JULY 2022:
A PRE-HISTORIC REVIEW…
In Roger Ebert’s June 11,1993 review for Jurassic Park, he gave the film three stars. While he still very much enjoyed the film, he thought Steven Spielberg could have made a better movie. He accepted that the movie met every point it should for being a monster movie. There were lots of dinosaurs, and lots of screaming as humans ran from them. But he also thought Spielberg may have jumped the shark on the dinosaurs, pun intended. This was due to Spielberg’s reputation for using anticipation in waiting to make the eventual reveal that much more thrilling.
“Because the movie delivers on the bottom line, I’m giving it three stars. You want great dinosaurs; you got great dinosaurs.”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
A REPUTATION THAT PRECEDES…
Ebert references Spielberg’s legacy films Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. In the films, audiences waited in anticipation for over an hour before they saw the shark terrorizing the residents of Amity Island. Spielberg demanded it. And when film goers finally see the shark, boy is it worth the wait. And Ebert details how brilliantly Spielberg used the “idea” of Alien visitors in Close Encounters, to drive the entire film and leave audiences feeling a type of way as they leave the theater.
“When young Steven Spielberg was first offered the screenplay for “Jaws,” he said he would direct the movie on one condition: That he didn’t have to show the shark for the first hour. By slowly building the audience’s apprehension, he felt, the shark would be much more impressive when it finally arrived.”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
“Think back to another ambitious special effects picture from Spielberg, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977). That was a movie about the “idea” of visitors from outer space. It inspired us to think what an awesome thing it would be, if earth were visited by living alien beings. You left that movie shaken and a little transformed. It was a movie that had faith in the intelligence and curiosity of its audience.”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
SPIELBERG’S MOVIE MAGIC…
Ebert felt the dinosaur reveal was a little rushed. He felt Spielberg could have waited longer to show audiences a dinosaur, nevertheless, Ebert said he enjoyed many of the scenes Spielberg went to great lengths to pull off with the use of Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) and Visual Effects provided by Industrial Light & Magic. He discussed several scenes in detail that were his favorite moments of dinosaur thrills.
“Spielberg enlivens the action with lots of nice little touches; I especially liked a sequence where a smaller creature leaps suicidally on a larger one, and they battle to the death. On the monster movie level, the movie works and is entertaining. But with its profligate resources, it could have been so much more.”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
“He was right. I wish he had remembered that lesson when he was preparing “Jurassic Park,” his new thriller set in a remote island theme park where real dinosaurs have been grown from long-dormant DNA molecules. 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.”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
A RUSHED FILM WORLD EXPERIENCE…
Ebert felt that if Close Encounters was made today, that anticipation build would more than likely would have occurred in a matter of ten minutes on screen. He discusses his distaste in studio’s leaning hard into the entertainment value that fills seats with movie goers and executives’ pockets with money but forgoes the story and character development and what it really means to watch a movie as a film viewer. He understood though that Spielberg is working under studio producers and just wanted to get his movie made and bring his vision for the film to fruition.
“In the 16 years since it was made, however, big-budget Hollywood seems to have lost its confidence that audiences can share big dreams. “Jurassic Park” throws a lot of dinosaurs at us, and because they look terrific (and indeed they do), we’re supposed to be grateful. I have the uneasy feeling that if Spielberg had made “Close Encounters” today, we would have seen the aliens in the first 10 minutes, and by the halfway mark they’d be attacking Manhattan with death rays”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
LESS THAN JURASSIC DEVELOPMENT…
Ebert talks in the review about his disappointment with the character development in the film. He felt that is where Spielberg could have improved the meat of the film and tell an even better story. He felt if he did expand on the lives and fullness of the characters, it could have been more than a monster movie. And there was a lot to work with, the film was adapted from Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel of the same name. Crichton co-wrote the script with David Koepp. Koepp is actually responsible for removing from Crichton’s script the exposition and expansion on the characters in the film.
“But consider what could have been. There is a scene very early in the film where Neill and Dern, who have studied dinosaurs all of their lives, see living ones for the first time. The creatures they see are tall, majestic leaf-eaters, grazing placidly in the treetops. There is a sense of grandeur to them. And that is the sense lacking in the rest of the film, which quickly turns into a standard monster movie, with screaming victims fleeing from roaring dinosaurs.”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
“It’s clear, seeing this long-awaited project, that Spielberg devoted most of his effort to creating the dinosaurs. The human characters are a ragtag bunch of half-realized, sketched-in personalities, who exist primarily to scream, utter dire warnings, and outwit the monsters.”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
FROM BOOK TO FILM THOUGHTS…
I would imagine the thought process was if they put everything from the book in the movie, it would have run over three hours. Studio Executives hate long movies. It means less viewings in a day, which means less money in the bank. The thought process might have also included that this was a novel adaption and if fans want more detail, they can just read Jurassic Park. Which means they skip the movie. It was about putting audiences in seats and with a scheduled summer release, Universal Pictures wanted a blockbuster. Ebert takes all of this into account in his review but makes note of what would have made the film better.
OH, DENNIS…
The most interesting part of the review is the reference to Wayne Knight‘s nefarious and infamous character Dennis Nedry. Ebert was disappointed in the crime caper storyline surrounding his smuggling of the embryo’s out of the park. He felt that it was completely bungled, and it could have been one of the events that if executed better, would have improved the film. Ebert felt the embryo smuggling storyline was a complete fail.
“The plot to steal the embryos is handled on the level of a TV sitcom. The Knight character, an overwritten and overplayed blubbering fool, drives his Jeep madly through the storm and thrashes about in the forest. If this subplot had been handled cleverly – with skill and subtlety, as in a caper movie – it might have added to the film’s effect. Instead, it’s as if one of the Three Stooges wandered into the story.”
– Roger Ebert, June 11, 1993
ESSENTIAL CAPER…
We all know Nedry trying to steal the embryos are what sets off the chain of events that make up the dinosaur film. Dennis screwing up is essential to the story, so I am not sure I agree with that opinion in the review. With the release of Jurassic World Dominion, I can say Ebert would have been pleased, because his disappointment in that part of the storyline has the longest most anticipated payoff in Jurassic World Dominion and I was quite impressed by the reveal and easter egg relating to the smuggling of the embryos.
You can read Roger Ebert’s full review for Jurassic Park on June 11, 1993, by clicking the photo below:
I’LL NEVER TELL…
I will refrain from going into detail as to how this happens in the film, so as not to ruin it for anyone reading my review but has not seen the film. But I have to believe Ebert would have appreciated that portion of the story in Dominion. I sure did. There were aspects of the Nedry smuggling the Barbasol Shaving Cream Can in 1993 that plagued me until I saw Dominion.
AGAINST ALL ODDS…
And despite Ebert only giving the film three stars, the film went on to become that summers biggest blockbuster and the highest grossing film of all time until usurped by Titanic in 1997. Keeping all that in mind, let’s talk about the giant locusts. A bone of contention and divided subject among the most devoted of Jurassic Fans.
CRITIC’S BE DAMNED…
Jurassic Park turned out to be a classic and inducted into the National Film Registry at The Library of Congress in 2018. And Roger Ebert was considered the gold standard when it came to a film review in the 90’s, but he thought Jurassic Park was good but not great. He thought it could have been better, but he also thought that Spielberg did an awesome job on the dinosaurs. That being said, critics have destroyed Jurassic World Dominion for the giant extinct locusts swarming storyline in the plot of the film. Some critics and fans have completely thrown the baby out with the bath water and say the film just isn’t that good.
LOCUSTS LINK…
When watching the film, I thought the locusts actually were necessary to bring Laura Dern’s character, Dr. Ellie Sattler back. Yes, they could have used any other idea to bring her back to the fold, but you have to remember as Ebert did when watching the original film in 1993. They are monster movies on the most basic level. Expect monster like creatures to drive the film. Take these movies for what they are. Don’t hold them to the same standards you might hold a film looking to win an Academy Award to. The criteria are different for these films about prehistoric creatures brought back from extinction using genetics and cloning. When compared to criteria of a monster movie meant to entertain and thrill, the film does that in spades.
THE DOCTOR’S ARE IN…
With the locust storyline, we didn’t just see the return of Dr. Sattler. With her comes Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ian Malcom. The Doctor’s trio are once again reunited by an ongoing ecological phenomenon and their journey to discover what is causing the swarms of locusts to not attack certain crops, while destroying others. Dr. Malcolm invites Dr. Sattler to Biosyn, where he now works and where the crop seeds of the untouched crops came from. She enlists Dr. Grant on her journey, and they visit the Biosyn Research Facility and Biosyn Sanctuary where they are eventually intersected with Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, on their own journey that brings them to the Biosyn location.
A DOMINION OF NOSTALGIA…
I would say ignore the critics and fans that speak negatively of the locusts, watch the film and decide for yourself. Even if one doesn’t find the locusts the best part about Dominion, the nostalgia factor with the return of Dern along with Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum are the best kind of feels. While we saw the return of Goldblum in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, it was very brief and left audiences wanting more. Critics also didn’t like that Malcolm’s character was so underused in the film.
CRIME CAPER CONNECTIONS…
But the original trilogy characters are very much a part of the story in Jurassic World Dominion from start to finish. We find many things out about Ian’s boss Lewis Dodgson, played by Campbell Scott, and what exactly his company Biosyn has to do with the locust’s agricultural disaster that is occurring all over the country.
A PARK AND A WORLD INTERSECT…
On Grady and Dearing’s journey to Biosyn to have a word or two with Dodgson about Blue’s new hatchling and teenager Maisie Lockwood, played by Isabella Sermon, they come across Barry Sembéne, played by Omar Sy, in Malta and a sympathetic pilot, named Kayla Watts, played by DeWanda Wise, who agrees to get them to the genetics facility located in the Dolomites of Italy. They have some Jurassic turbulence before reaching their destination, but when they arrive, they are met by Ramsey Cole, played by Mamoudou Athie, who works for Ian.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY…
Malcolm and Cole are suspicious of Biosyn and Dodgson’s intentions with the company and with Dr. Henry Wu, played by BD Wong, who is also now working for Biosyn, Malcolm has every reason to be suspicious. Based on Dr. Wu’s history with Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, as well as the dinosaurs he created for the parks, Ian enlists Ellie and Alan in helping prove something nefarious is afoot at Biosyn.
NOT ENOUGH PREHISTORIC…
The two trilogies officially merge when the paths of Owen and Claire cross with that of Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler and Dr. Malcolm. The film works on every level of being a monster movie meant to entertain and thrill. This time however, critics were disappointed in director Colin Trevorrow not using all dinosaurs all the time. There was displeasure in seeing less of the dinosaurs and replacing it with too much of the locusts. But then some critics thought there were too many dinosaurs introduced to keep track of them.
CRETACEOUS CURVES…
And critics felt that some of them received little screen time. Making it hard to keep track of the ones introduced on screen. The reviews are all over the place on this final sequel. I would have loved to read a review by Roger Ebert on Jurassic World Dominion, being his review was heavily critical of Steven Spielberg’s over use of the dinosaurs. It appears this time around, the dinosaur movie is guilty of not having them on screen enough.
MIXED REVIEWS…
With Ebert’s review of Jurassic Park being less than stellar in terms of star power and Jurassic World Dominion‘s reviews being all over the place. My review is based on choosing for yourself given all these mixed feelings. The film is absolutely hated by some critics, feeling it was completely void of the magic of the first film in 1993 and too crowded with dinosaur breeds. And critics also felt while they were left trying to remember some of the dinosaurs, they still felt there should have been more.
YOU CAN’T PLEASE THEM ALL…
It appears with critics when it comes to the Jurassic Park franchise. No one is easily pleased. There seems to be room for improvement in every review from every one of the six films in the franchise. But since the first film in the franchise received a low review and still became a record breaker despite all odds, it proves Jurassic World Dominion deserves a chance with movie goers.
CRITICS SCHMITICKS…
The film was still a summer blockbuster despite it all. The Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment film remained at number 1 at the box office with $58. 7 million from 4,679 theater locations across the United States for a 10-day domestic gross total of $247.8 million and surpassed over $900 million with its global gross totals. The film is also only the seventh Hollywood title to cross $600 million in the pandemic era.
A FAREWELL WORTH WATCHING…
The best review I can give you is that I enjoyed it for the dinosaur franchise that it was. I appreciated the return of the original cast to help bid the franchise farewell seeing as Jurassic World Dominion has been advertised as the last in the franchise. If this was indeed goodbye, it was a bittersweet one.
You can read the review for Jurassic World Dominion on RogerEbert.com by clicking on the photo below:
Jurassic World Dominion is still playing in select theaters and an Extended Version of the film, that includes deleted scenes and extended scenes, will be released on Digital, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD on August 16th, 2022.
Run! To see it or purchase your Extended Version copy!
