Jurassic Park (Film Review)

1993 Universal Pictures
Directed by: Stephen Spielberg; Written by: Michael Crichton and David Koepp
Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, BD Wong, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Joseph Mazzello, and Ariana Richards
MPAA: PG-13; Running Time: 127 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 9/10

Paleontologist and computer-hater, Alan Grant, and his romantic interest, Ellie Sattler, spend their days digging for fossils in the badlands of Montana. One day, their benefactor, industrialist, John Hammond, shows up with an offer: if they visit Hammond's secret island project, Hammond will write a big fat check to keep Grant and Sattler's digs going far into the future. The only catch is that, in addition to chaos mathematician, Ian Malcom, and lawyer, Donald Gennaro, Hammond's young grandchildren are coming on the visit too, and the only thing Grant hates more than computers are children. However, no catch seems too bad for what lies in store on the island. Somehow, Hammond has cloned real life dinosaurs, bringing back the long extinct behemoths to live in our present world. The wow factor soon wears off, though, when the power goes out mid-tour, the dinosaurs escape their fences, and Grant is stranded in the dinosaur-ridden wild with the children.
If you exclude a certain boat movie, Jurassic Park is the biggest film of the 90s. Director, Stephen Spielberg, conjures magic from Michael Crichton's already pretty magical book, projecting immortal imagery into viewers minds, from a brachiosaurus stretching its long neck up to the top of a tree, to a T-Rex bellowing ferociously into the rain, to velociraptors stalking across a kitchen floor. Acting as a master craftsman, the movie maestro drew up exacting storyboards for the film, then directed other master craftsman to bring them to life, from Stan Winston and his incredible animatronics, to ILM and their incredible CGI imagery, to Dean Cundey and his immaculate cinematography, to the graphic artists and their creation of the park's iconic logo, to the sound team and their immersive audio landscapes, to John Williams and his legendary score. From a production standpoint, Spielberg spares no creative expense. Thankfully, the human element also comes through successfully.
From Sam Neill as the slowly softening, curmudgeonly Grant, to the gregarious Richard Attenborough as Hammond, to an aptly chaotic Jeff Goldblum as Malcom, to a youthful and energetic Laura Dern as Ellie, the characters here are hard to forget, even though critics at the time somehow bemoaned the film's "lack of memorable characters." Every major character here has become a hallowed element of pop culture history, and Alan Grant's excellent character arc, growing from a self-interested scientist to a makeshift family father and protector, gives the movie a giant, beating heart. The film has some issues, from guns that seem about as useful as fly swatters, to a goofy "hacker" scene, but unlike in chaos theory, history is generally kind to minor mistakes, and none of those slight missteps take away from Jurassic Park's eternal cinematic glory. 30 years after its release, Jurassic Park is not just a 90s smash hit, but a timeless classic.