Jurassic Park

[...]

 

"Welcome to Jurassic Park!"

 

 

Once upon a time in November 1990, an author named Michael Crichton made a novel by the name of Jurassic Park. What was it about? A preserve on Costa Rica that contains cloned dinosaurs (where they eventually wreak havoc on the island), known as the theme park, Jurassic Park. It received mainly good reviews by critics and became a bestseller.

 

 

Then, one of the biggest names in Hollywood and one of the most influential filmmakers of all-time, Steven Spielberg, made a film adaptation of the novel, which was released in the summer of 1993. It became an instant blockbuster, beating another previous film by Spielberg (E.T.) to become the highest grossing film of all-time, totaling at $914 million worldwide on a $63 million production budget. The film was also renowned for it's groundbreaking use in visual effects, and becoming a landmark for many CGI blockbusters today. It even went as far to win 3 Oscars (Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects), 19 other awards, and 15 nominations. Oh yeah, and the novel got more attention due to the film, making Michael Crichton one of the most known authors of the '90s.

 

 

In 1995, by constant urging by fans and critics alike, Crichton made a sequel to the original novel named The Lost World. Then, Spielberg would come to a film adaptation of The Lost World, serving as a sequel to the first film, with it having a darker tone in order to appeal to fans. With 4 years of anticipation and hype, The Lost World was finally released in the summer of 1997. Despite it having major success in the box office, taking $618 million worldwide, it garnered mixed reviews, with criticism mostly towards the plot and characters. The Lost World even went as far to be nominated for three categories in the Golden Raspberry Awards (Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake Or Sequel, Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property).

 

 

The year is 2001, and Michael Crichton hasn't made a Jurassic Park novel after Lost World, and Steven Spielberg had already come to release his latest directorial work, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. This film however, is by Joe Johnston, who is mostly known for his work at the special effects company Industrial Light & Magic, (who worked on films such as the Star Wars saga, Indiana Jones films, Jurassic Park, etc.) and his directorial works such as Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and Jumanji. Spielberg stayed on board as the executive producer for the film, and it was the only JP film not based of a novel by Michael Crichton. After 4 years after the release of The Lost World, Jurassic Park III was released in July 2001, to much lesser commercial success than it's predecessors (only $318 million worldwide), and was even received worse than The Lost World, earning mixed to negative reviews. It again, like it's predecessor was also nominated for a Razzie (Worst Sequel Or Remake). A sequel to this film, Jurassic Park 4 is planned to be released on June 13, 2014 and directed by Colin Trevorrow and Spielberg as the executive producer.

 

What do I think of the JP franchise? Well, let ol' Uncle Felix tell you a story. I first got my glimpse of JP in 2007, when my mom had the film on DVD and showed it to me. I already had a huge love for dinosaurs before, so my mom thought I'd love this film. And I did. There's so much to love about the first Jurassic Park, a memorable cast mixed with great writing, great visual effects and animation that hold up to this day, the amazing score by John Williams, and it's grand sense of spectacle and adventure. Truly one of Spielberg's best for me, and one of my favorite films of all-time. I can't really say anything on The Lost World as I have yet to see it, but I'll say this. Jurassic Park III was awful. Banal cast and writing, no real sense of horror or terror, and it just felt like a blatant cash-grab just to show more dinosaurs on the screen for an hour and 30 minutes. I am highly excited for the 3D release this Friday (happy 20th anniversary, Jurassic Park!), and I'm cautiously optimistic about JP4.

 

So, SSMB, what do you think of the franchise known of Jurassic Park, and what memories and thoughts do you have about the films, video games, novels, or anything else?

Edited April 3, 2013 by Felix

[Goldenlink64]

Coming from a person who doesn't really care that much for movies, oh man, I LOVE Jurassic Park! Well, the first one at least. I've seen glimpses of 2 and 3 but they don't look very good in comparison. Watching the first movie is just great. I feel for these characters because they're all very likable, and I wanna see them escape/live from this disaster. It's all set up so well so watching them try to escape is so entertaining.

 

I noticed though is that watching this movie gives me a similar feeling to when I play Resident Evil; A feeling of Survival Horror. Kinda makes me wonder why Capcom never tried to make a game similar to this.

 

I'm serious, these dinosaurs (or at least how they're used) can be just as terrifying as the zombies in Resident Evil, I really think a survival horror staring dinosaurs has the potential to be REALLY good and- huh? Wait.........dino what?

Oh yeah, Dino Crisis! ...I really should get around to playing this game one of these days, I hear it's pretty good. haha

 

But yeah, really good, actually no... Amazing movie, pretty much a masterpiece of cinema. I would love to see a sequel just as good in terms of quality, but something this good is just so hard to compete with. If they can do it though, I'm good for another awesome film.

[Elseb]

Sonic in Jurassic Park. That is the most amazing idea i have ever heard of. EVER.

 

Jurassic Park is a fantastic film. The book is amazing!

[pppp]

Sonic in Jurassic Park. That is the most amazing idea i have ever heard of. EVER.

 

 

 

There you go

[MamboCat]

I freakin' looooooooooooove Jurassic Park. I saw the film when I was a kid (totally wasn't scared at any point!) then read the books when I was a teenager. Such a great scifi franchise with some pretty plausible sounding science! haha! Got people interested in cloning and what not, didn't it? :B However I feel the second and third (the third especially) are nowhere near as good. The first film has aged very well, mind...

 

Sometimes when discussing the film I do go into nerd rage mode and go on and on about how the velociraptors were the wrong size, looked more like snakes than birds, might have been a different species etc etc... but I'll spare you that boring stuff!

 

I have to say that seeing the films first made the books a bit... confusing. As Malcolm often goes into great detail (I seem to remember the beginning of every chapter shows a diagram of chaos theory with his explanation...). The characters are slightly different (Lex and Tim were swapped in terms of age, personality and skills...) and there are extra dinosaurs that weren't in the film. Juvenile TRex springs to mind...

 

Sonic in Jurassic Park?! Oh geez... I saw Sonic in Jaws and thought it was pretty funny. Nice to see another Spielberg classic getting the same treatment! So, who will get eaten whilst on the toilet I wonder? Hmmm....

Edited April 3, 2013 by MamboCat

[Kaze_Senshi]

Oh Jurassic Park, I played a lot of JP games when I was a child like the platformer one from Genesis. The co-op platformer from SNES and the top-down game too, also there are that fighting game from PSX

 

[...]

Today is the day, I say! Jurassic Park is now back in theaters!

 

Edited April 5, 2013 by Felix

[MamboCat]

Oooooooooooh the Jurassic Park Mega Drive game... ahh I remember the Dr Grant levels being absolutely awful. Playing as a raptor was fun, though. Eating compies and stuff...

[Death the Kid]

Loved the first two films, but especially the first..that was simply a master piece, and seeing long deceased animals such as the dinosaurs be brought to life on the big screen was simply awesome - I never actually saw the movie in theaters, but I did get to watch it because my cousin had it for VCR. my reaction? loved every single minute of it. The Lost World was great too, serving as a good sequel..but 3? Ehh...okay, I'll admit it wasn't really the same as the last two, not having nearly as much of the thrills and like Felix said, felt more like a rehash more than anything.

 

However, with the original film being re-released into theaters and in 3D? you can bet your ass I'll go see it! this is gonna look great in Imax... 

[Tornado]

I would go watch the first movie in theaters again, but I just want to watch the first movie in theaters again. I don't want to see it in 3D, which basically kills it.

[...]

I would go watch the first movie in theaters again, but I just want to watch the first movie in theaters again. I don't want to see it in 3D, which basically kills it.

 

I don't really mind 3D, but I agree with this. I'd rather they would've released it in both 3D and the normal version.

[Tori Himemiya]

Jurassic Park was pretty much my childhood and now I have a chance to see it in theaters.

So count Crow in for MOOOOOOOOVIES.

[Tornado]

I don't really mind 3D, but I agree with this. I'd rather they would've released it in both 3D and the normal version.

 

I meant "it kills my ability to go see it in theaters now that it is there again" rather than "it kills the movie."

 

 

Nearest theater is 10 minutes away by foot. The nearest 3D theater is 45 minutes away by car. Plus 3D movies cost more to see. Fuck that noise.

[...]

Back from Jurassic Park 3D. Really made or a great cinematic experience, and it looked pretty damn good in 3D. Theater was pretty packed, and an people were laughing, screaming, and cheering, it was great. I wanna see it again tomorrow.

[Nepenthe]

I saw the re-release last night, which also counts as my first time seeing the film in its absolute entirety, so I consider this catching up on missed opportunities.

 

It's great! Little niggles of 90s film direction (let's have young kids do stupid shit like shine a flashlight around when a T-Rex is confirmed to be two feet away) are forgiven for the rest of the things the film does right: Amazing sense of scale, staging, and atmosphere that feeds the adventure tone as expected of Spielberg, 3D and animatronic effects that still hold up extremely well, good sense of pacing, especially when alternating between suspense and action, some genuinely funny jokes and dialogue between the cast, and John Williams' score. 3D conversion was Life of Pi levels of clear, and it was aided by the fact that the film was already shot with excellent depth in the first place. It was a good film-going experience.

[SonikkuXM]

I want to go see it in 3D really bad, they've supposedly enhanced the quality and sound even more than in the HD collection, and I wouldn't mind seeing the dinosaurs popping out of the screen to devour their unsuspecting prey. Just think of all the little kids freakin' out because they want to go see dinosaurs! Plus, this really is a large part of my life entirely. It has inspired a lot of projects I've been working on, and I'm absolutely in love with the work they've done at Stan Winston Studios over the years. Each movie has been very enjoyable, and when you think about the work that goes into making such an epic film, you appreciate it even more. Making and programming one of those animatronic dinosaurs is surely going to be a chore, but with the expert team behind it, it would be such a breeze.

 

Since they're going to be making a new trilogy, I've got my fingers crossed they keep the epicness. They've got a new director and cast if I remember correctly. Jurassic Park 4 is set to be released in 2014 during the summer.

 

Jurassic Park will surely captivate the new generations as well.

[lounge]

I just saw it in 3d. Awesome conversion! Hadn't seen it since I was a kid. I was really worried cause the last 3d conversion I saw, Avengers, was terrible. They cleaned off all the ugly grain so that the images were crystal clear. At first I wasn't impressed with the image quality, but once it got to the desert part with the two main characters, I was very impressed. Suddenly everything looked sharp, with great contrast, color, and depth. They shot it with great depth. For a film shot in 1992, it really did impress me how clear it looked. This really helped make the film look like it wasn't from ages ago, well aside from the wardrobe.

I also loved how they weren't afraid to show ass shots. I never noticed this as a kid, but it was nice eye candy now.

[Conando]

Psht, I saw Jurassic Park in theaters when I was FOUR; and I remember it! I wouldn't mind seeing it again, though (in theaters. I've obviously seen it like a billion times at home).

[Gabz Girl]

Love, nay, I adore Jurassic Park! I first saw it when I was around 7 or 8 years old (it scared me, but also fascinated me XP), so when The Lost World came out and was advertised like crazy. I was a HUGE Dino nut back then and I could point out how the Raptors in the movies don't look like anything like the real ones. In fact, did you know they were just a bit bigger than a Compy? But I digress...

 

The first movie is full of dark humour, has great characters, one of John Williams' best scores and the dinosaurs animatronics and CGI still looks pretty damn good to this day.

 

As for the other movies...The Lost World is enjoyable but very flawed in its story and the characters were definitely not as interesting as they were in the first one. Jurassic Park 3 on the other hand is utter shite. I REFUSE to believe a Spinosaurus could ever

KILL A T-REX!

Impossible! The Raptors also looked really silly in this one too. They had this silly feather on their head and were brightly coloured. >_>

 

Anyway, I would definitely want to see Jurassic Park in 3D, but since I live in the UK I have to wait until August to see it! Ugh.. ;w;

[goku262002]

Steve, I'am soo, soo sorry to report this:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=555028

JP4 is on hold.

[batson]

Steve, I'am soo, soo sorry to report this:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=555028

JP4 is on hold.

 

Oh fuck.

 

Jurassic Park was my absolute biggest obsession as a kid, and I was looking forward more to JP 4 than to anything else from the world of pop culture. Fuck me with a spoon.

[Speederino]

Is anyone else starting to think this movie should be renamed to Jurassic Park Forever? Ah well, at least some kind of headway is finally being made.

[Badnik Mechanic]

From the Vegas Licensing expo....

 

 

Logo, release date.

[Kareemadeem]

Jurassic Park 4 will be shot in 3D as opposed to being converted and it has also been reported that Colin Trevorrow will direct, from a script he's written with Derek Connolly. There's no clear indication how similar that script will be to the previous Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver draft. 

 

Source: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/06/18/promo-banner-jurassic-park-4-now-slated-for-2015-to-be-shot-in-3d/

[Tornado]

They're seriously going to call the movie "Jurassic Park?"

 

 

 

 

They can fuck right off.