Jurassic Park (1993)

Succeeded by: Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997)

	Directed by: Steven Spielberg	COUNTRY USA Genre Science Fiction/Action NORWEGIAN TITLE Jurassic Park RUNNING TIME 127 minutes
	Produced by: Kathleen Kennedy Gerald R. Molen
	Written by (based on the novel by Michael Crichton): Michael Crichton David Koepp

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Dr. Alan Grant	Sam Neill	½
Dr. Ellie Sattler	Laura Dern	½
Ian Malcolm	Jeff Goldblum
Dr. John Hammond	Richard Attenborough	½
Tim	Joseph Mazzello	½
Lex	Ariana Richards
Arnold	Samuel L. Jackson	½
Dennis Nedry	Wayne Knight

Review

Steven Spielberg beat his own record for highest-grossing film of all time (replacing E.T.) with this light-hearted CGI blockbuster that toyed childishly with the idea of what would happen if dinosaurs were recreated based on ancient DNA. Youngsters flocked to cinemas to watch their favourite toys come alive thanks to cutting-edge digital effects, but Jurassic Park is not so much a film as it is a spectacle. Although the dinosaurs are remarkably designed and realized, and definitely evoked awe back in 1993, the interaction between them and the characters is marred by a lifelessness – an invisible shield between the very much living actors and their unmistakenly inorganic, CGI-created co-stars. The script mostly feels like a framework for showing off these visual creations and the latest computerised trickery. Spielberg’s choice of scenes and how they play out is more reminiscent of child's play than a master director at work. And as a result, the film becomes a strange bird (sic). It goes directly from intro to a protracted climax, with little or no narrative in-between, save for a rather contrived storyline about an unfaithful servant. There is an infinitude of bombastic creature horror, but it's weirdly repetitive and without any real suspense, consisting mostly of wildly improbable close calls imbued in Spielberg's most giddy Indiana Jones tone and accompanied by one of John Williams' least recognizable and effective scores.