Jurassic Park - 3D

FLIX!

Jurassic Park - 3D
by Chris Chapman


Jurassic Park 3-D. OK, let's get something out of the way. First, "Jurassic Park" (JP) has bugged me a bit in the past due to the departures from the book, and what I consider to be a lame deus ex machina ending with the T-Rex. But JP is a movie that needs to be seen on the big screen. I had forgotten how great this movie is when seen at the right scale; and JP is all about scale. The 3-D conversion (in Real 3-D at least, I'm too cheap for the iMax version) was one of the best (I kid you not) 3-D films I've seen. The image was crisp and clear, and there was soooo much depth in the framing of this film. Wow. The GREAT thing about this re-release of JP is how the 3-D actually accentuates Dean Kundy's cinematography. The beams of flashlights in the rain were breathtaking. What is also breathtaking is looking back in time and seeing Steven Speilberg making possibly his last great Popcorn flick. You have to admire that while Speilberg was shooting "Schindlers' List" during the day, he was editing JP at night. And JP is this transitional moment for Speilberg as a director. There is this fantastic pacing, and thrill moments that have defined his career in film (The Road Attack Sequence, & the Raptor chase at the end). But it is the deft intercutting during the Electric Fence power up that really highlights Speilberg's ability to create tension. Jurassic Park is also a special moment in film history because Computer Graphics effects don't overwhelm this picture. Most of the incredible effects are the REAL dinosaurs created by Stan Winston. The ILM CG Dinos are great too, and it is the INCREDIBLE intercutting between the two that makes the dinos work as well as they do. Chapman Rating: ****. But the book by Michael Crichton is still WAY better.

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Editors Note: It should be noted that Chris did not mean to assert that there are REAL dinosaurs in this film. They are all extinct. Chris reluctantly acknowledges that.