JURASSIC PARK
A film review by Lewis Butler
Copyright 1993 Lewis Butler
I didn't write a review of JURASSIC PARK when I first saw it for many reasons, primary amongst them the fact that I was too busy standing in wide-eyed amazement at the technological wonder of the whole thing to pay the slightest bit of attention to the story, the characters, the dialog, or really any part of the movie beyond the truly amazing special effects.
However, after sitting through the movie a second time, several things came to mind, and I thought I would share them with the net.
First of all, the movie actually moves along fairly slowly once you know what's going to happen. The first time through there is a frenzied feel to the film, but once the element of surprise is gone, the movie plods along. This isn't like ALIENS where each viewing manages to preach you right back on the edge of your chair all over again, least ways not for me.
If JURASSIC PARK is viewed as it should be, a special-effects extravaganza with a thin envelope of story to hold it all together then it succeeds marvelously. If, however it is judged on the same merit scale as other films, it comes up sadly lacking.
There is a lot of preaching going on. Spielberg spends an inordinate amount of time drilling the same basic "don't f--- with Mother Nature" theme into our heads. There's no need, the action in the movie is sufficient warning to all comers.
The only characters (beside the T-Rex and the 'raptors) with any real personality seems to be Dr. Slatter (Laura Dern), the rest are just cardboard stereotypes that never seem to escape their predefined molds. Sam Neill is wasted, I think, in a role that almost any half-talented actor could have pulled off. Jeff Goldblum is either too outrageous, or not outrageous enough -- hovering somewhere in a morass of ineffectuality.
I think the mistake Spielberg made was the mistake that Lucas *didn't* make in STAR WARS, he forgot that no matter how great the effects are, the movie still has to be about *people*. With STAR WARS, the last film to shatter the special effects window, the effects are just there, literally the vehicles that the story just rides along on, the story is still a people story.
Spielberg had a choice, he could either concentrate on the the 'raptors and make them real characters, as they were in the book, or he could make a wonderful demo film for ILM. Too bad he chose the later.
Perhaps he should have looked at some of the classic horror/monster flics of the past to see what he did wrong. KING KONG for instance, or perhaps more appropriate ALIEN.
ALIEN was in many ways similar to JURASSIC PARK, "big-bad-monster- on-the-loose" but it succeeded where JURASSIC PARK failed, in making a movie that was worth seeing several times. The only reason to see JURASSIC PARK again is so you can sit back, relax, and really watch the effects. They're perfect. They're wonderful, and they're all that's there to see.
-- kreme@nyx.cs.du.edu [303/722-2009] Vox
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