Jurassic Park 3D

Release Date: April 5, 2013 (3D Re-release date) (Original release date: June 11, 1993)



Director: Steven Spielberg



Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum



Runtime: 127 min

Tagline: The most phenomenal discovery of our time… becomes the greatest adventure of all time.

During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.

The cause for the power outage is one of the park’s main technicians, the incredibly selfish, but somewhat funny, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), who attempts to steal the dinosaur embryos for personal gain. The incredibly lazy man thinks the best way to make some big bucks is to steal dinosaur embryos and put everyone’s life in danger.

There are only a few characters that are worth mentioning. There’s Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), a palaeontologist who is the main hero and dino guy of the story, and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), the mathematician with a personality. Laura Dern’s Ellie Sattler also is good, as is Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond, the park’s owner. The others are hardly anything to rave about, especially the grand kids of Hammond. They aren’t nearly as annoying as mostly everyone says, but you probably won’t feel the need to spend a day with them. There’s also a lawyer present, Donald Gennaro (Martin Fererro), a character who seriously needs to learn when and when not to use an outdoor restroom. But if you were killed by any living thing, wouldn’t it be kind-of cool for people to know you were killed by a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Maybe not…

The great director-composer team of Spielberg and Williams is amazing, as usual. Spielberg is a true expert when directing all these folks, and he does it so, so well. Their involvement in the film is also nothing to sneeze at (but the so-called “Veggie-saurus” might think otherwise). The cast or characters are designed to be not that memorable, because the real stars of the show are, of course, the dinosaurs! The real action heats up when the T-Rex and then the raptors join in all the fun, and let’s not overlook the a venom-spitting dilophosaurus.

The visual team deserves a serious nod in creating these beautiful dinosaurs, that are a serious marvel of modern-day filmmaking. Now, the visuals aren’t too impressive because of films like Avatar or Life of Pi, but one really has to admire the disparate achievement the visuals and dinosaurs are for the year 1993. The 3D is only okay, but it does seem to add another more modern visual layer to the film and it gives it a different feel and it could be a brand-new experience for some viewers (like me, because this being my first viewing in approximately ten years). In some scenes the 3D is incredibly blurry, but not really when the dinosaurs are on-screen and on the prowl. It’s mostly when there’s technique cinematography present, like when characters are walking uphill and there’s hill in the frame. At times, it’s hardly nice to look at. It improves as it goes on, and it’s great to see on the big screen. If 2D screenings are available in your local market, then that might be a better option, as it’s still amazing to watch. This incredibly suspenseful adrenaline rush would be a perfect choice for a family outing (don’t take small children, though!) or anyone seeking some sweet nostalgia.

95/100