This is one of my top all-time favorite movies and here's why. We are drawn into another world, full of magic and wonder - dinosaurs are alive! - but with ever-mounting foreshadowing of trouble in every scene. Things get ugly and out of hand real quick.
At the time, early '90's, Spielberg's CGI was revolutionary. I daresay it's the first movie to every successfully employ computer graphics of this magnitude and the dinosaurs turn out very realistic and scary and a lot of fun to watch. I can't even imagine how long it took computers back then to process all that data.
Michael Creighton's theories are intriguing and backed by enough science to make it good science fiction. Just mix a little dino DNA you find in mosquitoes stuck in amber with frog DNA and bam, you get a new dinosaur. But, as with any Creighton story or Spielberg movie, Jurassic Park was about much more than just the thrill of the chases and the graphics.
For one, there was solid acting here. Sam Neill is a good hero: distant, cold, serious at first, all about science and no nonsense, but comes around in the end, as he gets to know the kids. His American accent comes off a little stiff and proper, but it works. Samuel L. Jackson (wait, he was in this movie?!) must have a clause in all his movies saying he's got to have a great line. Here, it was, "Hold on to your butts." And Jeff Goldblum was basically born to play this role: a smarmy, sarcastic, unkempt, pompous know-it-all who would get on your nerves in real life but who is fun to watch in a movie.
Secondly, the theme music was composed by none other than John Williams of Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter. It is now legendary. We played it in band in middle school.
Finally, there were some deeper questions raised with this movie, questions about the ethics of scientific experiments and exploiting nature in the name of business. Even if we can do something, we need to stop and think if we should or not. Is it a good idea to bring dinosaurs, huge, strong, ferocious animals, back into existence? We learn pretty quick that "life finds a way" and that nature usually wins out over man. As for a little writer/director commentary, the first person to be eaten by a dinosaur is the lawyer, as he sits on the toilet, crying for his mommy.
All in all, Jurassic Park is an unforgettable movie. The best Spielberg scene is when the T-Rex gives a loud roar amongst the ruin of the fossilized bones, as a the Grand Opening banner falls down in the background. Boom.
