Jurassic Park (1993)

In Steven Spielberg's big-budget version of Michael Crichton's cautionary 1990 best-seller - the sci-fi action-adventure film (dubbed "Jaws" with dinosaurs) was a big hit in the early 1990s, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of all time. It was notable for its groundbreaking CGI special effects and won three Oscars - Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects. As a result of the film's success, there was a massive surge in the use of CGI in Hollywood blockbusters. The technological leaps in CGI only accelerated from there and became more pervasive. Spielberg's vision created the indisputable standard for all subsequent dinosaur films and television shows (i.e., the TV-documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs (1999-2000), the TV show Terra Nova (2011), etc.), and the film increased interest in the study of paleontology.

As one of the greatest "monster creatures" movies of all time, it featured the revolutionary use of special effects (live-action models, miniatures, and CGI-generated images) to recreate realistic-looking prehistoric dinosaurs. It was noted for its full-motion, realistically-rendered, computer-generated dinosaurs created at George Lucas' ILM facility that were seamlessly integrated within live-action sequences. It was the first major instance of extensively having computer-generated animated characters mixed with live action and animatronics.

It became the top-grossing (domestic) film of the year, at $357 million (and $915 million worldwide), from an initial production budget of $63 million. An extensive Jurassic Park franchise or series followed - with five sequels (and counting): The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001), Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

• the film opened with a deadly accident within Jurassic Park during the movement of a vicious creature - a velociraptor - from its heavily-fortified cage; the spectacular Jurassic Park (a wildlife theme park populated with de-extinct dinosaurs and other prehistoric life) was located on the secluded island (fictional) of Isla Nublar 120 miles west off the coast of Costa Rica
• Jurassic Park was headed by wealthy, misguided, eccentric entrepreneur and InGen Corporation CEO John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) [Note: InGen = International Genetic Technologies, the company responsible for cloning dinosaurs for the island theme-park attraction]
• due to the death of the dinosaur handler, Hammond faced a $20 million lawsuit by the worker's family unless the park was given an on-site safety inspection and all-clear within 48 hours before its imminent opening; he needed "outside opinions" and endorsements from three reputable individuals "to sign off on the park" - to satisfy InGen's attorney Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) and its "deeply concerned" investors
• Hammond flew to a dinosaur archaeological location in Montana, and arrived by helicopter; the workers were in the midst of digging up a raptor skeleton; Hammond's mission was to visit with two individuals who would be instrumental in providing clearance for the opening of his park ("biological preserve"); it was revealed that he was funding their work at $50,000 a year:
  • Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) - a prominent yet dour paleontologist, a "digger" on a site in the Badlands of Montana
  • Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) - Grant's spunky and empowered girlfriend-paleobotanist
• Hammond pressured Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler (he called them "top minds") to support and endorse his "biological preserve" that was opening soon: "I own an island, off the coast of Costa Rica. I've leased it from the government and I've spent the last five years setting up a kind of biological preserve. Really spectacular, spared no expense...and there's no doubt our attractions will drive kids out of their minds....And not just kids, anyone. We're going to open next year, that is if the lawyers don't kill me first"; he explained how his nervous investors "insist on outside opinions" about the park's safety; he urged the two: "And if I could just persuade you to sign off on the park, give it your endorsement, maybe even pen a wee testimonial, I could get back on shedule, er, schedule"; he sweetened his offer to have the "pair" of them visit the park for the weekend, by promising to fully fund Dr. Grant's dig for three more years
• in a sub-plot - the park's greedy, obese, and slovenly computer programmer Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) met in an outdoor cafe in San Jose, Costa Rica, with geneticist Lewis Dodgson (Cameron Thor) of the rival Biosyn Corporation, who wished to steal "10 years of research"; Nedry was bribed for $1.5 million ($750,000 upfront in a briefcase, plus $750,000 more in exchange for 15 viable dinosaur embryos, each one worth $50,000 and representing 15 separate species); Nedry was instructed to hide the valuable frozen, fertilized and viable dinosaur embryos in a disguised shaving cream can of Barbasol to avoid detection by customs; he was to deliver the embryos within 36 hours - by the next evening at 7 pm - to the East Dock of the island, for transport back to San Jose
• Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler were jetted to Jurassic Park for the weekend, to endorse Hammond's "biological preserve," along with a third individual invited by Gennaro:
  • Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) - a glib and non-chalant, hipster mathematician and chaos theorist (chaotician)
• upon their arrival by helicopter from the mainland, the group of five was driven into the interior of the park in two red and silver open jeeps (with the insignia "Jurassic Park" on their doors), entering through a guarded, electrified fence barrier with a sign reading: DANGER - 10,000 Volts
• on the way, they were treated to their first wondrous view of a dinosaur; the sighting was delayed with added suspense - viewing the reaction shots of the faces of Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler, who stood up in their jeep and marveled at the sight of a lumbering, real-life beast - off-screen - a tall, warm-blooded, long-necked, vegetarian/herbivore Brachiosaurus (or Brontosaurus) chewing on high tree-branches; Dr. Grant blurted out: "It's a dinosaur"; Malcolm exclaimed: "You did it. You crazy son of a bitch, you did it"; Gennaro greedily observed: "We're gonna make a fortune with this place"; Dr. Grant briefly became weak-kneed when Hammond bragged that he also had a T-Rex

First View of Brachiosaurus Eating Tree-Tops as They Entered the Park

• inside the park's Visitor's Center (still under development), Hammond boasted: "The most advanced amusement park in the entire world....We've made living biological attractions so astounding, that they'll capture the imaginations of the entire planet"; in a small movie theatre, he showed off an educational, animated film that described the miracle of cloning; the narrator was Mr. D.N.A. (voice of Greg Burson), representing one strand of many billions of DNA found in a drop of blood; he described how a DNA strand was "a blueprint for building a living thing"; in theory, 100 million years ago, a Jurassic-era mosquito bit a dinosaur, and then after the insect died was preserved in amber ("fossilized tree sap"), genetic scientists extracted the DNA from the blood in the mosquito to create or genetically clone a dinosaur: "They extract the preserved blood from the mosquito, and bingo: Dino DNA!"; the instructional movie further revealed how the complete DNA from frogs (and other animals) was used to fill in the gaps or holes in the dinosaurs' genome or DNA sequence to complete the code
• in the park's laboratory, the group watched as a velociraptor (or simply raptor) egg hatched; scientist Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) stated emphatically there was no breeding in the wild, and that direct chromosomal manipulation had made all the dinosaurs female: "There's no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park...because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We've engineered them that way"

Hatching of Raptor Egg and Dr. Grant's Reaction: "You bred raptors!"

• Malcolm disagreed with Wu's and Hammond's assumptions that they could control breeding, and criticized their denial of the possibility of adaptations that would promote procreation: "If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers...I'm simply saying that life, uh, finds a way"; Dr. Grant reacted with worry: "You bred raptors!"
• during a visit to an outdoor raptor enclosure where "feeding time" was in progress, authoritative security chief and game warden Robert Muldoon's (Bob Peck) first words were: "They should all be destroyed"; he explained how the raptors were extremely smart, problem-solving, intelligent creatures who became dangerously lethal at 8 months of age, were bipedal and could run at "cheetah speed," and were astonishing jumpers
• during lunch, there were major doubts expressed by the group of three experts about the viability of Jurassic Park; Malcolm felt that the undisciplined and semi-irresponsible Hammond and his scientists had misunderstood the ethics and power of genetic engineering, and were hastily packaging and promoting it for the masses: ("Genetic power's the most awesome force the planet's ever seen, but you wield it like a kid that's found his dad's gun"); Malcolm called Hammond's discoveries "the rape of the natural world"
• further, Dr. Sattler was concerned about the conception of a park to recreate the dinosaur's extinct eco-system, and Hammond's boasting about his level of control: ("How can you know anything about an extinct ecosystem? And therefore, how could you ever assume that you can control it?"), and Dr. Grant worried that putting humans and dinosaurs in a closed environment was extremely risky: ("Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?"); Hammond joked that the only person taking his side was the "blood-sucking lawyer" Gennaro
• after lunch, Hammon was greeted by his two grand-children who would join the guided tour of the island's theme park (regarded as its "target audience"), along with Gennaro; Hammond remained in the control room to oversee and monitor everything:
  • Alexis "Lex" Murphy (Ariana Richards) - a computer "hacker," and tomboyish 12 year-old
  • Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzello) - a dinosaur-obsessed, chatty and inquisitive 9 year-old
• the tour transported the visitors in two driverless, electrified, remote-controlled SUVs guided by a metal track; Lex and Tim rode with Gennaro, while the three experts rode in the second vehicle; the two vehicles entered giant gates leading into "Jurassic Park" as Malcolm noted: "What have they got in there, King Kong?"; as the tour vehicles were being monitored, chief engineer Ray Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) complained to Hammond about numerous glitches and bugs in the tour programming: ("We have all the problems of a major theme park and a major zoo"); Arnold's co-worker Nedry, the lead computer programmer, also debated with Hammond about the lack of support for his financially-strapped department and his own salary, but Hammond essentially ignored him
• during the tour, very few of the dinosaur creatures appeared as expected, including the venom-spitting Dilosophorus or the Tyrannosaurus Rex in his paddock; the group noticed how the animals were held back by the electrified fences, concrete moats, and motion-sensor tracking systems; Malcolm commented upon man's meddling with nature: "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs"; Ellie Sattler tacked on a footnote: "Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the Earth"; they watched as a bleating goat was chained and staked in the middle of a field in order to tempt the dinosaur to appear; Dr. Grant knew the strategy was all-wrong: "T-Rex doesn't want to be fed. He wants to hunt. You can't just suppress 65 million years of gut instinct"
• Malcolm chided and rebuked Hammond through the security camera on the SUV for their lackluster tour: "Now eventually, you do plan to have dinosaurs on your, on your dinosaur tour, right?"; Hammond was exasperated: "I really hate that man!"; Malcolm noted to Dr. Grant: "The Tyrannosaur doesn't obey any set patterns or park schedules, the essence of chaos"
• Dr. Grant quickly broke one of the park's tour rules by leaving the moving vehicle, and Ellie joined him as well as the others (except for Malcolm); in the control room, Muldoon repeated his criticism about not having locked doors on the tour vehicles; the group walked into a field and came upon a sick and tranquilized Triceratops attended by veterinarian Dr. Gerry Harding (Gerald R. Molen); closeby, Malcolm came up to a five foot pile of dinosaur dung with flies buzzing around, and made the off-handed remark: "That is one big pile of s--t!"
• things went awry when a tropical storm neared the island and the tour had to be cut short; most of the park's employees had boarded boats to leave for the mainland of Costa Rica; while the others resumed the vehicular tour (but had to immediately return due to heavy rains), Dr. Sattler opted to leave them and remain behind with the vet (in a gas-powered Jeep) to continue studying the Triceratops, by examining its "droppings" and determining the cause of its sickness - possibly Melia toxicity; Hammond was disgusted by the failed tour: "Two no-shows and one sick Triceratops"
• to put his sabotage into effect, the disgruntled Nedry shut off the power to the security systems (the perimeter of electrical fencing around the animal paddocks was affected as well as the phone system and radio communications) - with an 18-20 minute window - while sneaking into cold-storage facilities to steal the embryonic vials of various species of dinosaur embryos; afterwards, Nedry fled from the park, driving wildly in a Jeep, to deliver the stolen embryos to an awaiting boat at the island's East Dock; he crashed his Jeep vehicle into the East Dock sign

Nedry Driving Wildly Through the Park with the Embryos - In a Torrential Rain

Computer Engineer Arnold Denied Access to the System: "YOU DIDN'T SAY THE MAGIC WORD!"

• back in the control room, Nedry's co-worker and assistant, engineer Ray Arnold attempted to access the system to reboot it - but he was denied permission for not knowing hacker Nedry's secret password: ("YOU DIDN'T SAY THE MAGIC WORD!")
• as a result of the power outage, a calamitous chain reaction of events affected the tour's driverless electric vehicles that lost power and were stranded on their return near the paddock that was holding the giant ferocious, monstrous and carnivorous Tyrannosaurus Rex (computer-generated and modeled); when the park's 50 mile perimeter of electrical fences was deactivated, the frightening creature would be able to break out and escape confinement
• there was a scary build-up to the appearance of the T-Rex; during the nighttime torrential rainstorm, there were ominous booms heard - possibly the power coming back on-line, or the thunderous footsteps of the approaching monster heading toward the SUVs; two plastic water glasses on the dashboard of the first SUV displayed vibrating water ripples, signaling the approaching disaster; through night-vision goggles that Tim had found under his seat, he noticed that the goat (the bleating had stopped!) had disappeared from the stake; his teenaged sister Lex wondered: "Where's the goat?"

Vibrating Glasses of Water

Fear on Lex's Face

Lex: "Where's the goat?"

• as Lex spoke, the disembodied hind leg of the goat startlingly dropped onto the Plexiglass roof of the Explorer van; off to the side of the road, the giant T. Rex appeared, gulping down the goat in a single swallow; Gennaro freaked out and lept out of the car, as Lex shouted: "He left us, he left us!"; Malcom commented upon his run: "When you gotta go, you gotta go"; the cowardly lawyer Donald Gennaro fled to a flimsy, thatch-roofed toilet shack where he thought he could be undetected in one of the stalls

The Approach of the Monstrous T-Rex	Roaring at the First Vehicle	Roaring at the Second Vehicle
The T-Rex's Eyeballing of Lex	Nudging the First Vehicle With Its Snout	Crashing Through the Viewing Roof
Overturning the Vehicle	Biting at the Vehicle's Undercarriage	The Two Terrified Kids Almost Crushed Inside

• in a suspenseful sequence, the T-Rex broke down the de-electrified paddock fence and stomped over between the two tour vehicles; he was attracted to the light of Lex's flashlight in the first SUV; as it stalked around the kids' van , the monster's giant eyeball spied on Lex and then crashed through the vehicle's viewing roof with its giant jaws; it overturned the vehicle with the two kids trapped inside as the van crunched down due to the weight of the creature and began to sink into the mud
• Dr. Grant emerged from the second vehicle with a flare to distract the T-Rex from terrorizing the two kids; the creature also gave chase to Malcolm with a second flare, leading the T-Rex in the direction of the flimsy rest-room shack where Gennaro was cowering; Malcolm fell and was injured (with a broken leg) as the beast demolished the wooden shack by bursting through its coed-signed front door and collapsing its four walls

Gennaro in the Wooden Rest Room Shack - Eaten by the T-Rex

• Gennaro was revealed helplessly frozen in place and sitting there on a toilet out in the open; with his hiding place demolished, the dinosaur approached, chomped into him, picked him up head-first as his legs dangled, swung him around and then feasted on him in one large bite
• as Dr. Grant was rescuing Lex and Tim from their overturned van, the T-Rex returned to confront and sniff at them; Grant cautioned them to not move and remain silent so they could remain undetected; the three were able to escape over the concrete perimeter wall while avoiding being struck by the vehicle (with Tim still inside) as it was pushed over the side of the wall and into the top of a jungle tree by the creature
• meanwhile, Ellie Sattler returned to the center's control room where she, Hammond and game warden Muldoon were informed by Arnold about Nedry's sabotage of the park's security systems; Muldoon and Ellie went out in a gas-powered Jeep to search for Hammond's grand-children and any other survivors; Arnold informed Hammond: "I can't get Jurassic Park back online without Dennis Nedry"
• after becoming lost and crashing his Jeep into a muddy embankment on his way to the East Dock, Nedry was attempting to pull his Jeep out with a winched rope to a tree, but didn't realize that he was being stalked by a Dilosophorus; Nedry was blinded in the face by the head-finned, venom-spitting creature before he was mauled to death inside the vehicle; the Barbasol can containing the embryos dropped from his hand and fell into a waterfall and was buried in the mud
• after escaping the T-Rex, Dr. Grant climbed up into the tree from below to rescue Tim from the vehicle, and they were able to extract themselves from the tree before the vehicle's weight caused it to crash to the ground
• in the area of the paddock, Malcolm was rescued by Muldoon and Ellie, and sarcastically remarked: "Remind me to thank John for a lovely weekend"; Ellie found the wreckage of the 2nd tour vehicle below the wall, and noticed three sets of footprints leading from it into the jungle; impact tremors from the T-Rex were heard approaching toward them as they pulled away and fled from the menacing, approaching monstrous T-Rex; Malcolm warned: "We've got to get out of here," and screamed: "Must go faster!"; as they were chased, their rear-view mirror image showed objects closer than they appeared (OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR); after escaping he quipped: "You think they'll have that on the tour?"
• after seeking shelter in a tree for an overnight stay, Grant and the two grandchildren again encountered a long-necked Brachiosaurus herd singing to each other and chewing on tree leaves, and they made dinosaur jokes together before falling asleep: (Tim: "What do you call a blind dinosaur? Do-you-think-he-saurus"); the next morning, Tim renamed the herbivore dinosaur: "It's a Veggiesaurus" when they came face-to-face with one of the gentle creatures, and it sneezed mucus all over Lex
• during their hike back to the Visitor's Center, Dr. Grant also discovered broken dinosaur egg shells after they had hatched (evidence that the dinosaurs were breeding); Dr. Grant surmised that the frog-DNA was responsible for allowing the dinosaurs to change their sex in a single-sex environment - as Malcolm had predicted: ("They mutated the dinosaur genetic code and blended it with that of a frog's. Now, some West African frogs have been known to spontaneously change sex from male to female in a single sex environment. Malcolm was right. Look, life found a way")
• in the control room without Nedry, Hammond ordered the park's chief engineer Ray Arnold to reactivate the park's power and security systems by shutting down and then rebooting the entire system; the shut-down "worked," but the shut-down had tripped the circuit breakers: (Arnold: "All we have to do is turn those back on, reboot a few systems - phones, security doors, and half a dozen others - but, it worked. System's ready") in order to restore the electricity

Noticing a Stampede

Flock of Gallimimus Being Chased by a T-Rex

T-Rex Attacking One Unfortunate Gallimimus

• the threesome of Grant and the two kids became caught up in a stampede of a herd of small, bird-like animals, Gallimimus, who raced past them: ("They're flocking this way") and were being followed and attacked by the hungry T-Rex
• during the shutdown (and the deactivation of the park's grid and the resetting of the tripped circuit breakers, Ellie sensed something was wrong when Arnold didn't return - and Malcolm also responded to Dr. Hammond's reassurances: "Yeah, but John, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists"; she went out to investigate with shot-gun armed Muldoon and a walkie-talkie (to communicate with Hammond to talk her through the power-on procedures) to get the power back on
• as they left the facility, they noticed that the fast-moving, dangerous, 6 foot tall, razor-clawed Velociraptors had apparently escaped from their enclosure's de-electrified fencing; Muldoon sensed: "We're being hunted!"; inside the maintenance shed after discovering the power panels, as Ellie reset the system's circuit breakers, Dr. Grant, Lex, and Tim were already scaling the 30 foot high electrical perimeter fence; lagging behind the others, young Tim was electrocuted and was propelled into Dr. Grant's arms, and stopped breathing
• just after Ellie exclaimed: "I think we're back in business!", a raptor attacked her; as she fled, Arnold's mauled arm fell onto her shoulder; outside the utility shed, Muldoon was also caught off-guard and killed by another clever raptor attacking from the side, as he complimented the creature: "Clever girl"
• Tim was soon revived by CPR; he brought Hammond's two young grandchildren back into the Visitor's Center; in the restaurant, he joked with Tim: "Your hair is all sticking up. Big Tim, the human piece of toast," before he went looking for Ellie; he found her limping outside of the facility, screaming: "RUN!"
• in a tense, hide-and-go-seek stalking scene, the two kids found themselves cornered in the restaurant-kitchen by a pair of velociraptors; meanwhile, Ellie was ironically assuring Grant that they were probably safe, since she had locked a third raptor in the maintenance shed: ("...unless they figure out how to open doors...") - with a cut to a close-up of the kitchen door handle turning and the creature pushing the door open; the two kids were huddled together worrying: ("It's inside!"); the two kids were eventually able to outsmart the creatures by locking one of them in a freezer

Kids Stalked in the Visitor Center's Kitchen by Two Smart Velociraptors Who Opened the Kitchen Door

• Lex and Tim fled to the control room and met up with Dr. Grant and Ellie, where the group was attacked by the second raptor pushing against the control room's unsecured door; the computer-savvy Lex ("It's a UNIX system! I know this!") restored all of the park's security systems (including the door-locks), and also reinstated the inoperable phone system to call for help; Dr. Grant was able to phone Hammond (in an emergency bunker with Malcom) and request an evacuation helicopter from the mainland: ("Call the mainland. Tell them to send the damn helicopters")

Raptor Claws Forcing Their Way Into Control Room's Door

Lex's Computer-Savvy Securing All of the Park's Security Systems

• to escape from one of the raptors who broke in, Grant, Ellie and the two kids climbed up into the center's vent-system ductworks and found themselves above the fossil-dinosaur skeleton displays in the lobby of the Visitor's Center; as they climbed down through the ceiling onto the scaffolding and a Sauropod skeleton, one of the raptors awaited them and jumped onto the skeleton, dislodged it, and smashed it into pieces on the floor; the foursome found themselves trapped on the floor of the lobby by both wild raptors that were readying themselves to pounce on them from two different directions

The Foursome Trapped in the Lobby by Two Raptors	One of Two Raptors Ready to Pounce	The T-Rex Grabbed the Raptor In Its Mouth
T-Rex Attacked in the Neck By the 2nd Raptor	Escaping Out the Front Entrance	The T-Rex's Triumphant Roar Inside the Visitor's Center

• in a climactic finale scene, they were saved from being eaten when the voracious T-Rex suddenly turned to battle the two raptors; it chomped down and killed one of the raptors mid-jump; the second raptor counter-attacked the T-Rex by leaping up and digging its claws into the T-Rex's neck, allowing the group to escape outside; they were evacuated in a Jeep that drove up, holding Hammond and Malcolm; as they sped off, Dr. Grant firmly told Hammond that he couldn't support the failed Jurassic Park venture: "I've decided not to endorse your park"
• the T-Rex tossed the second raptor into the T-Rex skeleton and demolished it as it roared in triumph; a banner reading "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" fluttered down to the floor
• the survivors boarded an InGen escape helicopter, and flew off to vacate the island during the sun's setting; everyone was silent or resting, including Hammond, who stared at the round mosquito-bearing amber on the end of his cane; Ellie smiled at Grant who was cradling the two kids on each arm; a flock of pelicans flew past the window