 Steven Spielberg. Creator of the modern
day blockbuster. Well regarded as a master of cinema in both
light fare and serious topics. Cynical Oscar-hound that has
to make a serious film every five years to make up for his
previous, goofy action flicks? Possibly. A pretty good director
with daddy issues? Most definitely. But this review isn’t
to discuss my own personal conflicting feelings for Spielberg’s
output (which can be described as a love/hate/love/hate/love/love/hate
relationship), we’re here to discuss the Jurassic
Park films, all which have been released in a handy
box set.
Because the world needed one more Jurassic Park release – at least, until the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs
come out.
Jurassic
Park
Now, we all know the ins-and-outs of Jurassic Park (unless you are an Amish person
who has recently converted – and if so, welcome to the
Internet!); an elderly businessman and a crack team of scientists
extract dinosaur DNA from a mosquito encased in amber, fill
in the DNA cracks with amphibian code and create lady dinosaurs
on a theme park island, dinosaurs which then wreak havoc on
a group of people including the elderly businessman’s
children. Samuel L. Jackson gets killed, a young girl hacks
into a UNIX system (which was foreshadowed in a scene where
the young girl cheerfully spouts out “I’m a hacker!”),
Sam Neill learns to love children, Jeff Goldblum rambles,
and we learn that the amphibian DNA allows the dinosaurs to
switch genders and breed like rabbits, a concept completely
lost on the dinosaurs because not only do they not know what
rabbits are, they can’t understand the English language
anyway.
Since we’ve all gotten past the entire concept of the film and have blazed through two sequels, what is there
to really think of when watching the film? That’s right, every single one of these characters are unsympathetic
and get exactly what they deserve.
Maybe “unsympathetic” is a harsh word. Of course
as you’re watching the film there’s a tense feeling
of peril, but it’s not because you’ve grown to
enjoy and love these characters. It’s because they’re
being chased by goddamn dinosaurs. You’ve got Ole
Beardy (Richard Attenborough, clearly rocking the Southern
Santa image) who decided to clone aggressive carnivores. There’s
Sam Neill and Laura Dern leaping into restricted areas specifically  searching
for these creatures. And the children… Oh, the children.
Each character manages to make the worst decision at the worst
point in time in a way that would even make the screenwriters
of the Friday the 13th series grimace.
But it’s big, dumbass blockbuster fun, and that certainly
works for me. Spielberg keeps up the vicious (though bloodless)
action. While some set pieces feel a bit too long (does anyone
not fast-forward through that whole thing about the car in
the tree?), the overall pace chugs along as soon as we get
to the island.
In the end, Jurassic Park will probably
be regarded as a classic for its technical achievements rather
than an engaging story. But did you really expect anything
more out of a summer movie?
 The
Lost World: Jurassic Park
Up next is The Lost World:
Jurassic Park, which could be likened to Indiana
Jones And The Temple of Doom... Menaing it was
an unnecessary sequel that everybody on the face of the Earth
saw – and yet you’d be hard pressed to find anyone
who will admit to actually liking it. It is easy to see why
after this and Amistad 2: Bride of Amistad,
Spielberg pretty much abandoned sequels.
A
few years pass after the events of Jurassic Park.
InGen (the company that brought you the velociraptors) has
managed to cover up the incident with enough unexplained ease
to make you question, but not care. The only one who manages
to keep his dignity is Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum), who spouts
off to the press about the dinosaurs, which ends with everyone
branding him a loony – which is something you wouldn’t
expect with Jeff Goldblum, no siree.
In comes Richard Attenborough in what can only be described
as the most comfortable cinematic cameo in the history of
film. He tells Ian about Site B; a separate island where dinosaurs
were bred before being ushered into Jurassic Park. Those Site
B dinos have been set free into the wild on the island. With  enough
convincing (which involves sending Ian’s girlfriend,
Sarah Harding to the island of death, oh that cunning Santa!),
Ian reluctantly goes to save his girl… With the company
of his stowaway, gymnast, pre-teen, Velociraptor-kicking daughter.
I think you know what happens from here, but so much more
has been piled into the mix. We’ve got environmental
terrorism, a game hunter on the island wanting to bag himself
a T-Rex, Spielberg’s signature bastard father figure,
and let’s not forget the whole dino-rampages-through-San-Diego
ending that feels like a drug-fueled sick joke that just went
way, way too far.
Everything I dislike about Jurassic Park is amplified in The Lost World. The characters
continue to be generally worthless, the action setpieces seem
to be bigger though not necessarily better, the kid aspect
(though not as obnoxious as the ones in the first film) is
unwelcome, and let’s not forget the overall tone of the film. While the first film might have overplayed the
wistful wonder, this film is just outright dour.
The Lost World not a complete waste of time
though. As to be expected with sequels, the action is certainly
bigger – and for this, the part of my brain that is
still locked in 10-year-old-boy mode screams out in absolute
ecstasy. There will be a part of me that won’t mind
a young girl Gymkataing the hell out of a
dinosaur with only a single line of dialogue giving hint to
the event. But while the film feels like an endurance test
at times, you could do far worse. Oh, and exchanging Sam Neill
for Jeff Goldblum is a good choice in my book, seeing as how
Goldblum’s character has an actual personality (which just so happens to resemble Jeff Goldblum). What can
I say? Bug-eyed neurotics do it for me, I guess.
 Jurassic
Park III
The Lost World was (only mostly) rightfully
maligned when it came to critical reaction and public opinion,
so it’s perfectly understandable to go into Jurassic
Park III with a sense of despair. But after viewing
the film, it almost feels like maybe, possibly, this is what
the series should have been all along.
Lacking in philosophical discussion, scientific dickery and
some would say even plot, JP3 has
a paper-thin story: Dr. Allan Grant (Sam Neill) is not only
back, he still remains easily suckered by money despite knowing
exactly what’s going to happen. Along for the ride is
William H. Macy and Téa Leoni, bickering exes who are
searching for their son, who’s lost somewhere on the
mysterious Site B, the result of a vacation gone bad.
The small cast guarantees a lack of death, but there certainly
is a lot of action in the film. The short running time is
also a blessing, considering the plot. What we’ve got
here is a pure, inane B-movie on a more than modest budget
– and God bless it. Well, that might be stretching it,
but after the millions of half-baked ideas that were presented
in The Lost World and the growing high-concept
bombast of the summer blockbuster, I find charm in a simple
“let’s get the goddamn kid off the island before
we’re torn limb from limb” story.
JP3 does away with nearly everything that
made the Jurassic Park films Jurassic
Park. Spielberg is gone. Crichton’s nowhere
to be seen. And outside of John Williams’ main theme
(which has been played approximately 10,000 times up until
this point), he’s out, too. But still, two of the main
irritating running themes pop up in the film: retarded characters
and precocious children wise well beyond their years. But
with the elimination of environmental issues, corporate greed
and warnings against the abuse of technology, we can forgive
the idiocy and accept the film as a simple slasher movie.
 Presentation
This
set features the exact same discs that were previously released
many years ago, sadly. It might be because Spielberg later
established a very specific visual style thanks to cinematographer
Janusz Kaminski (who was behind The Lost World,
but the look had not been established at that point). Jurassic
Park comes off as rather flat and a little bit dull. The Lost World mainly takes place during
the night; the daytime scenes look fine, but soon enough everything
gets swallowed up in the black, which was suggested by conspiracy
theorists to be “hiding” the less-than-stellar
effects. Jurassic Park 3, being the newest
of the bunch, definitely looks the best in the collection
– it’s a tad sharper, which might not help the
special effects budget.
When originally issued, both Jurassic Park and The Lost World had separate releases
for Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS soundtracks. We only get the
Dolby tracks in this set, but they’re still strong.
We only get the Dolby tracks on this release, but they’re
still strong – Williams’ score blares through
clear and the dinosaurs certainly sound threatening. Jurassic
Park 3 features a DTS track, which is comparable
to the previous films, and I’d compare it to the Dolby
track if it weren’t for the fact that it’s 4:26
in the morning.
Extras
Oh boy. Again, all the discs are the
previous releases so there’s nothing new, but the set
still remains decent special editions. All three films come
with making-of documentaries, the first two films
running roughly 50 minutes each while the third is a scant
21 minutes long. Outside of these, there’s a lot of
kid-friendly material, information on the dinosaurs depicted
in the film, tours of the special effects studios (both for
the “real” effects and the computer effects),
CGI demonstrations, cast and crew biographies storyboards,
trailers and DVD-ROM features I can’t bother looking
at.
But
every film does have some features exclusive to its own disc. Jurassic Park features some revealing pre-production
meetings, which is a collection of intimate clips of
Spielberg discussing the project. Also included are little
segments on location scouting and Foley artists.
 The
best feature on the first disc belongs to Phil Tippett
Animatics: Raptors in the Kitchen. Originally Jurassic
Park was conceived as being a stop-motion project before Spielberg
was convinced that the computer can pull off the realism needed,
and this feature, though short and completely silent, is a
fascinating what-could-have-been.
The Lost World features
a selection of dinosaur-less (and thus rightfully) deleted
scenes. However, most of the features on this disc are photograph-heavy
and not particularly interesting. That is, except for the
section marked posters and toys, which feature one of my favorite
subjects: rejected theatrical poster designs.
Jurassic
Park III has a few features individual to its own
release as well, including a commentary with the special
effects crew which includes Stan Winston and a cast of
many who worked on the live action and animated effects. It’s
understandably dry. Also included are a couple of behind
the scenes features that cut back and forth between what
was going on the set and the final shot that’s in the
film, and another collection of rejected poster art found
in The Jurassic Park III archives.
The Bottom Line
Thinking about the series, I believe
I was of the perfect age when the films came along. Jurassic
Park was released when I was 12, and you can imagine
the reaction I had seeing it for the first time. In fact,
I ended up seeing it five times theatrically. The
Lost World rolled around at the age of 16, and its
pessimistic tone jived well with me. Jurassic Park
III rears its head and I’m an adult, able to
take the film for what it is and enjoy it.
The Jurassic Park films have been there for every
important growth point in my life. The series is like a well
educated though alcoholic father. There are ups, downs, points
of embarrassing preachiness, lots of entertainment, a sense
of danger, and the knowledge that there might be sodomy involved.
But hey, there’s still love there somewhere.
As
for the box set, if Universal had spread the DVDs over two
discs for each film in order to upgrade the audio and video,
there might have been a reason to double-dip. However, don't
bother if you have the original releases - unless you're a
fan of novelty packaging, these discs are exactly the same.
You might as well wait for the high definition discs. But
if you’ve got a 12-year-old who doesn’t have the
discs, slide this over and be the coolest person they know.
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