Jurassic Park is one of the greatest movies of all time. You know this, because you’ve seen it. Everybody on Earth should see Jurassic Park and if you haven’t then hold on to your butts because you’re in for one hell of a ride. It might be strange for some of you to learn that Jurassic Park is 20 years old. The film came out on June 11 1993 and was at one point the highest grossing film of all time with over $914 million in the bank; beating out Spielberg’s own E.T. which had approximately $777.9 million at the time of Jurassic Park’s release (E.T. gained more money because of its own 20th re-release in 2002 and currently sits at $792.9 million, the 40th highest grossing film of all time). As of right now, Jurassic Park is the 25th highest grossing movie of all time becoming the fourth highest grossing film of the 20th century.
What I’m trying to get at is, a lot of you have seen Jurassic Park and millions more have seen the movie on home release, myself included. I watched Jurassic Park for the first time a couple of years ago and it didn’t take long before I declared it one of my favourite movies of all time. I wish I was sitting in the theatre in 1993 and being blown away seeing the Brachiosaurus chowing on some leaves. For 1993, your jaws must’ve dropped as mine did watching it on HBO a couple of years ago. Now, my wish has been granted and I had the opportunity to see Jurassic Park on the big screen and, for the first time in IMAX 3D. After seeing the trailer when I saw other IMAX movies (and seeing a good chunk of the T-Rex destroying the van scene when I saw OZ in IMAX, I became really excited to see a movie that I practically know by heart. So, was my dream fulfilled? Was it worth the wait and anticipation and most importantly, is it worth returning to Jurassic Park? A movie that millions of people made one of the highest grossing films of all time? Thank the lord, the answer is yes. Jurassic Park 3D is an incredible experience and one I recommend to everybody.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IesovZQR4g[/youtube]
Does the Movie Hold Up?
There’s no point in going into how awesome Jurassic Park is. Writing this review, I don’t even know where to begin. The movie was adapted from a novel by Michael Crichton (who also wrote the screenplay for the movie along with David Koepp). The story is so smart and one of the greatest movie premises of all time. We bring back the Dinosaurs for an amusement park, things unsurprisingly go wrong, and now these poor people are stuck on an island, with no electricity to contact help, against dinosaurs that can tear them to shreds in seconds. The story is so good and should interest any Science Fiction or Horror fan. The movie is also very well written with great performances by the entire cast. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Richard Attenborough, Wayne Knight, Samuel L. Jackson, and especially Jeff Goldblum are all great in this movie and surprisingly, the kid actors, Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello, did a very good job too.
Visual Effects
But the best part of Jurassic Park is the visual effects. These dinosaurs look incredible and even 20 years later, they are some of the best visual effects I’ve ever seen. Older visual effects are so easy to disappoint as technology keeps getting better and we are getting accustomed to newer and cooler visuals. Jurassic Park’s visuals not only match but annihilate most visual effects today. You are still going to be blown away by the beauty of this movie, even in 3D.
3D
Speaking of the 3D, I can honestly say, it’s some of the best 3D I’ve ever seen. I had high expectations from the trailers and the movie absolutely knocked it out of the park. The added dimension brings you into what is already a hugely engrossing movie. Whenever a dinosaur sticks their head out of the screen and you see the added depth to the environments, your mouth is going to drop like its 1993.
Remastered Sound Effects
Also, apparently the sound effects were also remastered which in IMAX made it all the more awesome. I personally didn’t notice too much of a sound difference but when watching an IMAX film, you’re going to be impressed no matter what. John Williams’ phenomenal score, the roars of the T-Rex, and Jeff Goldblum’s great dialogue are just a few of the stand outs when it comes to the audio.
IMAX
Finally, I do recommend seeing the film in IMAX. I don’t care if the nearest IMAX theater is an hour away, it is worth it. Not only are the 3D and audio going to be that much cooler but the movie actually took up the whole screen. If you aren’t familiar with IMAX, most movies don’t take up the whole screen and are letterboxed. Only if an IMAX camera was used (like in The Dark Knight Rises) or if the aspect ratio is opened during editing (like in Skyfall) will the movie take up the whole screen. The editors of Jurassic Park took the Skyfall route (since the movie was not filmed with an IMAX camera) and bumped up the aspect ratio. It only brought me into the experience that much more and I applaud the editors for doing so.
Overall
I don’t care if you’re against the re-releasing of movies in 3D, Jurassic Park 3D is well worth the cash. Not only is Jurassic Park a joy to see on the big screen but the editors did a wonderful job with the 3D, sound effects, and IMAX. I can’t recommend Jurassic Park 3D enough, it’s one of the coolest movie experiences I have ever had.
For reviews and more from Petey Oneto, you can check out his blog or check back with Resident Entertainment for more of his posts in the future.