Saturday, April 6, 2013

Jurassic Park 3D



Runtime: 127 minutes

Directed by: Stephen Spielberg

Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough

From: Universal

My apologies for this being up so late but tonight I went and saw this in 3D on the giant screen they have at AMC Theatres at Downtown Disney. I did see it on VHS tape once it came out in that format, but I saw it on the big screen back in the summer of '93, twice. The second time was at a drive-in, which was sweet. It was the second on a double-bill with Beethoven's 2nd, of all movies. I know it's the same studio for both but it still seems odd. I haven't seen the first sequel since I watched the movie on the big screen in '97; like most people I did not think it was as good as the first one, not at all, even though it was amusing there was a t-rex in a city as if it was Godzilla or something. Jurassic Park 3 I've never seen and I have no idea what to expect from next year's Jurassic Park 4, given that pretty much no info has been announced concerning the movie yet.

By the way, you can read the original Roger Ebert review of this movie here. He thought it was 3 out of 4 stars but he wished for something more cereberal, which is fair I suppose.

I don't need to recap the plot of how things went wrong on the island due to the unwise idea of fooling around with Mother Nature, aided by an enormous Wayne Knight who screwed things up to commit theft to get some phat cash (I had forgotten how much Mr. Knight weighed at the time; he had health issues so he certainly is thinner now; good for him) so let me get to the point (and not roll another joint) and say that I enjoyed the movie at the time and I still enjoy it in 2013, occasional silliness aside. The cast works, there are roller coaster thrills once things hit the fan, there's humor throughout and not just from Goldblum Goldblumming it up... but most importantly, the special effects that were a “Holy Shit!' in '93 due to how groundbreaking it was, they are still effective in 2013. Usually, computer effects from the 90's don't look too good in this day and age, to put it nicely. Thankfully they have aged gracefully. The 3D does work, although I usually forgot about as I was engrossed with the story.

I say that most “summer blockbusters” for who knows how many years have been bloated effects-laden crap that are lacking in soul and heart. Thankfully this movie is a summer blockbuster that works and can work no matter if you're a kid or an adult. If only more blockbusters were like this, I'd actually go and see them instead of going by secondhand opinions that those movies are bloated effects-laden crap.

I'll be back Monday night.

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