Jurassic Park returns to a time ‘When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth’
By Judy Berman
An unseen menace terrorizes a tiny island off Costa Rica.
It’s the premier attraction in a new theme park – Jurassic Park – that will feature living dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are the main event in this Steven Spielberg movie (the first one released in 1993 is now in theaters in 3D).
But there is much more to this film. Spielberg’s “basic ideas are family values, illumination and flight,” said Douglas Brode, author of “The Films of Steven Spielberg” and film professor at Syracuse University.
At night, as workers maneuver a crate near the gates, the creature inside attempts to escape and kills one of the workers as they try to contain it.
The dark side of greed emerges when Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) gleefully embraces a satchel filled with money. In return, he’s to steal dinosaur embryos from the park and turn them over to his boss’s competitor.
Miners in the Dominican Republic find golden amber that appears to be lit from within. One holds it up for us to admire. We see a mosquito from antiquity that once sucked a dinosaur’s blood.
When that blood is extracted, scientists at John Hammond’s (Richard Attenborough) lab use the DNA to create animals that roamed the earth millions of years ago. Tyrannosaurus rex (T-rex) and Velociraptor are among the park’s deadly predators.
After that fatal attack, Hammond persuades two scientists – paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and his girlfriend, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) – to visit and endorse his park. If they do, Hammond says he’ll then get approval to open. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), a chaos theorist, and an attorney, Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero), join them.
They gasp in amazement when they first see gentle plant-eating dinosaurs, Brachiosaurus, roam the park. Dr. Grant says dinosaurs are distant relatives of birds – not reptiles – and later wonders when they learned to fly.
But they’re concerned about the living biological attractions.
”Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they did not stop to think if they should,” Dr. Malcolm tells Hammond.
The T-rex in a museum is scary enough.
Hammond tries to reassure them. He sends Grant, Sattler, Malcolm and Gennaro off with his two grandchildren, Lex and Tim, to tour the park in a computer-controlled Ford Explorer.
The tour is disappointing. The T-rex and Velociprators are a no-show. The Triceratops is sick, and Sattler stays behind to help the ailing creature. A tropical storm is approaching and the tour cars break down.
Nedry takes advantage of the chaos and deactivates the park’s security system so he can gain access to a secure area and steal the embryos. This also deactivates most of the park’s 10,000-volt electric fences that contain the T-rex. Soon, the stalled tour has an uninvited guest.
“The villainous Nedry loses his glasses (his source of light) at a key moment during his attempted escape. The Dilophosaur that stalks him, at first sight appears to be as harmless as a puppy. … he is unaware of the creature’s killer instincts, and suffers the consequences,” Brode writes in “Spielberg.”
Frustrated, Hammond and Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) decide to shut down the command center’s whole computer system and then reboot it. This disables the remaining fences and two Velociraptors are now on the loose.
Back on the tour, a sound of thunder as the ground vibrates. Water begins to tremble in glasses on the dash, signaling the T-rex’s approach. The attorney (Gennaro) flees the vehicle and races to a port-a-john, leaving the kids alone.
Lex finds a powerful searchlight and turns it on. This attracts T-rex. He kicks the car over and attacks it. Grant jumps out of the Ford, shouts at the T-rex and throws a flare. Malcolm joins him and yells as he also attempts to divert T-rex away from the children.
T-rex breaks into the port-a-potty and devours the attorney. T-rex returns to the vehicle and knocks it over the ledge. Grant and Lex escape. He tells Lex to hide while he returns for her brother.
She stammers, “He left us,” referring to the attorney.
Grant reassures her that he will be back. Grant rescues Tim. It’s night, and he takes the frightened children up a tree to sleep. When they awake, Lex is startled to see Brachiosaurus grazing nearby, but soon warms to them.
Later, Grant spots recently hatched dinosaur eggs, a reminder of Malcolm’s warning that “life will find a way.” The dinosaurs, who were all supposed to be female, are breeding.
On their return, they evade a Gallimimus stampede. “They’re like a flock of birds evading a predator,” Grant notes, and Tim points out “they’re flocking our way.” A T-rex attacks one of the “herd.”
Malcolm, who was injured in this skirmish, is rescued by Sattler and game warden Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck). The empty car gives them hope that the kids are safe with Grant. Then Malcolm sees the puddle in the T-rex’s footprint vibrating – an impact tremor.
T-rex is returning. They flee in a car with the T-rex in hot pursuit.
The ground trembles as the T-rex returns.
“Think they’ll have that on the tour,” Dr. Malcolm says sarcastically as they narrowly escape.
No one is safe. Restoring the compound’s power creates hazards of its own. The T-rex and the Veliciraptors invade the compound. The humans – in their ever-dwindling numbers – require outside help in their flight to safety.
What did you think of Steven Spielberg’s original Jurassic Park movies? Will you see the one in 3-D? (I think the original movie does hold up. It’s great to see it on the big screen, but I don’t believe the 3-D version adds anything.)
Movie Trailer – JurassicPark - (1993) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bim7RtKXv90
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(link to Jurassic Park 3D movie trailer) http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/jurassic-park/
Photo: Jurassic Park – gate and dinosaur’s shadow http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/26900000/Jurassic-Park-wallpaper-jurassic-park-26962232-800-600.jpg
Photo: T-rex, (Tyrannosaurus rex), Palais de la Découverte, Paris, Copyright © 2005 David Monniaux http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Palais_de_la_Decouverte_Tyrannosaurus_rex_p1050040.jpg/594px-Palais_de_la_Decouverte_Tyrannosaurus_rex_p1050040.jpg
Photo: Tyrannosaurus rex (T-rex) footprint, size comparison. Taken at the “Museum of Science” by Chris Kirkman http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Trex_footprint.jpg/399px-Trex_footprint.jpg
