Jurassic Park

 This week, we are discussing one of my absolute favorite movies, Jurassic Park. The movie tells the story of John Hammond, a wealthy businessman, opening up a theme park of dinosaurs. He populates the park with cloned dinosaurs and chaos ensues when the power goes out and they escape. This film is well known for its special effects.

    The animatronics in the movie really brought the dinosaurs to life! They made life sized dinosaurs that were handled by puppeteers. They were incredibly detailed, even went as far as labored breathing, small movements, and realistic skin textures. The huge T-rex was one that was hard to forget, as well as the Triceratops. The best example I can give of this is the velociraptor hatching scene. Incredible!

    Although Jurassic Park is known for its CGI, there's actually not a lot of it in the film. The CGI was used minimally and strategically. It was mainly used in wide shots and when the dinosaurs were moving very fast. The blending of CGI and practical effects was crucial to the success of the film.

    Jurassic Park stands out historically for many reasons. The first, is that it was the first time computer generated graphics/characters shared the screen with human actors. Second, the film seamlessly blended CGI with animatronics with the help of motion blur. Third, this movie paved the way for widespread use of CGI in films that followed. 

    In conclusion, you will never forget the feeling of seeing those dinosaurs come to life on the screen. Now that I am older, I can see some of the special effects are not as good as I remember, but for coming out the year I was born, they are still pretty awesome. It was obviously a huge commercial success, they are still making sequels! Give this film a try if you've never seen it and remember...life finds a way!