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The Dinosaur Makes a Comeback
| Article
# : |
10605 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1993 |
1,984 Words |
| Author
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Frank Thompson
Frank Thompson is the associate producer of Wild Bill
Wellman: A Hollywood Maverick, which airs this spring on
Turner Network Television. He is the author of Lost Films,
recently published by Citadel Press, and William A.
Wellman. |
"The picture is an entirely new departure in the cinema art. It is a marvel of ingenuity, bringing to the screen as it does gigantic prehistoric animals that have been extinct for millions of years. Of course trick photography was done, and how the animals were made to appear so lifelike is an absolute mystery to this reviewer at least."
These words are not excerpted from a review of Steven Spielberg's spectacular new blockbuster Jurassic Park, based on the novel by Michael Crichton. They were written almost seven decades age, in February 1925, in response to The Lost World, based on the book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The review points up how enduring is our fascination with prehistoric creatures--particularly those that emerge from the past to wreak havoc on the modern world. It also brings to mind a small irony: that so often the cutting edge of movie technology is used to breathe life into creatures that have not existed for millions of years; a dinosaur movie--be it Jurassic Park or The Lost World--is always an intriguing blend of past, present, and future.
Jurassic Park has an intriguing "what if?" story line that manages to be wildly fanciful even as it stays within the boundaries of scientific possibility. A group of scientists learns how to extract DNA from dinosaur bones. From this they successfully clone several species of prehistoric beasts, from the gigantic Tyrannosaurus rex to the smaller--but far more vicious--velociraptor. Here's the most credible part: Having re-created these magnificent, long-extinct animals, they don't use them for further research--they build an island amusement park around them. To no reader's surprise, things rapidly begin to go wrong. The supposedly sexless dinosaurs begin to reproduce. And when there is a massive power outage, the beasts escape from their controlled territories on the island and begin to commit some serious mayhem.
Crichton's book is at once a serious dialogue on the use and misuse of science and a terrifying monster story. Spielberg's film version wasn't completed at this writing, but if it effectively exploits the dramatic possibilities offered by Crichton, this should be an exhilarating, funny, and frightening ride.
Jurassic Park, which was released nationwide on June 11, is certainly the most ambitious dinosaur movie ever made. The budget reportedly reached nearly $60 million, and the marketing of toys and other merchandise is of nearly unprecedented proportions.
So were
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