A Master Class...

Tonight's foray into my dvd collection started with a 25 year old film.

Now, when you say to me "a 25 year old film", my first thought is something like James Bond or Planet of the Apes, but of course they're 50 year olds like me.  My life's rear view mirror is very bad at measuring time and often thinks it's much younger than it actually is.

So.  A 25 year old film you say?  What might that be?

Colour me shocked to realize that Jurassic Park is over 25 years ago.  1993.  Good grief.

Anyhow. 

It's amazing to watch one of the first movies to really exploit the new Computer Generated Imagery technology to the fullest.  I remember seeing it in the theater and being totally, entirely sucked in.  I was as blown away as Sam Neill's Dr. Alan Grant when the first dino's appeared on screen.  By the end of the film I was so engrossed that it wasn't until well after I left the theater that I realized that the stampede of Gallimimus was all special effects.  I had been so perfectly done that I just accepted that Spielberg had managed to corral some dinosaurs and run 'em over that log on cue. 

Truly spectacular for its day.  The question being now, 25 years later, is it still spectacular?

Short answer?  Yep.  Better in fact. 

Jurassic Park is a master class in more than just groundbreaking special effects.  Unlike most of the movies that use the technology today, this movie actually knows how to use it effectively.  When I say effectively, I mean sparingly, surrounded by great acting, crisp storytelling, great scoring and truly impressive tension building. 

Neat trivia.  The run time is over 2 hours.  This is easily the most identifiable special effects blockbuster of its day.  So for all that and the fact that dinosaurs and special effects are obviously the most important part of the film, how amazing is it that in total there are only 15 minutes of footage in which dinosaurs appear.

Fifteen minutes from over 120 minutes of total film.

Even more interesting?  Only 6 minutes of that footage comes from Industrial Light & Magic and the rest is animatronic.  Six minutes of CGI in a movie that might be among the most famous to EVER use the technology.  Today's bloated budgets have literally hundreds of cgi shots, costing millions of dollars.  Today's film makers have totally given up on the concept of "less is more" and I think revisiting films like this one would do them as much good as it did me.

However you may feel about the sequels and the more recent revisits, I strongly recommend dusting off your copy of Jurassic Park and enjoy it again.  It really is as good as, if not better than, the movie you remember from all those many, many, many years ago.

25 years.  Good grief.