Jurassic Park (1993)

Film: Jurassic Park

Director: Steven Spielberg

Country: USA

Released: June 1993

Runtime: 127 minutes

Genre: Science Fiction

Studio: Amblin Entertainment / Universal

Influenced: Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, Colin Trevorrow, Patty Jenkins

Arguably Spielberg's greatest gift to cinema is his ability to bring to life on screen the creatures that figure large in all our imaginations from childhood, whether that's aliens (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.), great white sharks (Jaws) or dinosaurs (Jurassic Park). Watching the behind the scenes footage from Jurassic Park, especially the early pre-production meetings, you can can see the time and effort that Spielberg and his team invested in thinking about the movements, behaviour and even the breathing of the velociraptors and T-Rex dinosaurs that would feature in the film. Previous movies such as The Lost World (1960) and The Land That Time Forgot (1974) had tried to bring dinosaurs to life on screen, using puppetry and stop-motion animation, but what made Spielberg's attempt so successful was the CGI modelling and animation made possible by Dennis Muren, who was a key member of the team at George Lucas' visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).

Based on Michael Crichton's 1990 novel of the same name, Jurassic Park was conceived by the writer as a cautionary tale about genetic engineering and scientific overreach. Spielberg was so drawn to Crichton's concept that he secured the film rights even before the novel was published, and invited the author and screenwriter David Koepp to work on the screenplay together. The film's long and laborious production involved extensive collaboration between Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, Universal Pictures and ILM. The plot centres around the creation of a dinosaur theme park, Jurassic Park, on a remote island by billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), who explains – during a memorable early animation scene – how the dinosaurs came to be genetically engineered using ancient DNA. Among Hammond's audience, brought in as visitors to evaluate the park's safety, are paleontologist Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Dr Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum).

After the initial sense of wonder at what Hammond has created, chaos quickly ensues when a disgruntled employee sabotages the park's security, leading to a power outage. This causes the dinosaurs to escape and puts the lives of the visitors in danger, and the film follows the group's struggle to survive and escape the island as they face various encounters with the resident dinosaurs. One of Jurassic Park's most iconic scenes is the T-Rex attack on the tour vehicles during a thunderstorm, a groundbreaking achievement in cinematic suspense and realism. As well as ILM's pioneering use of CGI in the film, setting new standards for visual effects and digital animation, Spielberg also relied on the use of animatronics, created by Stan Winston Studios, blending them seamlessly with the CGI to bring the dinosaurs to life. 

Also of key importance to the film is the sound, including the memorable and evocative musical score by John Williams, notably the main theme, which has become an integral part of the film's identity. Spielberg and sound designer Gary Rydstrom also cleverly use environmental sounds and silence to build tension, while the film's iconic dinosaur roars were created by blending the sounds of various animals, including elephants, tigers and alligators. Perhaps the film's only flaw is the lack of research (in some cases) about dinosaur behaviour and appearance; for example, the dilophosaurus in the film is portrayed inaccurately with venom-spitting abilities, while velociraptors were in fact feathered animals. 

Nonetheless, Jurassic Park was a massive critical and commercial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of all time at its release, and winning three Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. No film in my childhood felt like such a must-see event, and the film's impact on popular culture has been immense, leading to sequels (shout-out to the spinosaurus vs T-Rex scene in Jurassic Park 3), video games, merchandise and theme park attractions.