Jurassic Park and the pitfalls of CGI.

"That is one big pile of shit" - Steven Spielberg when he watched The Mummy Returns, which was released almost ten years after Jurassic Park. By avoiding the industry standard of relying heavily on Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) for the major technological effects, Spielberg creates a visually fascinating and hype realistic viewing experience tailor-made for audiences sick and tired of the over-CGI action flicks.

Originally planning on using solely practical effects for Jurassic Park, Spielberg opted instead for a seamless blend of CGI and practical effects, with the result being visuals that stand high above its peers and even above some films produced over a decade later.

Set to the absolute perfection that is the score by John Williams, Jurassic Park's ambiance is film excellence at its finest. I mean, can you imagine a classic film soundtrack that isn't written by John Williams? Having already worked with Speilberg on both Jaws and ET the Extraterrestrial, viewers knew going into this film that this was going to be good.

From the classic Welcome to Jurassic Park to Ailing Triceratops, to even a complete lack of backing track during Dennis Nedry's escape, this score sets every scene absolutely perfectly. Achieving what many films aim to do but few deliver, adding to the visuals without acting as a distraction.

By focusing on Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant as our main characters, along with the kids Timmy and Lex, we focus on individuals that are sympathetic and curious about the dinosaurs (if a little, read: very, cautious of them). The two adults, as specialists in the field, provide essential survival skills and raw enthusiasm for the park and what it offers. The kids have a wide-eyed acceptance of what they're seeing - simply in awe of the specimens and willing to learn as much as they can. What's particularly nice to see, as I was a young woman upon initial viewing of the film, is that Lex could easily have been played as an insufferable or useless teenage girl but instead, her skills as a tech whiz and amateur hacker are utilized in the most interesting way in the final act.

With the exception of the dinosaurs themselves, the real star of the film however is Dr. Ian Malcolm, the chaotician. Spending his entire screen time throwing out witty one-liners and interesting food for thoughts, Malcolm adds undeniable sex appeal (thank you Jeff Goldblum) but also offers some of the cleverest sticking points of the franchise. Suggesting that life, uh, finds a way, and that nature will tend toward chaos are just a few of the key points he raises throughout the run time. These points, from a scientific standpoint, offer some of the most important thinking points for real-life applications of a project like this. While DNA splicing is shown as the developmental method for the creation of the dinosaurs, we know this to be scientifically impossible to replicate, but the implications of using frog DNA and the specific species being able to change sex for breeding purposes offer an important note on doing your research and doing it well.

What Jurassic Park also provides is a set of complex villains, that fuel us with our own questions as to what is morally acceptable to us the audience. Between Dennis Nedry trying to steal and sell the embryos for an exceptional profit, and Donald Gennaro the blood-sucking lawyer, the cast has its fair share of insufferable characters. The absolute worst of the lot, however, is Dr. Henry Wu. Lead scientist of the park, and the main instigator of perhaps everything awful and wrong about the park, Wu manages to give every scientist the chills every time he's on screen. When I tell you this man is my worst scientific nightmare, don't take it lightly. Spending his entire career (i.e.. further Jurassic Park sequels) playing god and making things that shouldn't be made and being a present threat in multiple storylines, parks, and companies, Wu sees no issues with abusing science until he gets exactly what he wants. This is ultimately his downfall.

Jurassic Park provides one of the most interesting and engaging storytelling in the past 50 years, and with Spielberg and Williams at the helm - can we really be surprised?