Jurassic Park

Last year's Jurassic World (reviewed here) was a fun (if flawed) sequel to today's review, 1993's Jurassic Park.

The premise of Jurassic Park is simple: a millionaire figures out how to clone dinosaurs by extracting their DNA from blood found in mosquitoes (who are themselves fossilized in sap).  He sets up a park on his private Caribbean island intending to display these creatures to the masses; while showing his venture to his grandkids (and a few scientists), the dinosaurs get loose and shake things up.

I hadn't seen this movie in years, and was curious how it would stand the test of time.  Surprisingly, it fared well.  The effects- astounding then- are still excellent, and the film was well-done in most other respects- plot, music, and characters.  Though primarily an adventure/suspense flick, it even explores an interesting philosophical question: if we can do something . . . should we?  It's not all roses- it's overly sentimental in places (which Steven Spielberg, the director, has been accused of elsewhere), and some scenes appear geared more towards a younger audience- odd when you realize most of the PG-13 offering is dinosaurs chasing and eating people.  Still, overall, it holds up.

Rating: A