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Jurassic Park
Universal Pictures

8.5 based on 20 reviews Read critic reviews How did we calculate this? based on 45 votes Read user comments Rate this movie

FILM:

• Empire of the Sun
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Jurassic Park III
• The Color Purple
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park

• Internet Movie Database
• Official Studio Site

MPAA RATING: PG-13

Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, B.D. Wong, and Joseph Mazzello

Featuring incredible special effects and action-packed drama, Jurassic Park takes you to a remote island where an amazing theme park with living dinosaurs is about to turn deadly, as five people must battle to survive among the prehistoric predators. (Universal Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Michael Crichton (also novel) David Koepp
DIRECTED BY:	Steven Spielberg
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 11, 2001  Video: October 10, 2000  Theatrical: June 11, 1993
RUNNING TIME:	127 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

The film won three Oscars at the 1994 Academy Awards for Sound Effects Editing, Visual Effects, and Sound.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

One great monster movie. [11 June 1993, Daily Notebook, p.C1]

100

Empire Caroline Westbrook

So the script and the performances aren't exactly Oscar material, but it scarcely matters given that the real stars here are the ILM-created dinosaurs, a miracle of modern moviemaking.

91

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

As a flight of fantasy, Jurassic Park lacks the emotional unity of Spielberg's classics ("Jaws," "Close Encounters," "E.T."), yet it has enough of his innocent, playful virtuosity to send you out of the theater grinning with delight.

90

Time Richard Corliss

For dinosaurs to rule the earth again, the monsters needed majesty as well as menace. And Spielberg got it all right. [14 June 1993, p.69]

88

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Colossal entertainment -- the eye-popping, mind-bending, kick-out-the-jams thrill ride of summer and probably the year.

88

USA Today Mike Clark

Spielberg's must-see is so wondrous at depicting things that go crunch in the night that its human characterizations and pokey exposition seem astonishingly halfhearted… On a "people" level, Park isn't “Jaws,” but on a jolt level - oh, yes, it is. [11 June 1993, Life, p.1D]

75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The biggest weakness of the novel is characterization, and the same flaw is fully evident in the screen adaptation.

75

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

Given the complexity of attitudes and the ambiguous take on the family represented in such Spielberg films as “E.T.'' and “Poltergeist,'' the bland affirmations of Jurassic Park seem platitudinous and insincere. He's forcing it here, and it shows. [11 June 1993, Friday, p.A]

75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie delivers all too well on its promise to show us dinosaurs. We see them early and often, and they are indeed a triumph of special effects artistry, but the movie is lacking other qualities that it needs even more, such as a sense of awe and wonderment, and strong human story values.

75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

There's only one kind of movie that Spielberg has truly mastered: the kind that looks like a wide-screen video game complete with loony plot twists and mind-bending special effects. And that's Jurassic Park down to its bones. [11 June 1993, Arts, p.12]

70

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

Spielberg's scary and horrific thriller may be one-dimensional and even clunky in story and characterization, but definitely delivers where it counts, in excitement, suspense and the stupendous realization of giant reptiles.

70

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

It becomes less crisp on screen than it was on the page, with much of the enjoyable jargon either mumbled confusingly or otherwise thrown away. [11 June 1993, p.C1]

70

Washington Post Rita Kempley

A dumbed-down adaptation of Michael Crichton's techno-novel on the dangers of dinosaur cloning, it's not Spielberg at the top of his game, but it's dino-mite just the same.

70

TV Guide Staff (Non Credited)

An exhilarating, sometimes terrifying monster of a movie that, once it gets you in its clutches, won't put you down again until the closing credits start to roll.

67

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

I continually found myself longing for the sheer intensity of the director's past glories, like Jaws, or even Duel. Spielberg seems to be trying so very hard for that elusive “Gosh, Wow, Sense of Wonder!” that it all looks strained in spots.

60

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The suspense and technical wizardry are the only reason to watch Jurassic Park. In a summer movie, that's more than enough, of course. But screenwriter Michael Crichton, adapting his popular novel with David Koepp, slashes almost everything that made the book an entertaining read.

60

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The results make poor old King Kong look like something from a Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Such is progress. [12 July 1993, p.26]

50

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

All the imagination and effort (including 18 months of pre-production) that went into making the dinosaurs state-of-the-art exciting apparently left no time to make the people similarly believable or involving. In fact, when the big guys leave the screen, you'll be tempted to leave the theater with them. [11 June 1993, Calendar, p.F-1]

40

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

There's more soul to be found in any Kong close-up than in this film's overplayed reactions, which are used to instruct us what we should be feeling at any given moment. This is never boring, but I can't recall another Spielberg film that left me with a more hollow feeling.

25

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott

Perfectly passable kiddie escapism. It has a thrill or two, and a chill or three, but it has no poetry, little sense of wonder, no resonant subtext (Jungian or otherwise), no art... When it's over, it's gone. Extinct.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 45 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
One of the best films ever also because the bazz around it... and it's just a great film.. the scary parts are scary the action is good and the dramatical parts are touching... it's not a masterpiece but it's great and fun!!!

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
One of the best films ever also because the buzz around it... and it's just a great film.. the scary parts are scary the action is good and the dramatic parts are touching... it's not a masterpiece but it's great and fun!!!

Titanium Dragon gave it a9:
Frankly, this movie is grealty underrated by critics, which just goes to show that while critics sometimes hit, sometimes they miss as well. While it is true that Titanic was awful, and made more money than it ever deserved to, ten years later no one remembers it. People remember Jurassic Park. The reality is that Jurassic Park was the beginning of an era. Up to that point, no one had done something nearly so ambitious. The effort gone into making the movie shows; the dinosaurs look amazing, and this movie pulls off something VERY few movies have done - seamless CG. The dinosaurs look like they're really there, and you can't tell when they're using animatronics and when they're using CG. Its amazing, and the movie is a visual masterpiece. Indeed, I would go so far as to argue that no movie since has managed the same level of realism with their CG monsters, simply because everyone is lazy. Comparing this to later movies, such as the new Star Wars movies, makes the Star Wars movies look dated and amateurish. But its not JUST the dinosaurs and their wonderful visuals. Its also a very solid plotline of man doing things with science, and due to arrogance get in real trouble. Sadly, it doesn't contain some of the awesome plotpoints of the book which underscore this, such as their automated tracking system which has an internal cap as to how many dinosaurs it would display because they only assumed that the number of dinosaurs could go down, not up. Sadly, this plot point is lost, so the hubris is lessened. Even so, while this movie isn't the best in terms of plot, it manages to be a great movie. While not a 10, its a 9 - a movie that everyone should see, because it is that good. Some of the characters aren't that great, but others are excellent, and overall the movie is a great effort and is fun to watch. In the end, a movie like this exists to entertain and maybe make people think about some possiblities, and this movie accomplishes both.

Byron J. gave it a10:
The Best Film of the 90's

Johnny S gave it a10:
A pure masterpiece! This is one of the greatest movies of all time. It may not have absolutely fantastic actors but the graphic effects and sound department definitely make up for it's loss! Nothing like this had ever been made at the time, which makes it even more special, it still amazes me today.

Antti gave it a5:
Very generic action film with novelty effects. watchable once, but mostly boring.

Eric J gave it a0:
The most overrated movie of all time.

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