in the ocean.
The Actors of Jurassic Park
Secondly, the casting of each movie defines each character. Richard Attenborough as the naively optimistic John Hammond creates a feeling that persists, even when you know where the goat is: hope. Maybe, just maybe, we COULD live in a world where dinosaurs get a second chance. Our fearless zaddy, Jeff Goldblum, as Ian Malcolm, gave us THE line of the film, and this fantastic meme that keeps on giving. Sam Neill as the primary paleontologist Alan Grant is such a strong presence in both of the films he’s seen in the Jurassic Park series that I genuinely miss him when he’s not there. I could go on and on, with Chris Pratt, baby Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn, and Bryce Dallas Howard, but instead, when it comes to casting, I’ll conclude with the two words that matter most: Laura Dern.
The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park
Thirdly, and most importantly: the dinosaurs. The first movie came out in 1993, and the CGI holds up for EACH film, however many years later. I would actually say that the CGI is the “worst” in Jurassic World, but a part of me thinks that’s intentional. In the first of the “reboot” films, Claire Dearing’s dinosaur park focuses on the new, shiny, and scary. There’s a need to be bigger, go wilder, and create new dinosaurs that are bona fide terror machines. With that in mind, the whole film feels more artificial, and lacks the warmth of the original three.
Let me make it plain: the dinosaurs in the fourth film look terrifying. They jump out at you and make you wish you’d sprung for an IMAX ticket. However, there is something about the older movies that makes the dinosaurs look real. This could be because they were using some CGI, for the nineties, but mostly just very impressive and elaborate puppets. The dinosaurs are, for all intents and purposes, right there with the actors. They put on a slightly better show!
Again, slightly.
I would say that the thing that keeps me coming back to these movies, every time, is the curiosity of it all. I think that, especially if you’ve seen the movies, you’d agree that 99% of you thinks there should never be a real-life Jurassic Park. Dinosaurs had their chance, and science wiped them out (as opposed to unfairly hunted endangered species of the modern era, as Ian Malcolm and John Hammond mention in the first film), as nature does. They should stay in the past.
But there’s always that one percent. That “… what if.”
It’s far too dangerous, unrealistic, and overall a bad idea to try to bring dinosaurs back.
But what if.
The Jurassic Park films give you that “what if,” that experience of seeing a dinosaur, even if it’s just robots on a screen. It feels real, in a way that, say, Godzilla or King Kong doesn’t.
In the third film, Alan Grant guides a married couple in a plane over one of the islands. As they get closer to the island, he sees the herds of dinosaurs congregating and running freely. Dr. Grant witnessed people die, and senseless violence occur, because of the unabashed arrogance of John Hammond’s vision. He was anti-Jurassic Park from the start.
He takes one look at those dinosaurs and says quietly, under his breath, “My God. I’d forgotten.”
That shock, that amazement, of seeing dinosaurs that close, is a whirlwind of adrenaline. Even though I’ve seen all of the original films probably more than six times, and the two reboot films at least twice now, there’s still that fraction of amazement. That “what if” lives on, every time I hear the opening notes of the score (or even ride the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios).
The sixth, and allegedly final film (to make way for a TV series, in theory), comes out in 2022. Rumors say that Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Ian Malcolm will return, as will Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard (who have been the main stars of the reboot). I am so excited to see it in theatres. I’m going to reserve DBOX seats with an ICEE and everything! It is my hope that, after a year of no new releases, and a pandemic-induced lack of movie theatre nights, Jurassic World: Dominion ushers in a new era for the summer blockbuster. Maybe people will flock to the theatres to see movies again, filling every seat, rebooting a tradition of popcorn, soda, and a cinematic masterpiece on a Saturday night.
We’ll see. As any Jurassic Park enthusiast will tell you… life finds a way.