Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is a 1993 science-fiction adventure film based on a popular novel of the same name. Directed by Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Saving Private Ryan), the film follows a group of people on a preview tour of a park that houses genetically revived dinosaurs. During this tour, the park undergoes a severe power outage that allows the dinosaurs to escape their encloses and run amok.

Still holds up 29 years later. Jurassic Park was a milestone in visual effects and how they’re utilized in our modern-day blockbusters. The amount of CGI is extremely low for a film of this scale — that’s something that people tend to forget. A majority of the dinosaurs we see on screen are animatronics, and the only time CGI is used is when a dinosaur is shown in full. With the more CGI-heavy sequences (such as the T-Rex jeep sequence), they are smartly covered up by the dark and by the rain, making the CGI look better. The perfect mix of real-life animatronics and computer effects makes for a pretty believable experience. Never do the visual effects take us out of the film, and never once do the dinosaurs feel fake.

Breathtaking. There is a great sense of awe and scale throughout the film. Spielberg does what he does best — showing us shots of the characters in awe before actually showing what they’re in awe of. It’s an effective way of making the audience feel something they would feel otherwise; but here it works so well, giving us back our childlike sense of inspiration and wonderment that we might have lost over the years. John William’s gorgeous score adds a great sense of adventure and horror.

“Hold on to your butts.” The screenplay written and adapted from Michael Crichton’s science-based novel is fantastic — streamlined with a thoughtful message behind it more than the source material. People of all ages can understand the motivations behind the characters and can follow the action sequences perfectly. As an audience, even though we see the chaos happening on screen, we’d all still visit the park.