In 1993, Steven Spielberg didn’t just make a movie; he resurrected the dead. Over thirty years ago, Jurassic Park promised an adventure 65 million years in the making, and it delivered.
Decades before digital effects were used for almost everything on screen, Spielberg made us believe dinosaurs were walking the earth. And what is truly amazing is that the original cinematic miracle still holds up perfectly today. If you caught my latest segment on CHCH’s Trending Now, we looked back at this massive technical gamble and why fans are craving its practical weight now more than ever.
Jurassic Park
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, BD Wong, Joseph Mazzello
- Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction
- Runtime: 127 mins
- User Rating: ★ 8
Looking back, it is wild to think what a massive technical gamble this film actually was. As detailed in the documentary series The Movies That Made Us, the original plan was to use traditional go-motion animation spearheaded by legendary effects master Phil Tippett.
But the visual wizards at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) had a different idea. Dennis Muren and his team secretly created a fully digital T-Rex walking across a screen. When they showed the test footage to Spielberg, it changed Hollywood forever. Tippett famously quipped, “I think I’m extinct,” a line Spielberg actually ended up writing into the movie for Ian Malcolm.
However, Spielberg knew CGI would not be enough on its own. He seamlessly blended those early computer graphics with Stan Winston’s massive, life-sized animatronics, giving the world a tactile reality you could practically reach out and touch.
But that doesn’t mean the shoot went smoothly. In fact, the production literally had to go to war with Mother Nature.
While filming on location on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the cast and crew had to hunker down in their hotel to survive Hurricane Iniki, a devastating Category 4 storm. (Richard Attenborough famously slept through the entire hurricane, later joking that after surviving the London Blitz in WWII, a little storm wasn’t going to keep him awake).
The CHCH segment only scratched the surface of the ingenuity behind this film. Here are a few more wild practical tricks used to bring the park to life:
- The Water Ripple: To create the ominous vibrating water in the plastic cup signaling the T-Rex’s approach, special effects supervisor Michael Lantieri attached a guitar string to the underside of the dashboard and plucked it from below to achieve the exact cymatic frequency needed.
- The Sound of Raptors: Sound designer Gary Rydstrom created the terrifying screeches and barks of the Velociraptors by combining the sounds of a dolphin squealing, a walrus breathing, and most famously, tortoises mating.
- The Cheap Exposition: The iconic “Mr. DNA” animated sequence wasn’t just a stylistic choice; Spielberg needed a fast, incredibly cheap way to dump the complex genetic science of extracting dino DNA from amber mosquitoes onto the audience without slowing down the pacing.
So, why is a 1993 dinosaur movie trending right now?
After Jurassic World Rebirth launched last year to mixed reviews from critics and series fans, audiences are actively circling back to the film that started it all. They are craving the grounded, terrifying suspense and the practical, heavy weight of the original movie that modern CGI-heavy sequels struggle to replicate.
That sense of awe is exactly what makes the film immortal. I vividly remember picking up Jurassic Park on VHS as a total blind buy at Zellers the day it hit store shelves. I was instantly hooked.
Over the years, I’ve upgraded my collection from VHS, to DVD, to Blu-ray. Today, I have the massive, premium 4K SteelBook set covering all three original Jurassic Park films and the first three Jurassic World movies. When I throw that 4K disc on the Sony X900H and let the iconic T-Rex roar rattle through my Yamaha AV receiver, dual subwoofers, and Bowers & Wilkins surround speakers, it feels just as thunderous as it did in 1993.
Today, we know a computer can create almost anything. But there is a completely different kind of magic in watching a film that makes you believe a 65-million-year-old monster is breathing right in front of you.
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