Dr. Alan Grant and Ellie Satler are a paleontologist and paleobotanist, respectively.  Their latest digs have been sponsered by John Hammond, the eccentric owner of Ingen, a bioengineering company.  When Mr. Hammond shows up at the dig, he invites Grant and Satler to visit a new park he has created, though he remians vaugue on what the park features.  Along the way, they meet Ian Malcom, a mathematician who studies Chaos Theory, a theory which states that things will go wrong, despite the best efforts to prevent such things from happening.  When they reach the island, they discover Hammond's secret, he has genetically created dinosaurs from fossilized blood.  Hammond's grandchildren arrive, and Hammond promptly sends the group on an automated tour of the park.  Things go arwry when Dennis Nedry, a computer specialist, shuts down the security systems of the park, allowing him to steal the parks secrets.  The shut down also allows the dinosaurs to escape their pens.  A struggle to survive begins as those on the tour try to make their way back to the main office, while those at the office strive to get the power back on, all the while fending off a Tyrranosaurus Rex and the scariest creatures to grace the screen yet; Velociraptors.

Availability:
    VHS:  Widescreen and Pan and Scan

Cast/Crew:
Steven Speilberg                        Producer/Director
        Always
        The Lost World: Jursassic Park
        ET the Extra Terrestrial
        Hook

Sam Neill                                   Alan Grant
        Event Horizon
        The Jungle Book (1995)

Laura Dern                                 Ellie Satler
        Rambling Rose
        Citizen Ruth

Jeff Goldblum                            Ian Malcom
        The Fly
        The Lost World:  Jurassic Park
        Independence Day
        Invasion of the Body Snatchers (remake)

Richard Attenbourough              John Hammond
        Miracle on 34th Street (remake)
        Ghandi (director)

Samuel L. Jackson                     Mr. Arnold
        Pulp Fiction
        The Negotiator
        National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon
        Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Episode 1)

Miscellaneous:
    Jurassic Park inspired a sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and a third film is in the works (Speilberg will produce, but no word if he will direct).
    The film inspired a ride at Universal Studios Hollywood; Jurassic Park, the Ride, which features a five story drop and one of the wettest splashdowns I've ever had.  The ride is actually a tangent from the book, which spoke of a river ride.  Well, as often happens at Jurrasic Park, something goes wrong, and you must try to avoid raptors and the T-Rex.  An entire island in Universal Studio Florida's new Islands of Adventure will be dedicated to Jurassic Park (opening in 2001?)
    This was one of the first films to massively use CGI to depict living, breathing animals (still, half of the dinosuars are CGI, the rest are robots).

MPAA Rating;
    PG-13  some language, dinosaurs eating/killing humans

My Rating:
    This film captures the awe most people would feel at seeing a living breathing dinosaur.  It also captures the extreme horror of being tracked by dinos that would rather kill you than gawk at you.  Young kids should stay away from the film because of the nature of the deaths.  However, the book is much more detailed in what happens in the park, as well as kills off many more people than the film does.  It's still good, even after reading the book.
    ****
J-R                                                 Night at the Movies