Jurassic Park 3D
Starring: Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, David Attenborough
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Reviewed by Danielle Muir

[rating: 4.5/5]

They just don’t make em’ like this anymore.  Family movies are usually full of CGI-laden magical worlds that are designed to distract kiddies from a poor script – and us big kids have a little snooze.  But luckily for us, it seems the best family films have already beaten us to the punch.  With heart, intelligence and adventure suiting all – I’m talking films like E.T. and of course, Jurassic Park.

I’m sure the decision to re-release in 3D comes at the announcement of a fourquel in the works – but this offers the opportunity for the families with new generations of children to experience the wonder of this incredible film on the big screen.  And as a first time viewer, I can tell you there was nothing quite like it.  Jurassic Park has something for every age – thrills, laughs, scientific explanations and experiments, family sentiments and most impressive of all, incredibly well done depictions of the dinosaurs who once ruled the earth (in 1993 before we had the more fancy doo-dah’s we have now).  For the majority of it I couldn’t wipe the goofy grin off my face, unless I was on the edge of my seat in suspense – that T-Rex car scene had me quaking – all in a film I would love my imaginary children to see.

The post-conversion into 3D has its pros and cons – ultimately if there’s anybody out there who hasn’t seen Jurassic Park yet, you’d be a fool to miss it in such a format.  Whilst some shots are done a disservice by the technique – or perhaps I’m just too used to modern quality – it does enhance the hero scenes where necessary.  For example, 3-D-ing the T-Rex attack not only makes it more imposing, but highlights just how incredible the effects used to create it were, standing the test of our modern technology twenty years later.  But yes, some scenes such as the opening shot of the dinosaurs in the park lose their impact because of a grainy, faded texture.  But these are small quibbles on a masterpiece and I’m sure Spielberg wouldn’t have foreseen that his film would need to cater for this technique two decades on.

So parents, if you’re sick of yawning in your children’s brainless animations, if the big kids want to revisit a piece of heart-warming nostalgia on the big screen and if the uninitiated want to start catching up before number four, I can’t imagine a more pleasant way to spend an afternoon.