A shallow movie that... defined the entire generation.

OK, now this is going to be a lo-o-ong review. I mean, as much as I love Mr. Spielberg's works, I can't... really say I was ever a big fan of this one. Partially because of the very arguable source material, partially because of the changes they've made here, but like I said, I was never a big fan. I mean, let's just face it. The original novel was typical Crichton. After Crichton finally found out what kind of fiction sells best, he started doing that certain thing that I can't... say... deserves a lot of praise. I mean, starting from certain point, most of his books followed the same exact template. Here's the rich businessman, here are the careless scientists and here are the things getting out of control. Before the Jurassic Park we've got The Terminal Man, Congo and Sphere (all of which were turned into movies), after it we've got Timeline and Prey, so... yeah. You know how those things work. Even the attempts to throw in some random scientific data were unable to hide that certain mass production aftertaste. But you know what? It didn't really matter.

I mean, while looking back at nineties, it's hard to argue with the fact that those were ruled by dinosaurs. Try to remember. It's hard to think of nineties without thinking 'bout dinosaurs, right? It's just impossible to imagine that certain time period without them. Like it's impossible to imagine eighties without Ninja Turtles, for example. Sure, the dinosaur craze started in late eighties too, but it was nineties when it got to its highest point. Partially thanks to Mr. Crichton and Mr. Spielberg. It was just that. A toy and entertainment industries were already doing that dinosaur thing. And many of us, geeky kids (who were perfectly depicted as Tim in the original novel) were already obsessed with those giant beings. How many kids can even pronounce “Procompsognathus” without problems nowadays? Back in the late eighties / early nineties, not only we did it easily, we actually knew and remembered all sorts of dinosaurs. We had books, we hard toons, we had stickers, we had toys, we had all sorts of stuff. There was something about dinosaurs that just felt very appealing to kids. And the market totally took the advantage of that. We lived and dreamed dinosaurs.

Naturally, when I saw a paperback copy of Michael Crichton's book for the first time (let's not forget about the fact that Internet in the way we know it nowadays wasn't even a thing back in the days)? I was instantly attracted to it. I mean, right in the middle of the newspaper stand there was sitting a book... about dinosaurs. With a very catchy cover and absolutely crazy title. Naturally, I've got it. Instantly. Even though that cheap old book is literally falling apart now, I still have it on me. Just because of all the memories. I've started reading it right away, in the park next to the newspaper stand, then I've continued reading it in school (because who cares about the actual studying, right?) and, well, what can I say? I enjoyed it. Sure, while re-reading it nowadays, I can easily see that it's a pretty bad fiction full of obvious mistakes (even for its time), but honestly, back in the days? I didn't really care. That's the magic of marketing for you. Sometimes? The quality doesn't really matter. Sometimes you just need some fiction with the certain names and terms in it. Not so long ago we had very similar effect in Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. It was absolutely terrible novel. And yet, when Leopardon appeared (replaced by Gundam in the movie adaptation), all the geeks were, like, YA-A-A-A-A-AY!!! WE'RE NOT ALONE WHO LOVED JAPANESE SPIDEY!!! YA-A-A-A-A-AY!!! It was the same exact thing with Mr. Crichton's Jurassic Park, There were dinosaurs. In a modern world. And they were hunting people. What else a young kid, who was already obsessed with dinosaurs, can have asked for?

Then, Mr. Spielberg's movie arrived and... wow. Just... wow. I mean, sure, it's a pretty dumb movie. For the obvious reasons, Spielberg and Co removed most of the scientific stuff and what's left was... well, just a few people running from dinosaurs. It was a pretty bare-bones experience, really. There was literally nothing new, nothing special. Nothing we didn't see already in the movies like Jaws, for example. Just some people versus some predators. But the thing is – those were not just any predators. Those were DINOSAURS. And seeing dinosaurs from our dreams coming to life? It felt absolutely fantastic. That's just it. I can't even remember any of us kids caring much about the plot here. Very often we just had this movie playing somewhere on background without even paying attention to the actual lines. We were just talking, laughing, sorting our collectibles, consuming tons of soda and going “WOW!” when dinosaurs appeared on screen. It was just... a way for us to see the “living” dinosaurs. To dive into that dangerous world of the ancient predators. And in that exact matter? This movie is awesome. Absolutely. Completely. AWESOME. The suits, the animatronics, the design, the juicy filming (for example, it's impossible not to love that night scene with the T. rex here)... It was one heck of an experience.

Also, it's hard not to notice that David Koepp, who worked on screenplay here, actually tried to fix some things. For example, both Alan Grant and John Hammond are way, WAY more interesting and balanced characters in the movie. And Jeff Goldblum with his overwhelming charm? Doing Ian Malcolm? With all the ego and black clothes? Ma-a-an... Perfect casting, quite a lot of improvements. Not all the changes are good, though. For example, I never liked the idea of switching Tim and Lex's personalities in order to focus on feminism. The original novel and its sequel had more than enough of that. By switching Tim with Alexis and adding some extra “Go, women!” lines? David Koepp just overdid it and made his script to feel a bit too woke than needed. Especially for its time. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being woke, but with so much feminism? Leading nowhere (it's just that – some extra lines and switched personalities, no proper development and / or changes in the main storyline to fit the changes)? It's just a bit out of place. Laura Dern as Ellie Sattler was more than enough for the right tone and the balance (because she's THAT awesome).

Anyway, those are just the details. While the main thing here is – what we have here is painfully shallow yet absolutely glorious experience. Jurassic Park? It manages to be both a pretty bad movie AND an amazing show. A show that defined the entire generation. When you look back at 1987 Ninja Turtles cartoon today? You're like “OMG, it's so bad... Why did we even like this crap so much?!”. Seriously, just try to re-watch it now. Especially the fourth season. You won't even believe your own eyes. Yuck! Sure, Jurassic Park is not nearly as bad as THAT. Like I said, it comes with a fantastic cast and that certain atmosphere of Steven Spielberg's works? A thing that I call Steven Spielberg's magic? It's all here. But honestly, the best thing about this one is the fact that it helped to establish the worldwide phenomenon. All the awesome new toys (I still remember those, in which we were supposed to “dig out” the dinosaurs' skeletons), video games, exhibitions, shows, comics... The real dinosaur craze? It started right here. In this exact movie. And everything in it? It became symbolic. Everything in this movie, from costumes to fonts and logos, it's totally iconic now. It's a part of our culture. Part of ourselves.

Does it really matter that it's a pretty poor movie with not enough depth and development? In this exact case, I don't think it does. Heck, even the fact that pretty much everything in this movie is considered scientifically incorrect nowadays (because FEATHERS) doesn't matter. Like in Mr. Crichton's novel, what we have here is an expensive attraction. And that is all that matters. At least, that is all that mattered back in the days. Because, I'll be honest, I felt pretty bored while re-watching this movie nowadays. And not only because playing it on background on VHS while enjoying some video games (Jurassic Park video games, of course) made me eventually remember every single scene here almost perfectly, but also because... with the dinosaur craze being long gone, it's easy to see this movie for what it is. An expensive yet shallow “humans vs. predators” flick with nothing really special about it. A big part of the original impact? It's just... gone with the time. Should we blame the movie for that, though? Like I said, I don't feel like it. Not only this movie helped to define the entire generation, it also inspired a lot of great things. It's just... let's just say that Jurassic Park is one of those dishes that are supposed to be served hot. When it gets cold? It gets cold. Sure, it's still watchable, but... I can't see myself re-watching this movie any time soon again. 4K / HDR remaster was a nice reason to re-visit it (totally loved the HDR, by the way), but honestly, that's just it for me for now. Dixi.