Jurassic Park (film)

Jurassic Park is a 1993 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, based upon the novel of the same name, written by Michael Crichton. The story involves scientists visiting an amusement park of genetically engineered dinosaurs on an island over one weekend. Sabotage sets the carnivorous dinosaurs on the loose, and the technicians and visitors attempt to escape the island. The film stars Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Richard Attenborough.

Plot Summary
The film began its genesis before the novel was even published, and Crichton was hired to write a script that skimmed down its plot. Spielberg hired Stan Winston Studio' puppets and worked with Industrial Light and Magic to develop cutting edge CGI to portray the dinosaurs. It was well received by critics, although they criticized the plotting and characterization. Since its release it has grossed $914,691,118, becoming the highest grossing film of all time, and is currently the eighth-highest grossing feature film. Most significantly, the film inspired a new breed of films that primarily used CGI for special effects. The film was followed by The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997 and by Jurassic Park III in 2001, neither of which was as financially successful or as critically acclaimed as the first. A fourth film is thought to be in development.

Plot
On the volcanic island of Isla Nublar, an InGen employee is attacked and killed by a Velociraptor called The Big One while attempting to transport it to a heavily fortified enclosure. This prompts the worker's family to file a lawsuit against the company, and it successfully scares InGen's investors into thinking that the park is not safe. The CEO of InGen, John Hammond, decides to reassure the investors by bringing a group of experts to his park in order to gain their approval of it. Among the group he invites Paleontologist Alan Grant and Paleobotanist Ellie Sattler, two scientists who's digs he's been funding, Ian Malcolm a chaos theorist (or "Chaotician" as he calls himself) and his investor's lawyer, Donald Gennaro. Meanwhile in Costa Rica, Dennis Nedry is meeting with Lewis Dodgson, a rival scientist of InGen working for Biosyn. Dennis is a computer programmer working for John on Isla Nublar and has recently become dissatisfied with his treatment by InGen. Dennis agrees to steal dinosaur embryos for Dodgon for a price.

The group assembled by John arrive on the island via helicopter and then take two jeeps out into the park, where they come across a Brachiosaurus and a whole herd of hadrosaurs, to their utter amazement. John then takes his stunned guests to the Visitor Center, where they see birth to an infant Velociraptor and learn that InGen were able to clone dinosaurs using genetic material taken from mosquitoes who had feasted on dinosaur blood, and had been preserved in amber. The DNA taken from the mosquitoes was spliced with DNA from frogs and other animals such as spitting cobras to fill in the gaps of the genetic strains. InGen scientists altered the animals so that they could only clone females, thus eliminating the threat of uncontrolled breeding between the animals.

They are then taken to the Velociraptor enclosure at Alan's request where they meet park warden Robert Muldoon. Robert tells the group about how vicious and intelligent the raptors are. He explains there are only three raptors all together because The Big One, who has taken over as the alpha female, had "killed all but two of the others", a total of eight raptors.

Over lunch Alan, Ian and Ellie start to express doubt in the park after the initial shock has worn off. Ian questions the ethical morality in cloning species that had not lived for thousands of years while Ellie expresses concern that the scientists may not be thinking of the repercussions that might occur of what they are cloning. Alan remains fairly neutral on the issue, though he advises John to be careful. Donald is the only one who completely approves, thanks to the amounts of money they could make off the island, and John so eloquently puts it "Wonderful! I invite all of you here to approve of my park and the only one I have on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer!" The guests are then introduced to John's grandchildren who have also come to visit the park, Lex and Tim Murphy. Both of them instantly take a liking to Alan, who doesn't appreciate the attention as he dislikes children. The tour goes disappointingly, with most of the dinosaurs failing to appear.

Ellie leaves the tour to take care of a sick Triceratops with Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Gary Harding. A tropical storm hits the island and most InGen employees leave, except for John, game warden Robert, and chief systems engineer Ray Arnold. During the storm, Dennis shuts down park security (except for the raptor fences) and as a result, the Tyrannosaurus breaks through the deactivated electric fence surrounding its pen, devouring Donald, attacking Tim and Lex hiding in the car, and wounding Ian. The children and Alan only narrowly avoid being killed and eaten.

thumb|The Tyrannosaurus Rex Scene Just after they flee the wreckage, Ellie and Robert arrive. At first, they believe the only survivor of the attack is Ian, but upon further investigation they find two footprints: one is Alan's and one belongs to one of the kids. Just then, the Tyrannosaur returns, and Ian, Robert, and Ellie barely escape her in their jeep. Meanwhile, Dennis crashes his car, and while trying to winch it, he is killed by a Dilophosaurus. Alan, Tim, and Lex spend the night in a tree. While hiking to safety the next morning, they discover hatched eggs, which means that the dinosaurs are actually breeding. Alan realizes that the frog DNA is responsible: some species of frog are known to spontaneously change sex in a single-sex environment.

Ray tries to hack Dennis' computer to turn the power back on but fails, so he does a full system restart, which requires the circuit breakers to be manually reset from the utility shed. When he does not return, Ellie and Robert follow and discover the raptors have escaped; the shutdown cut off power to the electric fences around their pit. Robert realizes that they are near and tells Ellie to go to the utility shed herself and turn the power back on while he tries to hunt them down. Robert is attacked and killed by The Big One when the raptors set an ambush while Ellie escapes from another after discovering Ray's disembodied arm in the maintenance shed. After managing to turn on the power and escaping the raptor, she meets Alan, and they both go back to Ian and John in the emergency bunkers. Lex and Tim narrowly escape The Big One and her fellow raptor in the kitchen ( locking one in the freezer and knocking The Big One out for several minutes), and Lex is finally able to restore the Park's computer systems in order to call John to request a helicopter rescue of the survivors.

Alan and Ellie hold off The Big One trying to open the door to the computer room, until the power is restored and the electromagnetic locks begin working. With the door secure, the raptor breaks into the room through the window after Grant shoots at it through the glass, and the group climbs up into the ceiling crawlspace and arrive at the Visitors Center skeleton display, only after Lex is almost killed by The Big One leaping up at her. The raptors pursue and after a scuffle with The Big One on top of the fossil exhibits and the raptors block their escape route, help comes from an unlikely source when the Tyrannosaurus suddenly appears and kills both raptors, saving Alan, Ellie, Lex, and Tim in the process. The four then climb into John and Ian's jeep and leave. Alan says he will not endorse the park, a choice with which John concurs. As all fly away in the helicopter, the children fall asleep beside Alan, who contemplatively watches a flock of pelicans flying nearby, the surviving relatives of the dinosaurs they escaped.

Cast

 * Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant: A paleontologist excavating Velociraptor fossils in the Montana Badlands. He dislikes children, frightening one with a talon of a raptor, but he soon has to protect Hammond's grandchildren. Neill only had a weekend's break between filming Family Pictures and Jurassic Park, and had prepared for the role by meeting Jack Horner. Velociraptor is both Grants favorite Dinosaur and his worst nightmare.
 * Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler: A paleobotanist and Grant's girlfriend. Dern also met Horner and visited the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, learning to prepare a fossil.
 * Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm: A mathematician and chaos theorist. He forewarns the danger of resurrecting dinosaurs and becomes Hammond's main opposition. He also falls for Sattler, another in a long line of romantic interests. Goldblum was Spielberg's first choice and is a big fan of dinosaurs. To prepare for his role, Goldblum researched Chaos theory, which included arranging a meeting with James Gleick and Ivar Ekeland to discuss the theory. Coincidentally to their romantic tension in the film, Goldblum began a real life romance with Dern.
 * Richard Attenborough as John Hammond: CEO of InGen and architect of Jurassic Park. Attenborough had not acted in a film since 1979 in film The Human Factor.
 * Martin Ferrero as Donald Gennaro: A lawyer who represents Hammond's concerned investors and he was also a member of the inspection team. He is killed by the T-Rex.
 * Bob Peck as Robert Muldoon: The park's game warden. He is concerned by the intelligence of the raptors, and would have them all destroyed. He is killed by a Velociraptor.
 * Ariana Richards as Alexis "Lex" Murphy: Hammond's granddaughter, a vegetarian and self-professed computer hacker.
 * Joseph Mazzello as Timothy "Tim" Murphy: Lex's younger brother, into dinosaurs. He has read Grant's numerous books.
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Ray Arnold: The park's chief engineer. He switches off the main power to reboot the mainframe — but unwittingly unleashes the raptors in doing so. He is killed by a Velociraptor.
 * Wayne Knight as Dennis Nedry: The disgruntled architect of Jurassic Park's computer systems. He is bribed by Biosyn agent Lewis Dodgson for $1.5 million to deliver frozen dinosaur embryos. He is killed by a Dilophosaurus.
 * B.D. Wong as Dr. Henry Wu: The park's chief geneticist. He made all the dinosaurs female and lysine deficient. He leaves during the storm.
 * Gerald R. Molen as Gerry Harding: The park's veterinarian who helps Ellie Sattler with a sick Triceratops.
 * Cameron Thor as Lewis Dodgson: Head of research at Biosyn. He bribed Dennis Nedry into stealing dinosaur embryos for him.
 * Dean Cundey as the Dockworker who Nedry talks to on the computer.
 * Christopher John Fields as Billy: One of Dr. Grant's assistant at the dig site.
 * Richard Kiley as himself, as the voice of the car tour guide.

Click here for a complete list of cast and crew.

Dinosaurs on screen
Despite the title of the film most of the dinosaurs featured did not exist until the Cretaceous period. However, Brachiosaurus and Dilophosaurus are from the Jurassic.
 * Tyrannosaurus, dubbed "T-Rex" informally in the film, is the star of the film according to Spielberg, being the reason he rewrote the ending for fear of disappointing the audience Winston's Rex animatronic stood 20 feet, weighed 13,000 pounds and was 40 feet long. Jack Horner called it "the closest I've ever been to a live dinosaur". Despite his comment, the head is more boxy and there is no scientific evidence for having a vision based on movement. The Rex's roar is a baby elephant mixed with a tiger and an alligator and its breath is a whale's blowhole. A dog attacking a ball was used for the sounds of it tearing a Gallimimus apart. Although the lead dinosaur, the T-Rex is not the true villain, with that honor going to the raptors.
 * Velociraptor, dubbed raptors in the film, also has a major role, although those depicted are not based on the actual species in question, which is significantly smaller. It was instead based on its larger relative, Deinonychus, which was at the time called Velociraptor antirrhopus. Spielberg also changed it for dramatic reasons, and when Utahraptor was discovered before the film's release, Stan Winston jokingly said "We made it, then they discovered it". For the scene with Bob Peck, the raptors are played by men in suits. Dolphin screams, walrus bellowing, geese hissing, an African crane's mating call and human rasps are within the raptor sound mix. The raptor known as The Big One acts as the main antagonist of the film.
 * Dilophosaurus was also very different from its real life counterpart, made significantly smaller to make sure audiences did not confuse it with the raptors,and also that it would not overshadow the film's star, Tyrannosaurus. It has a frill and spits venom. Its vocal sounds were made by combining a swan and a rattlesnake together.
 * Brachiosaurus is inaccurately depicted as chewing its food. Despite scientific evidence of them having limited vocal capabilities, sound designer Gary Rydstrom decided to represent them with whale songs and donkey calls to give them a melodic sense of wonder.
 * Triceratops has an extended cameo. Its appearance was a particular logistical nightmare for Stan Winston when Spielberg requested to shoot the animatronic of the sick creature earlier than expected. Winston also created a baby Triceratops for Ariana Richards to ride, which was cut from the film for pacing reasons.
 * Gallimimus and Parasaurolophus' roles are mainly cameos, the latter appearing in the first encounter with the Brachiosaurus. Gallimimus appears in the scene where Dr. Grant, Lex and Tim are wandering across the open field. A herd/flock of Gallimimus come running in, with the Tyrannosaurus following.
 * Pteranodon also makes a cameo above the Parasaurolophus.

Changes from the book

 * The beginning sequence of the book with the Bowman family is written out (it is later used in The Lost World).
 * The scene with the Compy and the Bowman girl is replaced with the Velociraptor killing Jophery.
 * Dr. Marty Guitierrez does not appear.
 * Donald Gennaro's family is not mentioned.
 * Brachiosaurus replaces the slightly smaller Apatosaurus and Camarosaurus.
 * The velociraptors do not escape before the power break.
 * There are eight velociraptors in the novel, but in the movie, it is explained that five were killed by the Big One.
 * The Park Drive's tour is completely changed.
 * The sick Stegosaurus is replaced with a sick Triceratops.
 * There is only one T. rex while the book has two including a baby (it is later used in The Lost World).
 * Ed Regis does not appear.
 * Henry Wu and Gerry Harding do not have larger roles.
 * Gennaro is killed earlier, which may have been related to Ed's death in the novel.
 * The auxiliary power does not come on.
 * Half of the people that would be stranded have left aboard the Anne B.
 * The velociraptors boarding the Anne B never happens (a similar scenario is used in The Lost World but was a Tyrannosaurus)
 * The Gallimimus scene replaces the Hadrosaurus stampede.
 * There are no more velociraptors than three.
 * Tim is not nearly eaten by the T. rex (scene was later used for The Lost World)
 * The aviary is absent (it is later used in Jurassic Park III).
 * Dr. Sattler goes to turn on the power instead of Gennaro and Grant.
 * Muldoon is killed.
 * The nursery scene is written out.
 * The exploration of the raptor nest is written out.
 * Hammond survives.
 * Ian Malcolm does not die (however this is later changed in the novel canon).
 * The bombing is not at all explored though mentioned in The Lost World.
 * The survivors are not detained at Costa Rica.

Media
Click here: Jurassic Park (film)/Media for images and videos related to this article.

Merchandise
When the movie was released it came with a very large merchandise of games, toy lines, comics and collectables.


 * Jurassic Park Collectables
 * Jurassic Park games
 * Jurassic Park comics
 * Jurassic Park toy lines

Critical Reception
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. As stated by Rotten Tomatoes critics, the film earned a high "B"/low "A" grade. One thing that critics disliked was the various differences between the novel and movie. And along with the film's positive feedback, it also received many awards - including the Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction (Steven Spielberg), Best Writing (Michael Crichton and David Koepp) and Best Special Effects - as well as several other ones. Overall, the movie was a humongous success, and is also one of Spielberg's most notable works.

Mistakes
Main Article: Jurassic Park Film Goofs

In recent years, fans have noted many mistakes that are quite big, but because of the films fast moving pace they are mostly unnoticeable unless the movie is paused or watched again. This is some of them, but for more information see Jurassic Park Film Goofs section.


 * When Grant is telling the kid (who is making fun of his work) about how a Raptor attack's, he says that they have a 6 inch retractable claw on the middle toe. However as it can be later seen in the movie the claw is on their index toe
 * When Grant opens the door to his trailer to meet Hammond he unlocks the door lock on the left side of the door but when he is seen entering the trailer the lock is on the other side.
 * Dodsgon gives the money bag to Nedry when he tells him his mission. When he is showing Nedry how to transport the dinsouar cells, Nedry is holding the bag in one shot but vanishes in the next immediate shot.
 * When the helicopter lands on the island, Hammond, Gennaro, Malcolm, Grant and Sattler have completely moved place's on the copper. Hammond is where Malcom should be, Gennaro is where Malcolm should be and Malcolm is where Gennaro should be. Grant and Sattler however are still where they should be.
 * Another mistake at the copper scene in the jeeps. When the copper comes down they are already right next to the heli pad. However once the copper lands, the cars are seen backing up to collect the guest's, despite already being there.
 * When the jeeps stop to look at the Brachiosarurus they are in the sun but in the next shot they are in the shade and behind trees.
 * Also in that scene when Grant and Sattler are looking at the herd of animals, Sattler was to the left of Grant but next shot she is suddenly to the left of him.
 * When they are on the ride being shown the rooms, Grant, Sattler and Malcolm decided to get out and look at the eggs. However it takes all three of them to move the protective bars out of the way, while Hammond does it himself with very little effort, and only using one arm.
 * There are several errors during the T. rex's escape.
 * The goat's leg that lands on top of Lex an Tim's car vanishes a few seconds later.
 * The distance between the car's varies at times.
 * When Gennaro abandons the kids, he leaves the door to the car wide open; however a few seconds later it is shut. When the T. rex approaches Lex and Tim's car the door is open again.
 * When the T. rex pushes Lex and Tims car over a stage light, a potted plant and a steel cable can be clearly seen.
 * The tunnel that the cars came out of when approaching the T. rex pen vanishes.
 * When Grant and Lex are forced to go into the T. rex pen to avoid being crushed by the car, it goes from an even surface to a three story cliff. It has been thought that there was a cliff from the start as when Lex and Grant was crawling down a plant above their level can be seen, however were the T. rex emerged from was flat ground.
 * When the Dilophosaurus that kills Nedry squirts the venom on him he grabs a bit and pulls it up to see what it is. However if one pauses the movie they can see that were he pulls the venom, there is none, but when he grabs his top he actually puts more on his chest.
 * When The Big One manages to get into Lex and Tims hiding place it is possible to see someone's hand being place on the raptor's tail.
 * Also for a second, the Big One's subordinate can be seen looking directly at Tim. In reality the raptor would've seen him and swooped in for the kill.
 * The T. rex manages to get in the visitor's center without anyone or any raptor hearing it.
 * When the kids are sleeping on the helicopter in Grant's arms, their heads move position between shots.

Trivia

 * Although called "Jurassic Park", many of the dinosaurs within the park are not from this era. However, Brachiosaurus and Dilophosaurus are from this era. Though it's name only appeared in the scene with Dennis Nedry stealing the dinosaur embryos, Metriacanthosaurus is also from the Jurassic era.
 * The name of the Tianchisaurus species nedegoapeferima is formed from the first letters of the surnames of the film's main stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards, and Joseph Mazzello.
 * Jurassic Park once grossed $920 million in the box office becoming the highest grossing movie of all time before being surpassed by Titanic in 1997.