Raptors, Raves and Reviews: Looking Back at Critical Reaction to "Jurassic Park," Thirty Years Later

 

by Michael Lyons

 

Jurassic Park smashed into the summer of 1993 with the same force as a T-Rex destroying a theme park vehicle. 

Steven Spielberg's blockbuster adaptation of author Michael Crichton's novel was not only a monster hit with audiences but also a game-changer for the movie industry. It helped propel the era of the summer "event" movie (a season Spielberg helped to invent in 1975 with Jaws), scratched the surface of the infinite possibilities of computer-generated imagery, and solidified a film franchise that has endured.

The landmark story of a dinosaur theme park gone wrong continues to enchant audiences. It's sobering to reflect that Jurassic Park, released on June 11, 1993, will celebrate its 30th anniversary this summer. 

All of us who were there that summer eagerly waiting to be among the first to see Jurassic Park in theaters, fondly remember the hype and excitement of that time. But, thirty years later, it's interesting to look back on what the critical reaction was in June of 1993.

Some glowing, some mixed, but all remark on the sense of wonder in the film. In honor of Jurrasic Park's 30th, here are segments of some of the reviews as they appeared when the film was first released:

“In Jurassic Park, adapted from Michael Crichton's 1990 bestseller, the dinosaurs - some benign, some terrifying, all wondrous - tap into the giddiest science-class daydreams you had as a kid. Created through a blend of computer-generated animation and electronically controlled models, they are so marvelous, and Spielberg choreographs their scenes with such wit, tension, and verve that it's easy to overlook the film's obvious weaknesses: a plot that's at once busy and thin, characters you like without caring about, a coy layer of blockbuster self-consciousness. As a flight of fantasy, Jurassic Park lacks the emotional unity of Spielberg’s classics (Jaws, Close Encounters, E.T.), yet it has enough of his innocent, playful virtuosity to send you out of the theater grinning with delight.”

 

-Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

“If Jurassic Park lacks the emotional hold of E.T., it still forges a bond between the animals and the audience that allows the beauty and terror of Crichton 's vision to come through. Spielberg never turns the dinosaurs into huggable Barneys or B-movie monsters; They retain a primitive dignity. Unlike the book, the film can't discuss findings that suggest dinos were quicker, smarter, and more social than previously believed or more closely related to birds than to reptiles. What talk there is comes off as truncated jargon. But this evidence is reflected gloriously in the visuals and in enough detail to delight the dino-crazed kid in all of us. Jurassic is a grabber for the best reasons: you won't believe your eyes.”

 

 - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“Think back to another ambitious special effects picture from Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). That was a movie about the “idea” of visitors from outer space. It inspired us to think what an awesome thing it would be if earth were visited by living alien beings. You left that movie shaken and a little transformed. It was a movie that had faith in the intelligence and curiosity of its audience.

 

In the 16 years since it was made, however, big-budget Hollywood seems to have lost its confidence that audiences can share big dreams. Jurassic Park throws a lot of dinosaurs at us, and because they look terrific (and indeed they do), we're supposed to be grateful. I have the uneasy feeling that if Spielberg had made Close Encounters today, we would have seen the aliens in the first 10 minutes, and by the halfway mark, they'd be attacking Manhattan with death rays.

 

Because the movie delivers on the bottom line, I'm giving it three stars. You want great dinosaurs, you got great dinosaurs.”

 

 - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, and Siskel & Ebert & the Movies

“The brightest stars in this creative constellation are the technicians: when Oscar Day rolls around, there will be no excuses for muddled acceptance speeches. Among those who should start polishing: Stan Winston for the incredible live-action dinosaurs; Industrial Light & Magic’s Dennis Muren for the full-motion dinosaurs, as well as dinosaur supervisor Phil Tippett. Similarly, composer John Williams’ titanic score, with its peels of trumpetry and cinematographer Dean Cundey's mesmerizing lensing, are terrifically gripping.”

 

 - Duane Byrge, The Hollywood Reporter

 

“Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park is a true movie milestone, presenting awe and fear-inspiring sights never before seen on the screen. The more spectacular of these involve the fierce, lifelike dinosaurs that stalk through the film with astounding ease. Much scarier, however, are those aspects of Jurassic Park that establish it as the overnight flagship of a brand-new entertainment empire. Even while capturing the imagination of its audience, the film lays the groundwork for the theme park rides, sequels, and souvenirs that ensure that the Jurassic Park experience will live on. And on. And on.”

 

 - Janet Maslin, The New York Times

 

 

 

Ms. Maslin's words are prophetic, as Jurassic Park has lived on in those theme park attractions, products, and sequels she predicted.  And fans everywhere are grateful for them all. Jurassic Park brings life to the moviegoing experience and the filmmaking experience. 

As Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcom famously states, "Life finds a way."

Happy thirtieth anniversary, Jurassic Park!

 

Sources:

 

ew.com

rollingstone.com

rogerebert.com

hollywoodreporter.com

nytimes.com

For more of my articles and podcasts, as well as my book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney's Animation Renaissance, head over to Words From Lyons