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Jurassic Park: Reflections


Since 1993, I have been an avid fan of the Jurassic Park franchise. Who can forget when the first film was released in theaters. It was a moment of sheer magic and terror when we beheld the mighty T-Rex and those vicious Velociraptors. It wasn't until ILM and Stan Winston came together that dinosaurs finally were captured and depicted so lifelike. The magnificent process was then replicated twice more in "The Lost World Jurassic Park" and "Jurassic Park III." However, nothing can come close to the original. You can't thrill and enthrall audiences perpetually. Eventually the amazement subsides and people begin to criticize.

To this day Jurassic Park is heralded as a great achievement. It is Spielberg's masterpiece. However, despite the brilliance of the animatronic and computer generated dinosaurs; the acting and character development is considered quite weak. Alan Grant, Ian Malcom, John Hammond, Ellie Sadler, and etc are considered by most critics to be shallow and two dimensional. I frankly disagree, but even if I can admit that the characters don't have the depth of Christopher Nolan's or Tolkien's characters, I urge critics to remember that Jurassic Park is about the dinosaurs!

Since 1993, there has been a resurgence of interest in Jurassic Park. Many developers are making video games that take place during the events of the first film or shortly after the incident on Isla Nublar. Examples are Telltale's "Jurassic Park The Game" and Apple's recent release "Jurassic Park Builder." Both games capture the nostalgia of when audiences first saw the original film in theaters, only in vastly different ways. Telltale's Jurassic Park conveys the terror and sheer peril of being stuck on an island with hungry carnivores. You feel in certain segments of the game that you are really are on the Isla Nublar and that at any moment you could be eaten. Jurassic Park Builder in contrast captures the majestic and whimsical aspects of the film. It focuses more on the feel good moments, like when the chopper approaches Isla Nublar for the first time and you hear John William's iconic theme play.

There definitely is a cult following of what Michael Crichton created. I myself feel drawn back to Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna every year. I relish watching all three films back to back and I am delighted that there are still developers making games that allow fans like myself to go back and explore our favorite dino world. It would be a disservice to the memory of Michael Crichton and Stan Winston to not mention their genius. It was Crichton who penned the story we all know and it was Stan Winston that brought that vision to life. Each time we watch the scene when the T-Rex wrecks havoc in the rain or when the Raptors look for a snack in the kitchen, we can thank these two visionaries for their unquestionable brilliance.

There have been rumors for a decade that Universal Studios would produce a "Jurassic Park IV." Steven Spielberg himself has alluded to another installment in the Jurassic franchise, but thus far nothing has come to fruition. The script continues to change and the cast is never truly assembled. Fans like myself would be delighted to see another Jurassic in our lifetime, but the chances seem remote. Since Crichton's untimely death, all zeal for the project has fled. Still, we JP fans hold out hope that one day Spielberg will be so bold as to give us one more romp with our favorite "genetically engineered theme park monsters."

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