Movie Review: 'Jurassic Park 3D'
By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- All you need to know about the staggering range and level of accomplishment of world-class director Steven Spielberg is that he released Jurassic Park and Schindler's List in the same year.
And although you probably don't need an excuse to see the wondrous 1993 classic about an entertainment extravaganza featuring dinosaurs again (or for the first time), you've got one if you do: it's now in 3D.
Yep, once again, they're ba-a-a-ack.
Once again the tricera is tops in taps. Once again a family film beckons kids who love dinosaurs.
And why do they love them? Because they're big, because they're fierce, and because they're dead. Or were.
Jurassic Park 3D is the re-release of the three-time Oscar-winning science fantasy (actually, a science eventuality, according to Spielberg) about a dinosaur theme park, based on the 1990 Michael Crichton best-seller.
This PG-13-rated thriller features genetically recreated dinosaurs cloned from resurrected DNA in a Costa Rica theme park, where a dinosaur's gotta do what a dinosaur's gotta do.
That's dinosaur, from the ancient Greek, meaning "terrible lizard."
And that's Spielberg, from the modern cinemaspeak, meaning "credible wizard."
And while the monumentally entertaining film is unmistakably well cast, well acted,well written, well designed, well shot, well edited, well scored, and exquisitely suspenseful, it also offers one of the most astounding collections of illusions in the history of the movies.
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And I'm here to tell you that twenty years later, the landmark CGI work absolutely holds up in all its awe-inspiring splendiferousness. "Special effects" doesn't come close to capturing their impact.
On top of that, and despite the fact that I'm on record as being anti-3D (because of the frequency with which it becomes the tail that wags the movie dog), if ever a movie was made to be converted to 3D, it's Jurassic Park, which Spielberg seems to have concocted while waiting for the 3D technology to catch up.
Well, it has. And the effect is magnificent, offering screams and giggles, and turning us all into mesmerized, frightened, awestruck, delighted ten-year-olds.
And in addition to the original and two sequels we've already gotten, Jurassic IV comes our way next year. But here's a chance to see the T. Rex of the first three installments the way it should be seen, in all its Spielbergian splendor.
So we'll clone all 4 stars out of 4 for Jurassic Park 3D, a must-see-again trick from magician Steven Spielberg, the dino-sorcerer of mainstream movies.
