🦖 Written: August 30th-September 4th, 2023 🦖
(As played on Super Game Boy)
Year: 1993 | Developed and Published by: Ocean Software | [ ◯ ]Hello, gamers and readers alike, welcome to my blog and thank you for taking the time to tune in today, I really appreciate it. 😃
Born in 1942, revered author John Michael Crichton showed an interest in writing from an early age, having had an article he wrote about a trip he took to Sunset Crater when he was sixteen published by The New York Times. Initially penning books under pseudonymous names (and writing book reviews under his real name), he wrote The Andromeda Strain in 1969 which was published under his real name marking an important point in his career helping establish Crichton as a bestselling author. During his illustrious career that spanned nearly half a century until he sadly passed away in 2008 at the age of 66, he wrote subsequent novels credited under his real name (like The Terminal Man, The Great Train Robbery, Congo, Sphere, and Rising Sun), directed seven movies (like Westworld, Coma, and The First Great Train Robbery), had a small number of screenwriting credits (Jeannot Szwarc's Extreme Close-Up, Westworld which Crichton also directed, Philip Kaufman's Rising Sun based on Crichton's book, as well as Jan de Bont's Twister), and created the medical drama TV series ER which lasted fifteen years from 1994 to 2009. Many of his books have since been adapted to film.
Image from Wikipedia, iconic cover designed by American graphic designer Chip Kidd
November 20th, 1990 saw the debut of the latest science fiction novel written by the late author, Jurassic Park, a cautionary tale of what would happen if a group of scientists brought the once extinct dinosaurs back to life through genetic engineering (illustrated through chaos theory) as attractions for an amusement park and how such lofty ambitions led to its downfall with real-world implications if they ever got out (and they do). Jurassic Park was universally acclaimed, becoming an instant bestseller as well as the most popular work to bear Crichton's name. Before the book was even published it attracted the attention of famous and well-respected director Steven Spielberg. While discussing a screenplay idea with Crichton (which would become ER), he was very fascinated with Jurassic Park's "really credible look at how dinosaurs might someday be brought back alongside modern humankind", so he wanted to go for more than just a simple monster movie.Taking three years to make, the movie adaptation of Jurassic Park would be distributed by Universal Pictures, written by Crichton and David Koepp, with photography lensed by the always talented Dean Cundey (who also makes a brief in-movie appearance as "Mate"), and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen (who also plays as Dr. Harding), it would arrive in theatres in the Summer of 1993 to a universally positive reception and became not only the highest-grossing movie of 1993 but also the highest-grossing movie of Spielberg's directing career (and until James Cameron's Titanic four years later, the highest-grossing movie of all time) with an initial box office of $914 million (which crossed the $1 billion mark with subsequent theatrical rereleases). There are a lot of factors behind its contemporary success, among those being the way the dinosaurs were brought to life through ILM's impressive CGI and the late Stan Winston's life-sized animatronics as well as the iconic sound design, Spielberg's direction, John Williams' music, the thrilling horror sequences, as well as its cast, et al. Thirty years later, and Jurassic Park is still heralded as a timeless classic and is often considered one of the greatest movies of all time. Its success spawned a multimedia franchise, including sequels, theme park attractions, and video games.
Images from GameFAQs
In North America the NES console received a late release in the format's lifespan of Jurassic Park on June 1993 and came out in Europe that December, which would be adapted to the Game Boy. Coded by Gerald Weatherup, Paul Robinson, Debbie Hardin, and Mark Rogers, this handheld version would see a North American release on August 1993 and a European release that October. This review covers the Game Boy video game adaptation.
Left: Welcome to Jurassic Park | Right: Clear the area of procompsognathid
In the bird's eye viewed open-ended action game Jurassic Park you take control of everyone's favorite straw fedora-wearing paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill) if he magically gained the dino hunting expertise of the park's game warden Robert Muldoon (who, like so many important human characters, is neither present nor acknowledged in-game, played by the late Bob Peck, RIP) as there are guns involved.
Left: Beware of Dilophosaurs | Right: Egg hunting
You can maneuver him around in any one of eight directions, make him jump up in the air with the A button* (with the altitude gained based on how hard you pressed the button), shoot at the dinosaurs with your long-ranged weapon of choice with the B button*, and because there are four different types of firepower you change the weapon you wish to use with the Select button.* B and Y respectively should you choose to play with the Type A control scheme when playing it on the Super Game Boy
Terminals can be accessed
The goal of each area (and sub area) is to collect all the dinosaur eggs (either by walking towards them or by shooting at them, the count will go down by one either way) that are scattered about, and once you collected the last egg there'll be an access key card for the taking which will enable you to enter a doorway that was previously inaccessible (mainly indoors); some of the eggs are so well-hidden that you must make a thorough search in order to reach them. Along the way are one of four different bullet types for you to collect for Grant's gun in order to fend for himself against all the dinosaurs roaming the playing field:
Left: "Dino Dee-EN-A!" 🧬 | Right: "AND... YOU DIDN'T SAY THE MAGIC WORD!"
there's the standard bullets with the round tips which are the weakest of the bunch, the flat-tips which are stronger, the pointed-tips which are even more potent, and finally later on there'll be the bolas which not only make quick work of the bigger dinosaurs but will continue to fly until it reaches the end of the screen (preferably if there's more than one dinosaur). After shooting the dinos they'll leave behind the standard bullets for you to reload, but be careful how much of it you use up because your ammo is limited and if you completely run out you'll be a sitting duck until you can find some more.
Left: BOOM | Right: Jumping beside a fence
There are also mystery boxes here and there that you'll stumble across, but make sure to approach them with extreme caution; while some may comprise of health replenishments or in certain cases a life (one time there's a means to become temporarily invincible) others might be more deadly as you'll either lose a certain amount of damage or completely have your health drained and lose a life as a result. Losing a life will have you pick up from the very spot you died in, and if you lose your last life you have a choice to use up one of your limited continues (thereby either having you start over the mission or pick up from a specific point in said mission) or to go back to the title screen.
Left: You are now leaving Jurassic Park | Right: "They move in herds... they do move in herds"
The visuals for this handheld version of Jurassic Park were worked on by Steven Kerry, Ray Musci, Jon Beard, Martin McDonald, Francesca Roosen, Damon Jenkins, Alan Pashley, Sherri Hinson Zook, Neal Zook, Chris Kerry, and Lynnie Nojadera, and it is a decent game to look at with solid sprite work. Given the monochromatic nature of the Game Boy, each section of Isla Nublar that you roam around in for these six missions do all have a distinct look about them (particularly the outdoor and indoor segments) so that they don't look all too similar to one another with the occasional use of dithering to create effective shadows.
Left: "Clever girl" | Right: Raptor ambush
You'll find yourself walking along plains (with a tiny amount of grass and rocks), around trees and foliage, along the darker-shaded river and at one pointing rowing yourself on it, inside buildings filled with terminals and tables as well as the occasional kitchen area, some of the roof areas and even the outer area of the ship have got a nice sense of floor décor, and you'll carefully move around active volcanoes and venturing inside rocky caverns. Grant is solidly designed and is instantly recognizable due to his fedora, though his walking animation on all eight sides comes off as a bit choppy (even once he grabs hold of a gun) though there is a decent sense of how high up he is when he jumps up due to the size of the shadow below him when he's airborne.
Left: Get on the raft | Right: Rowing towards the floating egg
He does have different death animations depending how he dies, however, like keeling over upon losing your last bit of health or touching an explosive mystery box, appearing lifelessly trampled after losing all your health to the stampeding Triceratops, going down with the raft during the rafting section should all your health be depleted there, being electrocuted (appearing as a skeleton and everything) to death upon being shocked, and leaving his fedora in his wake upon being eaten by the Tyrannosaurus rex. The sprites for Tim and Lex Murphy (played by Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards), in the brief period of time that you see them, look okay and animate pretty decently. I also like how whenever you access a terminal you're greeted on the screen by everyone's favorite animated double helix Mr. DNA (voiced in this movie by the late Greg Burson, RIP).
Left: Try not to get hit by the Brachiosaurus... | Right: and the oncoming driftwood, too
As for the main attractions of the eponymous amusement park, they too are decently drawn and animate okay. Here you will have to contend with the common procompsonathid who are smaller than you as well as the larger Velociraptors who prowl towards you menacingly and Dilophosaurs who jump out from their hiding spots at an attempt to sneak attack you and rotate depending where you are in relation to them should you walk too closely to covered spots like walls inside buildings and foliage, all of whom go up in smoke after shooting them with enough bullets. The other dinosaurs you see also animate fairly well like the Stegosaurus in the third level, the docile Brachiosaur's head in the river on the second level, and on the fifth level the Xiphiorynchus that leap out of the water. The larger dinosaurs, the Triceratops and the Tyrannosaurus rex, have got more detail and appear solidly drawn as a result.
Where the game peaks on a visual level are the highly detailed static cutscenes (which as far as I know are Game Boy exclusives), as you exit Jurassic Park at the end of the first level only to be greeted by a herd of stampeding Triceratops and the Tyrannosaurs rex towering over you in the continue screen.
I'm genuinely surprised that I managed to splice three individual screenshots in order to form one complete image and make it presentable, I might never accomplish something like this again...
One cutscene that looks really good is when you reach Lex at the end of the second level as it's one long panoramic piece of art as it starts off all the way to the left until it slowly pans over to the right to reveal the Tyrannosaurus rex who is roaming around the same area. It's a shame there aren't any more outside of these three, though I like how with each mission briefing you see the DNA in motion on the left side of the screen.Jurassic Park's movie soundtrack was composed by John Williams, who not only frequently collaborated with director Steven Spielberg since The Sugarland Express in 1974 but also composed music for so many other directors and movie franchises as well.
A truly legendary composer, there's no such thing as a bad John Williams score in my book
In an impressive career spanning over seventy years, Williams always delivered some of the most memorable, timeless, and iconic music in movie history and has earned his position as one of the best movie composers of all time. There will never be another like him. With Jurassic Park, he has crafted an unforgettable score that has become so beloved that it's often considered among his best works, evoking the awe and wonder of seeing live dinosaurs while also featuring frightening themes for scenes that were suspenseful.
Left: Just shoot enough bullets at her that she'll momentarily backpedal offscreen | Right: Guiding a slowly walking Lex to safety
Surprisingly, none of the Jurassic Park video game adaptations at the time adapted Williams' music and iconic motifs. I suppose the mindset was "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", which I understand, but at the same time it can't help but feel a bit bizarre. Luckily for the Game Boy version the music is very good in its own right. For all five of the Ocean-developed Jurassic Park games (including the Game Boy and SNES sequel Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues) the music was composed by Jonathan Dunn, who studied music technology in college before he was offered a job by Ocean several years prior.
Before I discuss Dunn's musical contribution to Jurassic Park, let's talk about Comic Bakery.
Screengrabbed while watching RetroDemoScene's Comic Bakery - C64 Game Intro video on YouTube
Two years later in 1986 it would receive a Commodore 64 conversion by Imagine Software with a completely new soundtrack by Martin Galway (of Sensible Software's Parallax fame), especially its title screen music which would also be recycled for Ocean Software's Commodore 64 adaptation of the late Tony Scott's Top Gun a year later. Fascinatingly, there have been three composers who were influenced by Galway's Comic Bakery music to the point that the recognizable melody has popped up in other video game properties: Jochen Hippel (as a cracktro to Angels' Commodore Amiga port of Brøderbund's Prince of Persia), Jonathan Dunn (the NES and Game Boy versions of Jurassic Park as well as the Game Boy sequel), and Tomas Danko (Squashy Software's Platypus). A bit of a phenomenon, really.
Left: Shooting at the Dilophosaur | Right: As long as I'm standing in the open spot of the foliage that venomous projectile spit won't get to me
The first level theme does undoubtedly share some of the beats of Galway's Comic Bakery chiptune, but Dunn does just enough to add more flair to the mix so his rendition doesn't sound like a carbon copy, and even if comparisons weren't made, it's still enjoyably catchy and bouncy to listen to without fail. The second level theme is urgent-sounding and occasionally ominous, the third level's theme ramps up the sense of imminent danger (especially with the double kick drum during the middle of it), the fourth level theme has an adventurous flair as you're officially past the halfway point of the game, and the fifth level theme (which doubles as the title theme) is energetically paced and does an effective job at setting the tone for the high quality music for the rest of the game (even if it's got naught to do with John Williams' score). Honestly, the music is the best thing this handheld adaptation has got going for it, and the sound effects are pretty solid too (like the booms of the dinosaurs being eradicated as well as the escalation/de-escalation sound for when your health is completely replenished or completely depleted respectively).
As a fan of Jurassic Park (and by extension Mr. Nutz given the involvement of Pierre Adane and Philippe Dessoly), I was satisfied with this one 😄
1994 saw the first attempt at crafting a sequel to Jurassic Park with the Ocean Software-developed Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues on the Game Boy (and the SNES) sharing similar sidescrolling run and gun gameplay to Konami's Contra/Probotector franchise (or rather walk and gun in this case). Once again you take control of Dr. Alan Grant who must collect all the magnetic cards scattered around in order to unlock the security grilles as he must shoot down any dinosaur in his path. This follow-up was a marked improvement over its predecessor in my opinion, the gameplay was enjoyable (even if it feels like Grant may have taken in too much helium with his jumps) and far more accessible, Jonathan Dunn's music still shines as it remixes the first game's themes, the visuals look polished and super detailed this time around, and even though it's a bit on the short side I found its difficulty curve and challenge quotient to be far more acceptable than how it was in the first game. I really liked it, and personally I think it's one of Ocean's better licensed titles alongside The Addams Family on the SNES. Good stuff! 👍
Left: Picking up the access card | Right: Power on the switches
One summer as a child I visited the house of my twin cousins Jonathan and Andrew and I noticed that they had Jurassic Park on the Game Boy, only unlike my copy from Europe which had Chip Kidd's iconic skeletal T-rex design adorned on a red circle their copy (since they lived in North America) had the same T-rex but on a yellow circle. Thinking it might have been a different game than what I had, I asked if I could play it, though the moment I turned it on I realized I already had it as it was the same game but with a different cover. Having relatives on two sides of the globe, there's always the occasional moments of culture shock (major and minor). I didn't realize until these recent years that the yellow circle motif was pretty much a North American thing (including the poster for this year's 30th anniversary screening of the film this year) because I had always been under the impression that the circle's color was exclusively red, but never mind.
Left: Walking with dinosaurs | Right: Until you access the terminals in the correct sequence, you will see this message a lot
I didn't watch the movie until my early teens in the mid-2000's, however. As a child I was very scared of dinosaurs, at least the ones that looked realistic (I could tolerate animated dinosaurs like in Don Bluth's The Land Before Time and its sequels, for example), I remember one time my elementary school class took a trip to the museum and I was frightened of the giant skeletal T-rex taking up one section of it (I'm not really fond of the days I was scared of a lot of things, I try to distance myself from them as that's not who I am anymore). What helped me slightly get over the fear was one time in science class, I forget if it was the end of middle school or the start of high school, we watched Joe Johnston's Jurassic Park III which was a thrilling watch but I ended up enjoying it nonetheless, so much so that I wanted to catch up with the first two Jurassic Park movies directed by Steven Spielberg (I ended up enjoying the first one, The Lost World: Jurassic Park not as much, there's things I like about that one but it was never my favorite even to this day).
Left: Table room | Right: Cycling through a choice of weapons
I love the movie Jurassic Park, it's one of my favorite Spielberg movies alongside Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's one of those movies that no matter how many times I watch it I never get tired of it (even on the big screen, for which I got to see it in theatres two times: the weekend of my 22nd birthday in 2013 and recently on the last weekend of August 2023, both in 3D). John Williams' music is still top class, the cinematography by Dean Cundey is iconic as always with the warm color palette (especially the scenes with the spotlights and the introduction of the dinosaurs onscreen with pure movie magic), the characters are very memorable, it's a smart movie with a credible premise that raises legitimate questions and concerns about genetically engineering dinosaurs back to life, the special effects still hold up to this day, it's a thrill ride once the dinosaurs are let loose (how about that kitchen sequence or the rain-soaked introduction of the Tyrannosaurus rex?), it's got an excellent cast (Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, the late Bob Peck and late Sir Richard Attenborough, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, what's not to like?), not to mention it is endlessly quotable and even though it slightly deviates from the book (having read it last summer) it follows Michael Crichton's story fairly well.
Left: Gathering eggs sitting atop a cliff | Right: Entering the Raptor nest
The film also ends in a pitch perfect manner in my opinion, I adore the way it bookends itself with John Williams' touching music in the background coupled with the quiet moment of (self) reflection of the survivors, the sight of the pelican flying above the water, the sunset that the helicopter flies towards as the credits pop up, it's one of my favorite movie endings ever, love it, love it, love it! 🤗 You cannot get any better than that. Several years ago, when me and my family visited my relatives in Italy, my dad played the theme music of the movie on YouTube around my cousins, aunts and uncles, and my aging grandmother and most of us pretended to flap our wings to the rhythm (including her), it was a happy memory that we'll always cherish. My grandmother sadly died back in June (my dad and I thought of her when the shot of the pelican popped up when we saw the movie in its latest rerelease), but at least she's no longer in pain. 😔
Left: On the roof | Right: Picking up the set of explosives
Something I've noticed when it came to the video game adaptations simply named Jurassic Park is that they were fairly well-received back when they came out, but over time their reception has been less and less positive while Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues (which until I was older I had no idea existed) is regarded as the superior of the two which is the general consensus it seems. I'm curious if the contemporary praise of the first game had more to do with the hype generated by the success of the film and less to do with the quality of the game itself, not having aged as well as people would've liked. That was certainly how I felt about Ocean's Game Boy Jurassic Park.
Left: Vacating the nest after setting up and denoting the explosive | Right: Xiphiorhynchus
It's clear that Ocean Software spared no expense when it came to obtaining the license to adapt 1993's most successful film to video game format, the production values are evident (this is that one 8-bit game where your character can walk behind an object or wall that obscures you as opposed to just walking above the sprite) and the quality of Jonathan Dunn's music is sublime, but where the game is let down is the gameplay structure and sheer lack of polish. Now, I think the idea behind the game is sound as there is potential for something wholesomely enjoyable, but the end result doesn't live up to that, unfortunately.
Left: Firing the quick-working bolas at the Raptor | Right: Jumping above the electric floor grid
Any time you're in a new area, whether indoors or outside, it's imperative for you to collect and/or destroy the requisite number of dinosaur eggs in order to obtain an access card in place of the last egg you collected, but it's not immediately apparent which door it will grant you access to leading to a cumbersome bit of trial and error as you search for and locate the correct door to use it on and even then there's going to be a bit of backtracking involved given the nonlinear structure of each level. The exceptions are the two back-to-back rafting sequences where getting all the eggs floating in the water will get you a free life instead (that is, if you can withstand the odd currents along the way and not sustaining damage from floating driftwood and Brachiosaurus heads as well as being sure to avoid being on the receiving end of the Dilophosaurs' spit projectiles).
Left: Getting onboard the ship | Right: Traveling around the ship to search for all the eggs
Jurassic Park is divided into six levels, each with their own separate missions: the first where you must open up the gate to save Tim from the Triceratops, the second where you must row through the river with the occasional current to reach Lex as well as guide her to the exit as the Tyrannosaurus rex is on the prowl, the third level entails that you turn on all the switches which will allow you to turn on the terminals one by one (in the correct order), the fourth level asks that you procure some explosives so you can use them to destroy the Raptor nests, the fifth level has you perilously jump over electric grids so you can send a distress signal, and the final mission requires you to safely make your way to the helipad where the helicopter waits to fly you out of Isla Nublar.
Left: Watch out for flying electricity | Right: The slightest touch of electricity is enough to do you in, so do yourself a favor and tread these areas cautiously
When it comes to the individual segments involving saving Tim and Lex, they move at such a slow pace so you cannot walk too far from them and if the former gets stomped on by the stampeding Triceratops then Grant will sustain some damage so you have to move cautiously for the minute or two that you're there. Losing all your lives and choosing to continue will pick you up at the latest segment you were at but without bullets of any kind, if you lose your last life at the Tyrannosaurus rex bit and choose to continue there, you're pretty much screwed because you need an ample amount of bullets to have her backpedal offscreen so that you can safely guide Lex to the exit until she reemerges so you can shoot at her again, rinse and repeat until you're at the exit. The game doesn't play by the movie's rules where immobility is the key to not being spotted. This is the last of the two big dinosaurs you have to contend with, so one of the worst bits of the game is over which is fine and dandy except it feels like for better or worse things might have peaked in here in terms of big scale action.
Left: Heading back outside | Right: Radio message sent
The inside of the buildings are laid out in an almost maze-like fashion and are pretty spacious all around, when it comes to the terminal sequence it is going to take you awhile to learn the proper order to turn them on so you're forced to backtrack numerous times and occasionally shoot down any dinosaur that sometimes respawns itself whilst conserving bullets and properly centering yourself when walking through doorways otherwise you're not going to pass until you've got it all figured out. There are a lot of doors in the sixth mission to go through, so you're going to spend a pretty long time perusing about, dealing with dinosaurs and wandering aimlessly until you find yourself entering through the correct door once you've got the matching access card. All this makes the proceedings feel so much longer than they need to be.
Left: More procompsognathid | Right: Found an egg in a corner
Then there's the mystery boxes, where touching them will either help you significantly (by replenishing health, earning you a life, or briefly becoming invincible) or spell instant doom (by depleting your health or completely ending you by the touch), a handful of which are concealed by foliage near the end. Until you know what contents they hold if you're low on health and/or lives you may want to be cautious around them as you don't want to take any chances when you're at your most vulnerable point, and fortunately you earn a life after every 1,000 points should you be able to survive up to that point. Now, the game is manageable to play if you can coordinate yourself properly and conserving bullets is not that hard when positioned as well as distanced properly (simply don't shoot more standard bullets than you have to... plus the common dinosaurs you contend with aren't really that aggressive here), for the challenge comes not from the dinosaurs but from surviving for so long without resorting to playing on the offensive and needlessly losing health as a result.
Left: Inside the final paddock | Right: Dealing with the last of the Dilophosaurs
Ocean's first Jurassic Park game also suffers from sheer lack of replay value. Outside of perhaps hunting for eggs in a different order and the interactive credits map that you can explore to your heart's content, there's really no incentive to play it again right after you finish it as the gameplay isn't fun and intuitive enough to warrant to it, plus the contents of the mystery boxes remain unchanged no matter how many times you play it. If it wasn't for the fact that there's a lot of random trial and error when it comes to the correct terminal sequence and the right door to enter through while moving at a moderate walking pace, this game would not exceed past the one-hour length just to play through it all.
Screengrabbed while watching Limited Run's Gex Trilogy reveal trailer on YouTube
This Summer the publisher Limited Run Games released a teaser trailer for Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection to commemorate the thirty years of the movie (and the game), seeing all five of Ocean's Nintendo-bound Jurassic Park games compiled together by Carbon Engine with quality-of-life features, but it doesn't appear that any of the Sega adaptations will be included*. Carbon Engine is fairly new, having only worked on a handful of properties preserving the video game classics from yesteryear thus far (from Bill & Ted's Excellent Retro Collection which has already been released to upcoming venues Trip World DX, A Boy and His Blob: Retro Collection, and Gex Trilogy). Come the day Limited Run releases Jurassic Park's compilation, those who had not experienced any of Ocean's games before will see whether they enjoy the individual titles available in it or not. With the rise of video game preservation, life finds a way.* 9/19/23 Update: It seemed to be that way when I wrote this review, but it's just been announced by Limited Run that BlueSky Software's MegaDrive/Genesis-based Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition will also be a part of the compilation
Left: Two Raptors to deal with | Right: "Call the mainland. Tell them to send the damn helicopters."
If other people had fun with it, that's fine, but personally speaking, I found the enjoyment value of this specific Jurassic Park game to be mildly inconsistent, as at points there's times when it's genuinely fun but then there's the moments I get lost trying to locate the right door and the correct terminal to utilize next which to me sapped enjoyment out of the experience given how spacious these environments are. I do have a soft spot for it, having played it as a child, but I found this to be a mess. If you are curious about Jurassic Park, I recommend reading Michael Crichton's novel (provided you can tolerate the occasional techno babble science and are not the least bit squeamish) and watching the movie over playing this game. If you still want to play it, it's fine to play through at least once (and that's it), however, if you have to play only one Ocean Jurassic Park game on the Game Boy, I highly recommend checking out the more accessible Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues instead.
My Personal Score: 5.0/10
● I wanted to review this game last year after having watched Colin Trevorrow's Jurassic World Dominion (which I surprisingly liked quite a bit, though I wonder if seeing the old cast reunite had anything to do with that) and while I was in the midst of reading Michael Crichton's book, but I did not get much of anywhere. I'm glad I can say I got the motivation to see this review through this year.
● Tangentially related, but I did find it amusing how in the animated film We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, a movie I'm completely on the fence how I feel about in the handful of times I've seen it, they show on the marquee in the background "Now Playing: Jurassic Park" during the "Roll Back the Rock" sequence; same year (1993), distributor (Universal), and production company (Amblin Entertainment) as the aforementioned film. The animators, they knew what they were doing here.
● I found out this year that Jurassic Park was rereleased in 2018 (the same year as J. A. Bayona's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), and I feel a bit bad for not knowing about that at the time, but I'm glad I got to see Jurassic Park on the big screen a second time this year, and if I'm aware about it in the future I would not want to pass up an opportunity for a third (I just hope the audience at that point shows more discipline then they have at this one, I'm a little disheartened that decorum and self-control are going the way of the dinosaurs 😞). I'm also happy that I can say that Colin Trevorrow's Jurassic World is no longer the only film in the franchise that I've seen in theatres more than once.
● There's always something special about seeing the classics on the big screen, isn't it? How neat would it be if the theatres decided to rerelease films such as Robert Zemeckis' Romancing the Stone, Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or even John Carpenter's Starman in 2024 in celebration of their 40th anniversary (just to name a few) and seeing those classics blown up on the big screen (a second trip to the late Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters in theatres wouldn't be bad, either, having seen that one in theatres in 2014...)? I bring up the last one because, prior to Jurassic Park being played at this screening, there was a Fathom Events trailer for the 40th anniversary screening of Carpenter's Christine, so I figured maybe... though I wouldn't hold my breath, knowing it's one of the director's least popular of movies despite being adored and beloved (and for good reason, it's so good I practically gushed about it at the end of my review for ASCII's Ardy Lightfoot back in May; just imagining experiencing the down to earth sci-fi love story between Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen, being emotionally invested in their journey, and hearing the late Jack Nitzsche's thought-provoking and poignant score on the big screen, oh my God, I would love that if Starman were going to be rereleased next year 😭).
Happy 30th Anniversary, Jurassic Park,
you earned it!!!! 🥳
(By which I mean the movie)
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