Jurassic Park

After nearly a quarter of a century since I last saw Jurassic Park on video, I am all the more amazed at how terribly well the film works even when nostalgia is taken out of the equation, especially on the big screen with 250 other people enthusiastically reacting to it. Spielberg crafted a sophisticated yet minimally ostentatious meta-film by approaching the narrative about an amusement park as the blockbuster movie equivalent of an amusement park – from the initial promise and fascination through disappointment and cringe to the genuine wonder and physically intense roller coaster. He takes us not only to the marked visitor paths and souvenir shop, but also to the technical facilities and inside the enclosures, where a pure yet dangerous adventure awaits. He takes a similarly self-reflective approach to special effects and the revolution then underway during the production of this film, when computer-generated images were displacing animatronic puppets and optical trickery (but without the necessity of throwing his ingenuity in people’s faces as something that they should notice and appreciate). Because of that, the first Jurassic Park also has a perfect dramaturgical structure that carefully shapes viewers’ expectations and lays the groundwork for individual money shots, whose brilliance consists primarily in their framing by means of the surrounding shots, thanks to which (not only in comparison with today’s usage) the film manages to get by with a surprisingly modest number of computer-generated/enhanced shots. (15.04.2023)

I will never forget the roughly 300 m long queue (no exaggeration) for tickets in České Budějovice that stretched from the cinema along the main avenue. Nor will I forget the pictures of dinosaurs from the bulletin specially printed for the viewers of Spielberg's juggernaut, which further piqued curiosity and increased the desire to see this "technical marvel". In a way, it was a social event and everyone wanted to be there. There’s certainly one thing that cannot be denied about Jurassic Park, about which the legendary puppet animatronics director Stan Winston affectionately said that it "put him out of a job", and an unmissable entry into the history of cinema. It wasn’t the first film to feature a CGI character (the primacy is held by the animated window mosaic of the knight from Levinson's Young Sherlock Holmes), but it was the first to dare to depict the movements of a living being in a completely realistic way, and it succeeded beyond measure. But when you scrape away the skin of groundbreaking visual effects and the initial amazement, what remains in my eyes is a completely mediocre adventure story that, unlike other Spielberg cachet like E.T. or Indiana Jones, which never get old, doesn't entertain with such ease. I felt disappointment even at the time of the premiere, compounded by high expectations and a terribly muddled dubbing. Unfortunately, Jurassic Park didn't become my favourite and that hasn't changed even with repeated viewings after many years. (23.10.2007)

The older I get, the more Jurassic Park matures from an adventurous attraction for the whole family into an honorable classic that might never get old. The first brachiosaurus, the first T-Rex roar, the first electric shock. And the first film where I can't say a word about the special effects as I gaze upon the dinosaurs. The fact that this relentless ride comes from Steven Spielberg's workshop is a plot twist of its own. (28.11.2011)

The great trick revolution, or how silicon found happiness. Spielberg's creation set a new standard and opened up entirely new horizons for commercial cinema by massively involving computer effects into acted film. Unfortunately, it was forgotten that, in addition to tricks, Jurassic Park offered only cheap Crichton broth. The lizards have aged, the tricks are old, and we're left with this nicely gnawed skeleton of an adventure film that's relatively good, but not any more than that... (30.01.2004)

A flawless example of integrating CGI into the narrative. Thanks to the fact that dinosaurs also appear as attractions in the fictional world and the characters perceive them as such, they film still has a palpable “wow” effect to this day (exemplary in this respect is the scene in which the main characters first see the dinosaurs in all their glory). At the same time, it is an excellent (or reprehensible, depending on how much you despise capitalism) example of how to incorporate merchandising into the story (the uniformity of the film’s logo and the park’s logo, the “incidentally” filmed gift-shop selection). Jurassic Park is a self-assured Hollywood product that gives you your money’s worth by providing superior entertainment that works in every respect. What fascinates me the most is that its effectiveness, which only a few directors have come close to matching, comes across as simply a matter of course. 85% (15.03.2014)