Sebastian Kopp, Grade 9, Staff Writer
Jurassic Park. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, you must have been living under a rock since 1993. What not everyone knows, however, is that the franchise consists of six movies, one short film, and a five season tv show on Netflix. But since this is the 30th anniversary of Jurassic Park (and for the sake of my sanity), we will only be covering the three Park films in this article. Let me first say, if you haven’t seen these movies, what are you doing? Go. Now. You can finish this later.
Jurassic Park 1993
Best Quote: “Life, uh, finds a way” - Ian Malcolm
The one that started it all, the original Jurassic Park released in 1993 which was met with high praise. The movie is based on a book of the same name by Edgar Award winning author, Michael Crichton, and was released in November of 1990 and in August of 1992. Less than 2 years after its publication, production on the film began. The plot is simple. Planning on opening a theme park, affluent businessman John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) and his company Ingen have figured out how to clone dinosaurs on Hammond’s private island, Isla Nublar.
He invites paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neil), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and chaotician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), along with his grandchildren Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joseph Mazzelo) to tour the park.
Due to both a tropical storm and corrupt computer coder Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), power in the park fails, releasing dinosaurs such as the Velociraptor, Dilophosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus. Enter multiple sequences of gorgeous dinosaurs, both CGI and animatronic, culminating in a battle between the T-Rex and the two surviving Velociraptors. The survivors escape the island in a helicopter and the end credits roll.
Jurassic Park: The Lost World 1997
Best Quote: “Oh yeah, oohing and ahhing, that’s how it always starts, but later there’s the running and screaming” - Ian Malcolm
New characters. New dinosaurs. Even a new island. Ooh and aah indeed. The Lost World opens with a little girl being attacked by a small dinosaur called Compsognathus. Wait. You thought Nublar was the only dinosaur filled island? Hah. Enter Isla Sorna, or Site B. John Hammond’s nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) has taken control of InGen and is planning to capture some of Sorna’s dinosaurs and open a new park, Jurassic Park San Diego.
In an attempt to stop him, Hammond assembles a team to document the animals in the wild, in order to encourage non interference. The team consists of Ian Malcolm, behavioral paleontologist Sarah
Harding (Julianne Moore), engineer Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), and photojournalist Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn). Eventually, Eddie is killed by the T-Rexes (Yes. Plural), and Malcolm’s and Ludlow’s teams have to join forces. Big game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) captures the baby and one of the adult T-Rexes, and the team leaves the island. And bring the Rexes to San Diego. And here comes the running and screaming. Daddy Rex escapes (no surprise there) and escapes into the city. Sarah and Ian manage to get it back to the boat, it eats Ludlow, and is sent back to its home. Over the television, Hammond declares Isla Sorna a nature reserve, and it cuts to a shot of the dinosaurs living peacefully.
Jurassic Park III 2001
Best Quote: “ALAN!!!” - Velociraptor Jurassic Park III.
You either love it (like me), or hate it (unlike me). The film starts with a kid parasailing. On Sorna. Stupid kid. Things go wrong and the kid is forced to land on the island. Then the movie goes to the mainland. Dr Alan Grant is running out of funding for his research, when Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni) offer Alan and his assistant Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola) a blank check if Grant agrees to give them an aerial tour of Isla Sorna.
Then comes the “Alan!” scene (look up “velociraptor saying Alan” on YouTube if you want to know more). A Spinosaurus shows up, crashes the plan, and eats two mercenaries. Oh yeah, and it kills a T-Rex (another good clip to watch on YouTube). It’s revealed that the Kirby’s are looking for their son, Eric (Trevor Morgan), who went missing while. And that they have no money. Some new (amazing) looking velociraptors show up and kill the third mercenary. Eric saves Alan, the family reunites, and someone calls a phone in the Spinosaurus’ stomach (again, YouTube).
Alan finds out that Billy stole raptor eggs, and they enter a birdcage. They fly now? They fly now. Pteranodon is here. Billy sacrifices his life to save Eric, and Alan loses his hat. The family gets on a boat, and the Spinosaurus takes a swim after them. It crashes the boat, Paul Kirby starts a fire, and the Spinosaurus runs off into the wild. Grant gives the raptors back their eggs, Ellie calls in the military, and everyone is saved. But wait. Billy survived! And he saved Alan’s hat (another great YouTube clip). And then the film ends.
There. We made it through all of the Jurassic Park movies (if you want Jurassic World, too bad. In 2025 I’m doing a Revenge of the Sith anniversary page. Someone else can do Jurassic). I spent way too much time writing this, so you had better have gotten something out of it.