So over the weekend, I went to the Alternicon in my local town. Basically comicon but smaller. It was the event I worked all weekend which is why I didn't blog last Friday. So before I start my review, I'll post pictures of cosplayers I saw there and took pictures of. Enjoy
Swords and Light Sabers
Dante and Van Helsing
Who you gonna call?
Sailor Pluto
Bounty Hunter
Riddle Me This Batman
Nightwing
Itachi
Nightwing Beating Up some Villains
One Hell of a Butler and A Noblemen Child
Two-Face who happens to look like the previous Riddler... :p
Maka Albern
Black Cat
A Quinton Tarantino cosplayer with a really tall Darth Vader
Okay, time for the review.
WARNING possible spoilers WARNING
The story of Jurassic Park is similar to the story of Jurassic World, a movie I reviewed a while ago. A very wealthy person has been using scientists to genetically create dinosaurs from blood found in prehistoric mosquitoes. The movie, much like the book, has a lot of science speech in it, so if you aren't science heavy I'd skip to the last parts of the movie. Still, the plot is pretty good, with dinosaur experts and a mathematician who reports on Chaos Theory, the cast is pretty decent story wise, with a hacker in the mix of things working for a separate company. Eventually all the security on the park is shut down and the dinosaurs end up being loose. Of course due to a few accidents, the company gets separated, a few unimportant characters die, and two children and an adventuring dinosaur expert are left in the wilds of Jurassic Park.
So is the story good? Yes, very much so, there are twists and turns and enough science behind it to get you to believe this could happen. One thing about the plot in this movie is that it actually made several guesses that were later proven correct about dinosaurs which is really good. The plot doesn't have many issues with it at all actually and is a pretty good story through it all.
So I hate to draw back to my previous review, but in Jurassic World the most unimportant characters eventually got eaten. Is that a trend? I hadn't noticed but it happens here in the first movie of the series as well. There are several characters that aren't important at all, that literally get eaten and hardly anyone notices. While this may be a flaw, it is a small flaw none the less. If only other movies could remove almost pointless characters by pushing them down a dinosaur's throat. The characters that are important, are thankfully really good characters. They build and grow as characters and each one is unique enough and different enough to be somewhat relatable. the contact between these characters feels believable and the growth of each character is interesting.
People die in this movie, and it is suppose to drive a "oh man that dinosaur ate that guy" moment, rather then an emotionally sad response, hence why it is typically the pointless characters no one remembers much that typically get eaten. Only two characters invoke a slightly different response, and while it seems bad, it isn't. This is actually a pretty decent tactic for emotional pull, trying to focus more on the action and suspense rather then the reflection of death. The action and suspense then turn out to be really well done.
I almost don't need to take the movie's age into account here. The special effects are that good. Even the CGI is barely noticeable, though it is there and yes it is at times visible, though it is still light in the movie, there are still animatronics in the movie, and they work rather well. One thing about this movie is despite dinosaurs being somewhat antagonistic towards the humans, they are still animals and will behave as such. The lighting is really clever at times too, especially around night scenes. A few issues coming out with age, but not many.
There are certain liberties with some of the dinosaur designs, but for the most part, this is a great blend of science fiction and a reflection of life and nature as well as the consequences that come with it. There are a few flaws, like security locks only being run by the computer, but for the most part, the movie and its creative sense is awe inspiring, and has been for years. This movie still has the same creative chops it has had for years, so this part will always hold up.
If you haven't watched this movie, go do so. There are hardly any reasons this movie shouldn't be apart of your movie collection and it comes highly recommended, and despite age, it still holds up to this day. With an interesting emotional tactic, excellent characters who aren't eaten, a wonderful plot, great creativity and thought provoking, as well as great scenes that still work to this day with only a few hiccups here and there even compared to today's standard. It isn't hard to see why this movie was the highest grossing movie of its time until Titanic came along.