Is it bad when a 20-year-old movie manages to entertain you more than most of the films you've seen in the theater in the past five to ten years? That's what I was wondering as I left the screening of Jurassic Park 3D. The movie is celebrating its twenty-year anniversary, and I was six when it was in theaters - needless to say, I didn't see it on the big screen. I think at one point I saw it on VHS, and also its sequel, but I'm not sure if I saw JP III; also, there will be a JP IV released in theaters next year. So we know the movie is worth seeing again, and definitely in theaters - but what about its 3D?
For the uninitiated: according to IMDb, the movie occurs "During a preview tour," when "a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok." That's the polite way of putting it, I suppose; perhaps they should have added that the park founder should not have let his grandkids test out the exhibits before the public, as well. The founder and money man behind the park, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), entices Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) away from their archaeological dig in the desert, because he needs some archaeologists to sign off on the park to appease his investors. They join Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferraro), a lawyer, as well as John's grandkids (Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards), for a "soft opening" of the park. During a major storm one night, however, and some sneaky subterfuge by a JP employee (Wayne Knight, aka Newman from Seinfeld), the power goes off, and the dinosaurs run amok ... while the tour group is still out in the park.
I'm not a fan of scary movies, but Jurassic Park is scary in a fun way. At first the 3D was just okay, but throughout the movie it got better, and there's nothing like a T-rex directly in your face to make you jump in your seat! As with a few of these 3D conversion movies, the 3D sometimes has issues when people are in the background - it doesn't look completely real - but the rest of the film made ample use of the conversion.
Yes, see this movie, even if you've seen Jurassic Park before. It was a treat to see it on the big screen, and I imagine that even if you have already seen it on the big screen, you're due for a refresher. This movie will also appeal to kids and teenagers 10+ because they either haven't seen it or haven't seen it in theaters, I am guessing, and dinosaurs will appeal to kids of all ages; although, I will caution you, the movie is rated PG-13 and some scenes were rather terrifying in 3D, so I'd say the youngest age to see this movie should be 10-11 or older, depending on your child's threshold for scariness.
Jurassic Park 3D is in theaters today, April 5th, and is rated PG-13.
Story: 4.5 stars out of 5
3D: 4 stars out of 5
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Liz Parker is a University of Michigan graduate with a degree in Creative Writing and Literature, and she loves going to the movies. Visit her at her movie blog Yes/No Films
