Jurassic Park Review
Summary: A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park’s cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
- Starring: Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum
- Director: James Cameron
- Writer: James Cameron
- Rating: PG-13
- Runtime: 2h 7m
- 3D Type: Post-Conversion
Story:
Well, it’s Jurassic Park! If you don’t know it, you’re either too young or have been living under some big rock all your life.
John Hammond and his crew of scientists try to play God by bringing the dinosaurs back to life and starting a theme park to showcase them. What follows is a park tour gone wrong, dinosaurs escaping, and an overweight computer programmer attempting to steal the DNA capsules for himself.
Picture:
The visuals still hold up remarkably with no detail loss being present in the 3D version of the film. Textures on facial expressions, clothing, foliage, and animatronics are all greatly detailed in the original 2D version and remain intact here.
Sound:
As expected, the audio here matches the visuals and is ported over from the previous release. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 immerses you in the adventure right from the start. The soundstage and dynamic range are excellent throughout, providing a rich sharply detailed listening experience.
3D
Originally released in 1993, Steven Spielberg’s classic Jurassic Park was post-converted to 3D and re-released into cinemas in 2013. This was done by Stereo D, who nine months beforehand, did a terrific job on the Titanic conversion. The CGI effects used in this film were groundbreaking for its time and hold up remarkably well decades later. Like Titanic, Jurassic Park would have been super difficult to convert to 3D, yet Stereo D did another terrific job!
Pop:
The 3D version of Jurassic Park has some pop moments such as the scene where a raptor lunges at Ellie. However, most of the focus here is on the depth of field expansion.
Depth:
“Welcome to Jurassic Park”. Iconic really. This scene in 3D gave me goosebumps. You have the camera panning up at the huge Brachiosaurus, the theme music playing, and Dr. Grant dropping to the ground in awe. It’s just fantastic, the scope of everything in 3D.
The helicopter scenes show great depth of field, as they fly over the island’s jungle landscape, you get some great shots.
Of course, there’s the scene with Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Ellie (Laura Dern) in the jeep outside the T-Rex enclosure, the suspense of the ground shaking, the cup of water shaking, rain trickling on the jeep, and the T-Rex reveal, it just all looks spectacular in 3D. I’d say this is probably my favourite sequence as the suspense and thrills are heightened with the extra depth. The Jeep chase and treetop scene are other notable mentions.
It must be said that there are a few scenes in the forest where the depth appears to create a sort of cardboard cut-out look, such as the Gallimimus stampede. Though this is to be expected with a movie that was never designed for 3D, some imperfections will exist
Verdict:
Jurassic Park is a timeless classic and the 3D release is not gimmicky at all, it’s a must-have for any 3D fan’s movie collection. It shows others how 3D conversions can be done properly if done with patience and care. I’d say it’s in my top 5 3D movies.
Category | Scores |
---|---|
Story: | ★★★★★ |
Picture: | ★★★★★ |
Sound: | ★★★★★ |
Pop: | ★★★ |
Depth: | ★★★★ |
TOTAL SCORE: | 22/25 |