Jurassic Park - Movie Review

 

Land That Time Forgot - The T-Rexes

    I was about three or four years old when my sister sat me in front of the television so she could work on her homework. A movie called "The Land that Time Forgot" was playing on the TV, and that was the first time I was introduced to dinosaurs. I remember that at that age, I was hooked. I couldn't stop babbling about those ugly giant lizards, and boy were they weird looking. Just look at the T-Rex in the picture still on the left. That same weekend, my sister got me a T-Rex dinosaur toy that I immediately named Bruno, and he was my companion for a couple years. Yes, I was absolutely amazed by dinosaurs the moment I set eyes on them in that movie. 

  Fast forward until the summer of 1993. That summer, Steven Spielberg breaks the box office records one more time with the movie Jurassic Park. But people were extremely hyped about this movie before it even got to theaters. An amazing and very proactive advertising campaign preceded the release of the movie in theaters. Prior to the preview release, the studio had required that theaters met certain sound specification upgrades in their sound systems. Basically, the studios wanted to make sure that the dinosaur roars in the previews were as "realistic" as possible. Giant promotional displays were set in movie theaters months in advance of the release. Promotional movie tie-ins were set with major brands and retailers such as McDonald's, Mercedes Benz, Jello, Hasbro, etc. In summary, the studio made sure the movie was a promotional success before it was released. We also should factor in that the decision to make a movie out of the novel was made before the novel was even published. His author, Michael Crichton was friends with Spielberg and having discussed the plot of the novel, Spielberg had already expressed an interest to Crichton and Universal Studios in acquiring the right and directing the movie. 

    All that certainly contributed to the tremendous appeal the movie had to fans, but that wasn't all. Crichton developed a story that technology and scientifically wise, gave a lot of credence to how the company Ingen and its owner John Hammond were able to use DNA to bring back dinosaurs to life. Even at the start of the movie, while the main characters take a ride through the park, they are treated to a presentation that movie viewers also watch which explains DNA technology in basic layman's terms, and from that point on, the whole science behind the movie is made plausible for the audience. But all that would have failed if ultimately the dinosaurs in the movie didn't seem realistic, and this is where Jurassic Park captivated audiences during the summer of 1993. Just like that infamous scene where Dr. Alan Grant has to bend over to catch his breath while he observes the dinosaurs in their habitat, movie audiences around the world watch as Spielberg brought back to life dinosaurs on the big screen.  

    Just like Dr. Grant, I remember that I also had to catch my breath while I took in that view. The dinosaurs I had read so much about since I was a kid and seen so many bad movies, were actually right there in front of me, on the screen. And at that moment, I had no idea what was ahead, the infamous T-Rex scenes, the velociraptor scenes, this simply was a delightful movie. And yes, there were other messages and topics in the movie that we might not want to forget. Most of these messages come from Dr. Ian Malcom such as "Life will find a way." and "...your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." The latter one is referenced by many as a warning and criticism of the creation of nuclear weapons. 

    I feel we have discussed plenty about the marketability of this movie. And what I can learn about this movie is also something I really liked about it. The fact that they were able to take a topic that was so complicated to explain back in 1993, and found a way to break it down into layman's terms so the audience could understand it and from that point on get immersed in the plot, I think it was brilliantly done. As writers, we should invest the time and effort to explain the concepts that drive our story as simple to the reader as possible. Doing so will not only help us in providing a better experience for the reader but also in expanding the audience that we can reach with our material.