JURASSIC PARK 3D micro review

20 years ago, at the tender age of 11, I saw a movie that blew my little preteen mind into a thousand pieces;  Jurassic Park.  Little did I realize at the time just how much this movie would change my life; it somehow managed to turn my childhood love (some would call it an obsession) with dinosaurs into a lifelong love (also potentially classified as obsession) with filmmaking.  When i found out that this landmark film was being re-released in 3D IMAX, it jumped to the top of my "must see" list.  But how does this 20 year old blockbuster, one of the first big forays into CGI, hold up in today's much more jaded, cynical environment?  Spoiler:  it still kicks unholy amounts of ass.

And thankfully we've all had time to forget the disappointing sequels...

3D re-releases are all the rage these days with the likes of The Lion King, Monsters Inc and Star Wars Episode 1 leading the charge.  But one thing those films all have in common is, they're either animated or majority CGI.  Sure, Titanic 3D turned out really well, but the conversion process was supervised by James Cameron himself; if anybody was bound to get it right it was him (probably because whips his staff for getting it wrong).  Thankfully, Jurassic Park's conversion turned out beautifully......  for the most part.

Picture:  Cameron's "I'm disappointed with you" face.  

Do not disappoint James Cameron!

The 3D here is mostly subtle, creating depth rather than popping things out at the viewer.  Sometimes it's used the same way focus is used in 2D films; to draw your attention to something important.  This will inevitably lead to you noticing things you'd overlooked before and the level of work that went into this kind of detail is staggering.  Any fear of this being some outsourced, hack job conversion go out the window pretty quickly, not surprising since it was Spielberg himself who oversaw the process.  He knew exactly what he wanted to express emotionally with his film and uses the 3D to enhance it rather than just dazzle you.

Pictured:  Spielberg's "I'm disappointed with you" face.  

Not a good idea to disappoint him either....

Despite the amazing attention to detail, it's obvious that some scenes received more attention than others.  A lot of the slower scenes in the first act don't seem quite as carefully converted as the rest of the film and when you try to explore outside the depth of the 3D, it kind of falls apart (and trust me, don't turn your head while watching this).  This might also be due to the fact that 3D is a much different animal from 2D.  The rules for lenses, editing, cinematography and focal length all change when you move into the third dimension so it's not surprising that film like Jurassic Park has its occasional quirks.  I will say this, when this movie is on, it's on like Donkey Kong.  Once the meat of the action picks up, the 3D will pull you deeper into the film than ever before and ramp up the already intense scenes; the scene where the T-Rex attacks the two jeeps during the storm is absolutely stunning and well worth the (admittedly steep) price of admission.

T-Rex clearly doesn't understand the concept of PERSONAL SPACE!

I think what impressed me the most about Jurassic Park was that, even after 20 years, it could still give me chills.  It was a film made in a more innocent time, and sometimes that innocence works against it; other times it's refreshing to see such an unpretentious blockbuster (the lack of lame pop culture references also helps make this movie timeless).  I can only imagine how 11-year-old me would have been blown away by seeing this in 3D, but 31 year old me was still affected by the experience.  Jurassic Park is still a spectacular film and the kind of experience that sticks with you.  If you consider yourself a fan of this film (or the bygone Spielberg era) then go see this sooner rather than later.  This weekend might be your last chance to see Jurassic Park in theaters until it's released 20 years from now in smello-vision.

EPIC!!!