It's hard to believe that 'Jurassic Park' is on the dawn of it's 20th birthday. In 1993 people waited in long lines to see Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton's newest, truly original idea; Jurassic Park. The theatrical run of this movie was right around six months. The only time I've heard of a theatrical run that long since then was for 'Titanic.'
All the patrons waiting in line to see this stunner of a movie were waiting for a true treat. I still get excited to this day when I hear Richard Attenborough say 'Welcome to Jurassic Park.'
John Hammond had the idea of creating a theme park in Costa Rica where he would recreate through the power of genetics; dinosaurs, which have been extinct for a very long time.
At first the idea was marvelous. The select patrons he had tour the park so they could sign off on it were first amazed. A stunning shot of a Brachiosaurus eating from a tree as well as a herd of dinosaurs by a lake truly showed off the power of CGI, which was in it's infancy back in 1993. About an hour into the movie, the amazement turned to horror.
In a moment of greed, one of the computer operators turned off the power grid so he could access the dinosaur embryos to bring back to someone who wanted to exploit John Hammond's idea. However, the operator never returned and the fences began to fail all over the park with the tourists left in front of the Tyrannosaurus paddock.
Moments later, the T-Rex broke free from it's fence and began to attack the tourists. From there on out the movie took a turn towards horror.
I remember being a child and being horrified by the Velociraptors in the kitchen. It was a scene of true terror in my then childhood mind. To this day I appreciate that there are also thrills in this film not involving dinosaurs such as the perimeter fence climb.
This movie is not without fault though. To this day I still wonder how the T-Rex got into the Visitor's Center at the end to attack the Velociraptors, leaving the building fully intact.
Without further ado, I recommend this film as part of the Essential Collection. After all, how could you own movies and not grab a hold of this magnificent gem in cinematic history?
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