I finally had gotten my ticket; I had bought it the day before just to be safe. I was going to see Jurassic World as soon as I possibly could. I was pretty excited for this one; a Jurassic movie had not been released in fourteen years since the third one came out back in 2001. I had rather high hopes as well; the title was changed from a Jurassic “Park” to a “World” and a different director from the last one. One thing I knew is that for me it would not be as good as the first, I felt they could of put real live dinosaurs in Jurassic World and it would not of changed my mind any. The night finally came to go see it at seven o’clock, I just had to get a pop and popcorn and then I was all set. Theater number seven was easily over 3/4 of the way full when I got in there. Mostly seats up close by the screen were available; I prefer to sit in the middle though. I don’t remember the last time I was in a theater this full, even for the earliest showing of the Jurassic Park re release in 3D. This was just a regular showing of Jurassic World, since last time I ended up getting a headache afterwards, but I figured it was worth it for my favorite movie. Even when I got to my seat on time there were people still coming in, taking a moment to pause to see where they could actually sit. I was hoping no one would have to end up sitting next to me as there were hardly any seats available to my left or right. After the movie I felt I had spent my nine dollars well. It had that familiar and nostalgic Jurassic Park look and feel to it, this time it was a fully functioning dinosaur theme/amusement park. It had tied the first one to it more so than the last two did which was nice to see, they even brought back the familiar face of B.D Wong who played Dr. Henry Wu from the first as their chief geneticist. Jurassic World also takes place on the fictional island of Isla Nublar just as Jurassic Park did. Overall I was pretty pleased with what I saw, and with the weekend record breaking Box Office success it was, maybe I will see another Jurassic World movie in the future.

The third Jurassic Park was my least favorite one without a doubt. I don’t think it was a bad movie; it’s just hard to call it one of the Jurassic Parks. Especially considering that this time around the Jurassic Park franchise was no longer being directed by Steven Spielberg, nor was there a Michael Crichton novel to base it off of either. Steven Spielberg may have helped produce the film, but Joe Johnston ended up directing it. I feel that the plot of the third film hurt it more than anything. It just simply did not add much to the overall story like the first two did. It definitely had its exciting moments and even introduced some new dinosaurs, but that was not enough to redeem it in my opinion. Being an old school Jurassic Park fan, I wasn’t too thrilled about the major color and dinosaur changes of the logo either. The first two Jurassic Park movie logos had the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but it was changed to the Spinosaurus instead. With the upcoming Jurassic World, the logo now looks more like the first one did. The return of Sam Neil (Dr. Alan Grant) and Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler) did help bring back some familiar faces to the film. The third Jurassic Park came out back in 2001, at that time I had outgrown playing with dinosaur toys and reading dinosaur books. So a lot of the childhood excitement I had with the first two Jurassic Park films sadly was now gone. This time around I just went to see this particular Jurassic Park just once in theaters with my mom. Back in my middle school math class I would talk to my friend about the teaser/trailer that we had seen. We were both pretty excited for it at the time. Like the last two Jurassic Park movies, I got this one for Christmas later in the year. I accidently stumbled upon it while “looking” in the bottom of our dining room cabinet. When I finally did get it for Christmas, it ended being the least watched of the Jurassic Park movies. The ending of Jurassic Park III was definitely a major disappointment; it’s almost as if the creators of the movie were just looking for something quick & easy to put an ending to the film. Hopefully, Jurassic World will be able to put this grand dinosaur movie franchise back on track.

I felt the second Jurassic Park was good, not great like the first one, or just OK like the third. But The Lost World: Jurassic Park was the first Jurassic Park that I was old enough to see in theaters. The first time was with my dad, the second time was with my step dad and younger step sister, but she wasn’t really interested in watching it. I was nine years old at the time, which was 1997, and obsessed with dinosaurs. I can remember when I had first seen the movie trailer on TV; my dad was sitting on the end of the couch watching his show at night. My Jaw dropped in awe from being so excited, once it ended; I immediately asked my dad if we could go see it. The second Jurassic Park seemed to be highly anticipated at the time. I would go grocery shopping with my mom and see the logo on different food boxes, usually cereal and fruit snacks. From a cereal box offer, I ordered an amber colored bouncy ball with a glow in the dark dinosaur embedded in it. It seemed to take forever before it finally came. I had even collected all the watches at Burger King that were being sold for $5 each. My favorite was the dino eye one, with the green hologram on the watch face. I also had gotten the videogame for the then unpopular Sony Playstation rival, the Sega Saturn. There seemed to be no shortage of merchandise to snatch up every chance I could get, hoping that my parents would buy it for me. Of course, when Christmas came around I received the movie with the cool 3D insert of the T-Rex head popping out, and also what was probably the coolest dinosaur toy I had ever gotten. The giant moveable T-Rex, even though I was still playing with dinosaur toys, I had surprisingly kept it in the box for a while before I finally gave in to opening it. In elementary school, I picked up the novel by Michael Crichton in our library to get reading points. I only read about a quarter of it from what I remember, but at the time I felt I should pick it up just because. The junior novelization I bought was more probably more appropriate for my reading level. Although not my favorite one, The Lost World: Jurassic Park probably has more sentimental value to me.

This is my review of the first Jurassic Park movie itself, the first, best and original in my opinion. It was the one that started it all. With two sequels, and now an upcoming third sequel with a slightly different title name of Jurassic World. I favor the first one partly because it is actually about a Jurassic Park; the last two were more about dinosaurs running wild on a remote island, rather than a dinosaur theme park. As with most movies the first is usually the best, and Jurassic Park is no exception. It ruled the worldwide box office record books for years until Titanic took over five years later after Jurassic Park. Partly why I think it is such a great movie is that it combined the talents of two creative geniuses. Michael Crichton who originally authored the novel back in 1990, and Steven Spielberg who ultimately ended up directing the movie. The same is true for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, even though it was not as a big of a success as the first. At the box office, it has grossed $1.029 billion, with a budget of $63 million. It is currently the 15^th highest grossing film of all time. Some of the filming was done on Hawaii, on the island of Kauai. With the beautiful fog capped mountains and lush jungle, it really could pass for an exotic & remote island off the coast of Costa Rica, as where it is supposed to take place in the movie. Of course, Jurassic Park would not have been the success it had been if it wasn’t for the computer technology available at the time. Although some of the dinosaurs were a combination of puppetry & animatronics, I don’t think Jurassic Park could have been possible without the use of computers. The movie shows that computers can believably bring dinosaurs back to life. When it comes to books being made into movies, most would say that the book is always better. I feel that in this case, with this particular movie, that the reverse is true. If dinosaurs were never extinct to begin with, it would probably be different. It has a great cast of actors, who did a phenomenal job as well. The music that John Williams composed (who also did Star Wars) really fit the movie well, especially at the suspenseful moments. Even though I have not seen Jurassic World yet, I know Jurassic Park will always remain my favorite.

The reason why I chose this topic is because Jurassic Park is my favorite movie, especially from my childhood. I would watch it religiously as a kid, practically every day growing up. When Jurassic Park first came out in theaters back in June of 1993, I was only 5 years old. I was probably much too young to see it then, with or without an adult. I have memories of hearing about it when I was taking a ride with my friend and his dad, after it was recently released on VHS. His dad saying how great it was, but that it was probably too violent for me to see. I can also remember trying to sneak downstairs to the basement of a family friend, where my brother and sister & her friend were watching it. I was soon discovered before I could even get down the stairs.  I can even remember (although barely) when my dad had taken my sister to see it in theaters, but she had just turned 10 years old. As I got older though my luck would soon change, my older brother had gotten Jurassic Park for me on Christmas one year. I think I had to been at least close to 8 years old. That movie sparked my interest in dinosaurs; it also brought dinosaurs to life for me as well. I was so fascinated by how real the dinosaurs looked & acted. It was a magical fantasy I could easily get lost in pretty much anytime I wanted. Even as an adult, I can still watch and be amazed by it. Whether it’s the scene during the thunderstorm at night with the Tyrannosaurus Rex, to the kitchen scene with the Velocioraptors. Jurassic Park is almost a quarter of a century old, and it still holds up well today in my opinion. Although I know Jurassic Park is a computer generated movie, I know dinosaurs have been long extinct, and I even know most (if not all) of the mistakes in the film. But as long as I watch it through the same eyes & mindset as a kid who grew up in the 90s, it should continue to be the mind blowing movie that it has always been to me. When I wanted to see a “real” dinosaur, I didn’t look at books, toys, models, or even complete skeletons, I watched Jurassic Park.