Jurassic Park (film)

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Plot summary

After this, Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero), a lawyer for a group of unseen investors, explains to a mining superviser that an expert must "sign-off on the island" due to the death of the worker shown in the opening scene.

paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are then invited on an all-expense-paid preview visit to Jurassic Park, a zoo-like amusement park set up by eccentric billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) on the island of Isla Nublar (near Costa Rica).

Also invited are Hammond's grandchildren Lex(Ariana Richards) and Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzello).

Hammond wishes to hear the opinions of the scientists and eventually win their approval of the park which is required of him by his lawyers before he can open the park to the public; Malcolm cites chaos theory and expresses misgivings.

The park contains dinosaurs, which have been recreated from damaged dinosaur DNA (found in mosquitoes trapped in amber that fed on Saurian blood) that have been spliced with reptilian, avian, or amphibian DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps. Hammond and his genetic engineers take great delight in explaining the ways that they created the dinosaurs.

The action begins when Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), chief programmer of the Jurassic Park controlling software, tries to steal dinosaur embryos as per a deal with Lewis Dodgson, who works for one of John Hammond's competitors, Biosyn. In order to do this, he has to turn off the electricity to the park's many electric fences (and the electronically controlled locks of the embryo chambers), and a number of dinosaurs escape from their enclosures, causing a vicious attack on the visitors by the Tyrannosaurus rex.

After a dash through the forest of the island by Alan Grant and the two children, they are reunited with everyone at the main compound. Once at the main compound, they are attacked once again by a group of Velociraptors. They are saved, however, by Lex who uses the computer systems to restart the security systems, and also by the arrival of the T. rex in the climactic final action scene.

The group finally escapes the island by a helicopter sent from the mainland. In the final scene before the credits, Grant sees a flock of birds outside the helicopter window, representing the modern descendents of the dinosaurs they just escaped.

Production

A Brachiosaurus seen by John Hammond, Alan Grant, & Ellie Sattler

The movie was filmed on the Hawaiian islands of Maui, Oahu and Kauai in September 1992. Opening on June 11, 1993.

Largely credited for the movie's success were its special effects. Through the use of CGI and conventional mechanical effects, the dinosaurs in the film appeared incredibly lifelike, due to the experience ILM had on previous effects films such as [[Terminator 2: Judgment Day]].

Music

The musical score was composed by John Williams and orchestrated by John Neufeld and Alexander Courage. Like many of Williams' scores, there is substantial use of leitmotif.

Original ending

Later when the original ending was seen as too simplistic a resolution, the skeleton was replaced with a living T. rex that attacks the raptors, saving Grant and the others.

Reaction

The Tyrannosaurus rex in the films ending sequence

The film was extremely popular, grossing $919,700,000 worldwide, the highest ever at the time, and the seventh-highest worldwide box office take for a feature film as of 2006.

The movie won Academy Awards for Visual Effects, Sound Effects Editing, and Sound, and spawned two sequels, [[The Lost World: Jurassic Park]] (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001). The third sequel, Jurassic Park IV ([IMDb]) is currently in pre-production and is rumoured for release sometime in 2008.

The film won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1994.

Jurassic Park remains one of the most well-known films of all time. It was the first notable film to animate actual animals using CGI, and many consider it to be a milestone in special effects history. The film's influence on dinosaurs in popular culture was also significant. Public interest in dinosaurs skyrocketed after the release. The film also raised public scientific understanding about dinosaurs, and helped introduce the dinosaur-bird evolutionary relationship theory into public knowledge. It was the first popular movie to portray dinosaurs relatively accurately (compared to previous films), due to paleontologist Jack Horner's guidance during filming.

Trivia

• It is reported that, following the film's release, the worldwide price of amber increased by a factor of ten. #redirect [[Template:Fact]]
• For the film version, Spielberg had a multitude of casting options for the key roles. He considered Richard Dreyfuss and William Hurt for the role of Alan Grant before choosing Sam Neill.
• Spielberg originally wanted Sigourney Weaver to play Ellie Sattler.
• Jeff Goldblum and Sir Richard Attenborough were first choices in casting.
• The UNIX interface that appears in the film is called fsn.
• The dockworker Dennis Nedry is talking to on the computer is the film's cinematographer, Dean Cundey.
• The character of Alan Grant is based on real-life paleontologist Jack Horner.
• The velociraptors depicted in the movie are not based on the actual species in question, which is significantly smaller. It was instead based on its larger relative, Deinonychus. See the Velociraptor article for a complete list of inaccuracies in the movie's portrayal.
• During production, the Utahraptor was discovered by James Kirkland, Rob Gaston, and Don Burge.
• The huge double gates shown in the movie are based on the gates used in the 1933 film King Kong, which is why Malcom references the film and also why John Williams mimics the drum beats of King Kong in that part of his score.
• The gates that the jeeps passed through in the beginning were based on the gates that separate the different habitat zones in the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
• In The Hunt for Red October (film), Sam Neill played the part of a Soviet Navy officer that dreamed of living in Montana. At the introduction to this film, it is said that Dr. Grant could never be pursuaded to leave Montana.

Changes from the novel

Many plot points from the novel were changed or dropped, and the cautionary aspect of the novel was reduced. A subplot involving animals escaping to the mainland was dropped, and the cast of dinosaurs was made smaller and more manageable. Many secondary characters were also dropped. Many scenes are left intact from the novel, but have the species of the relevant dinosaurs changed.

• In the novel, the tour vehicles are Toyota Land Cruisers, but in the movie because of Product placement by Ford Motor Company they were modified "First Generation" Ford Explorers.
• The ability for the animals to breed was only mentioned one time in the movie whereas in the book, it was a frequent problem.
• Malcolm's vitriolic monologues are toned down for the film.
• In the book, the car chase scene with the Tyrannosaur was with Muldoon and Gennaro. In the movie, the car chase scene was with Ellie, Muldoon, and Malcolm.
• The pattern of people dying and people surviving in the book is rather ironic, as in a lot of people killed in the book escape in the movie, and vice versa, e.g. Donald Gennaro escaped in the book, but was killed in the film. Whilst John Hammond dies at the hands of procompsognathids in the novel, in the film he escapes without a scratch.
• Grant's relationship with Ellie Sattler in the book was purely professional, whereas in the film they are involved romantically.
• Dr. Grant dislikes children in the film, but in the novel Grant likes them from the very beginning of the book.
• In the book, Gennaro is a sort of "everyman" character, alternating between acts of bravery (going to turn the power on, hunting the Tyrannosaurus with Muldoon, entering the Raptor nest and operating the radio after it comes back on) and cowardice (hiding in a truck from compys).
• The character of John Hammond is also distinctly different — in the book he ultimately dies at the jaws of small dinosaurs ("compys") while trying to climb a hill to his bungalow despite his broken ankle. During this climb, his head is filled with plans to rebuild somewhere else and irritation at his guests and his grandchildren.
• In the novel, Lex Murphy is younger than Tim and portrayed as a tomboy, while Tim is the one familiar with computers, and carries a dinosaur obsession. In the film, Tim is the younger of the two and his computer skills are expanded and given to Lex.
• In the book, Muldoon is a large, savvy and boisterous man of South African descent with an alcohol problem, who nonetheless dispatches several dinosaurs with a decent amount of weaponry (rockets, guns and lethal poisons). In the movie, he is very quiet, and only has one weapon at his disposal.
• One of the more noticeable differences between the book and the ending is the showdown between Grant and the Velociraptors. In the book, he lures them into a room, and kills three of them via poisoned eggs and syringes, whilst in the film a tyrannosaur storms into the museum and eats the raptors, preventing Grant and his friends from being devoured themselves.
• In the novel, the Jurassic Park staff and employees do not leave on a boat for the mainland, whereas in the film version they do, resulting in fewer deaths.
• In the book, the T. rex has a prehensile tongue and uses it to nearly devour Tim.
• During the tour, the characters get out of the Land Cruisers to see a sick Stegosaurus in the novel. In the movie, it is a sick Triceratops. There are no stegosaurs in the movies until [[The Lost World: Jurassic Park]].
• The novel has many scenes which become part of [[The Lost World: Jurassic Park]], for example the beginning incident with the girl and the "compys".
• In the novel Muldoon and Gennaro find Dennis Nedry's mangled corpse. In the film, he is forgotten after the Dilophosaurus kills him.
• At the end of the movie, the survivors merely flee the island, and the audience has no idea what happened to the remaining dinosaurs.
• A substantial portion of the book involved Dr. Grant and kids travelling down the river, and coming across an aviary where the pterodactyls were housed. This idea was ultimately used in the film, Jurassic Park III.

Biological issues

Scientists and fans of the movie have pointed out that much of what happens in the film is impossible for various reasons. However, the novel, and to a greater extent, the movie, sparked years of serious debate on the plausibility of cloning dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs and other extinct animals featured

Dennis Nedry stealing the dinosaur embryos

These are dinosaurs and other extinct animals confirmed to be on Isla Nublar in the movies:

• Brachiosaurus
• Dilophosaurus
• Gallimimus
• Triceratops
• Tyrannosaurus rex
• Velociraptor (the ones in the film more closely resemble Deinonychus)
• Parasaurolophus
• Metriacanthosaurus (seen on embryo tubes
• Proceratosaurus (seen on embryo tubes
• Stegosaurus (seen on embryo tubes and appearing in [[The Lost World: Jurassic Park]])
• Pteranodon (suggested to be on Isla Nublar by the slideshow and voiceover in the lunch meeting scene. It appears in Jurassic Park III.)
• Compsognathus (featured in the Jurassic Park video games for Sega Genesis and appearing in [[The Lost World: Jurassic Park]])
• Extinct plants are also seen in the movie.

Other media

There have been a number of Jurassic Park video games released to act as merchandise for the release of each film. The titles have appeared on a range of platforms including NES, Game Boy, Game Gear, PC:DOS/Windows, SNES, Sega Mega CD, Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive, 3DO, Arcade, PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Parodies

• "Weird Al" Yankovic released a single, Jurassic Park, parodying MacArthur Park.

• In Wayne's World 2.

• [[The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult|The Naked Gun 33⅓]] features 2 parodies: in the opening, the police car stops after being eaten by a T-Rex, and Spielberg is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director with the film "Geriatric Park".

• In the video game Beetle Adventure Racing for Nintendo 64, one of the racing courses includes a recurring T. Rex breaking through an electric fence, similar to the T. Rex scene in Jurassic Park.

• Toy Story 2 features a scene where Rex, the toy dinosaur, is seen through the rearview mirror of the toy car he is chasing. The sentence made famous by the Jurassic Park movie "Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear" is also visible on the rear-view mirror of the toy car.

• In The Simpsons episode Bart Gets an Elephant the shot where the elephant views through the window resembles the shot in Jurassic Park where the T-Rex peers through the car window.

• When the helicopter pilot brings The Simpsons to Itchy & Scratchy Land in the episode with the same name the emblem on the helicopter resembles that of the helicopter who brings visitors to the island of Jurassic Park. Also later in the episode, the electricity falls out, just like in the movie.

• In the second story of The Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror V when Homer travels back in time he arrives in the dinosaur age. The music in the background resembles John Williams' score for Jurassic Park

• In one episode of The Fairly Odd Parents, Timmy goes through the T.Rex looking through the car scene but the T.Rex is actually Wanda in disguise.

Sequels

• [[The Lost World: Jurassic Park]] (1997)
• Jurassic Park III (2001)
• Jurassic Park IV (2008)

See also

• Jurassic Park Visitors Center
• Kualoa Ranch outdoor set location for the Tyrannasaurus' attack on the gallimimus-- the only outdoor scene shot on Oahu, due to Hurricane Iniki on Kauai

External links

• [Official site]
• [Jurassic Park] at the [Official Michael Crichton Website]
• [Jurassic Park Legacy — Jurassic Park Fansite]
• [A list of major and minor gaffes, goofs, and bloopers]
• [Stills from Jurassic Park]
• [Stills at Gavin Rymill]