Jurassic Park

After spending the '80s trying to establish himself as a "serious" director, Steven Spielberg returned to his blockbuster roots with Jurassic Park (1993), arguably his best film since Jaws. Spielberg boils Michael Crichton's jargon-heavy best-seller down to the crudest component parts - scary dinosaurs attacking humans - and creates a well-crafted, absorbing bit of matinee fun.

Scientists of the InGen company have found a way to create genetically-engineered dinosaurs. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) creates a dinosaur theme park, and invites several experts along for a tour: paleontologist Allan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sadler (Laura Dern), and his grandchildren Tim and Lex (Joseph Mazello and Ariana Richards). Things go awry when greedy programmer Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) steals embryos to sell to Hammond's competitor, sabotaging the computer system to affect his getaway. Soon the dinosaurs are on the loose, and our protagonists find themselves under attack by a variety of vicious creatures.

The plot is thin and the characters ciphers, but Spielberg makes Jurassic Park into a near-perfect adventure film. As with Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark, the movie is a collection of set-pieces strung together with a bare strand of story. Spielberg makes each scene play out like a theme park ride (hmm), with its own unique thrills: a T-Rex attack, the acid-spitting Dilophosaurus, a truck plummeting out of a tree, climbing an electric fence, hiding in the kitchen from hungry Raptors. It's not a terribly deep film, aside from some musings about Man playing God etc., but that's all for the better: unwarranted pomposity made its immediate sequel, The Lost World (1997), virtually unwatchable.

Dinosaurs are perennially popular with children, and Spielberg creates a perfect mixture of awe and wonder, interspersed with terror. A brilliant mix of animatronics and CGI by Stan Winston and Co. brings the dinosaurs to frightening, vibrant life. The impressive sound design, mixing various animal sounds into terrifying dinosaur roars and growls, also deserves mention, as does John Williams's beautiful, awe-inspiring score. The arrival at the park, where Grant and Co. first encounter a grazing Brachiosaurus, is a surprisingly beautiful moment balanced by the attack scenes later in the film. The T-Rex is a terrifying force of nature, but the intelligent, human-sized Raptors are far more frightening. With creatures like this, we can be glad that dinosaurs are no longer around.

Sam Neill and Laura Dern have fun with paper-thin characters, but acting honors go elsewhere. Richard Attenborough is wonderful, giving Hammond the perfect blend of cheeriness, arrogance and pathos. Jeff Goldblum's neurotic mathematician provides most of the film's humor and steals every scene. Bob Peck is good though Muldoon comes off as a watered-down Quint from Jaws. Wayne Knight (JFK) and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) have amusing supporting roles. Joseph Mazello and Ariana Richards are onhand as the requisite annoying kids whose computer skills improbably save the day.

Steven Spielberg would eventually gain acclaim as a serious director (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan), but Jurassic Park shows that his greatest talents lie towards mass entertainment. This is not a bad thing: in an era of disposable summer drek, we could use more directors like Spielberg.