Quick Recap: Is this really necessary? UGH. The movie is about a park full of dinosaurs that kill people and open doors dramatically. Also, Jeff Goldblum is in it and that makes everything ok in my eyes.
Fun(?) Fact: “T-Rex’s roar was a remix of sounds from a crocodile, a lion, a tiger and a baby elephant.” Sort of reminds me of a certain Smoke Monster from Lost.
My thoughts: I saw this film when it first came out in 1993 and it scared me to death. I had vivid nightmares of dinosaurs coming back to life and controlling Earth once again. Dinosaurs were serious business in 1993. Watching it as an adult though, is a completely different experience. There were several times throughout different scenes where I thought that maybe I hadn’t seen this movie after all as a kid and had imagined everything. One scene in particular that jumped out is when Dennis is spit on by the Dilophosaurus and then attacked. It’s a much funnier scene than what I remembered. The entire movie had a camp-y vibe to it. Jeff Goldblum’s character is a perfect example of that. Every line he spews is cringe-worthy as well as pure gold.
I wanted to laugh at 8 year old me for being so scared of a dinosaur movie, but there were still some scenes that made me jump. Walking out of the theater, I realized that this movie has had such a lasting effect because it is not meant to be taken seriously in any way. Spielberg himself readily admitted to changing factual details so that he could better tell the story. Yes, now we know that dinosaurs had feathers -but I think a colorful plumed T-Rex would have looked very silly in this movie. Spielberg wanted this to be enjoyable and if you take it at face value, it very much is.
Final Review: 4/5. In the words of my favorite small town newspaper, ‘A good time was had by all’.
Where I watched it: The Alamo Draft House. I especially loved all of the dinosaur shorts they showed before the movie started. I would like to think my score of this film might’ve been lower had I gone somewhere else. Excellent job, guys.
Up Next: The Red Shoes, probably.