Student Film Reviews

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1. Byron Potau 12.16.08 / 2am

   Very few flaws! I have to disagree with you on this one. This film is nothing but great special effects. The human characters are thinly drawn, the scenes are contrived, and those kids are so damned annoying. I always figured Spielberg just rushed through this film so he could work on Schindler’s List. This film is nothing compared to what it could have been.
2. Kevin Tran 12.16.08 / 2am

   I love Jurassic Park less because it’s a great film but more because it got me interested in films as a kid. I always find it hard to analyze my favorite movies when I was younger because most of them are so incredibly bad, but I still love love them all the same. I own this one on VHS! Byron – I think the movie in itself makes for great Hollywood entertainment and wouldn’t ask for anything more. It’s also marketed as a family film, which may be the answer to your annoying kids remark.
3. Byron Potau 12.17.08 / 6pm

   E.T. is a family film and the kids are great in it. They are full, fleshed out characters, funny and easy to identify with. Sorry, but being a family film doesn’t give Jurassic Park a free pass. But I’m with you on analyzing favorite movies. I love Corvette Summer with Mark Hamill. An absolutely stupid movie, but I love it.
4. Marcus Perfjell 01.25.09 / 9pm

   Jurassic park is awesome, nothing or nobody can take that away from the movie, or its makers.
   I nearly shat my pants when I was a kid and saw the T.Rex I’ll tell you. I totally agree with you on the sequels, number two was /is ok, not as good but still. Number three though, jesus christ those flying lizards, ridiculous http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/fun/devivals/X-Day98/POST-X-DAY/X-DayPhotos/ZEPOL/Z-Misc.Scenes/pterodactyl.JPG

   A friend of mine actually named the cage that they live in to “The cage of death” in swedish though.
5. Joseph McGrew 03.04.09 / 6pm

   Jurassic Park is one my favorite movies of all time. It is one of the few films that I can remember watching over and over when I was younger. It was the first movie that my parents gave me for Christmas. The special effects were unbelievable and even though the idea is very unrealistic the movie makes it seem like it could easily happen. As a young child I remember being very scared of the dinosaurs and now when I watch the film it is amazing how real they look. Many movies today use special effects but it is very easy to tell that it is fake. The special effects in this movie are very realistic and helped it become one of the best movies ever.
6. Diana Walsworth 04.13.09 / 7pm

   Jurassic Park was definitely a pioneer film for its time. The special effects were amazing, and in addition also extremely accurate. The cast did a marvelous job presenting their characters and expressing drama. The only bad thing about the cast, in my opinion, is the annoying kids. The story line is also very unique, and quite hypothetically believable. My favorite parts are with the mini-carnivorous dinosaurs, they are so cute but so mean. It’s a great family film and also one of my personal favorites.
7. Claudia Barreda 07.15.09 / 10am

   I went to watch Jurassic Park when I was 9 years old. I thought it was very scary but the special effects were very well done. The dinosaurs look real and the island were the movie was film looks like it was the vegetation from Jurassic age. I watched the movie again a month ago and I still thought the theme was very interesting, how from a mosquito they can take the DNA and create dinosaurs was very well thought. I still think the special effects are very good for the time the movie was made. Overall a must watch film.
8. Jaclyn Frankenberger 07.15.11 / 6pm

   You mentioned that Dr. Grant has to protect the children in the movie. I have noticed that children in danger is a them commonly used by Spielberg. The effects he used in this film are absolutely amazing. I have always enjoyed this movie as a child and now as a young adult.
9. Reyes Munoz 04.07.13 / 12am

   Jurassic Park is one of those films that came along once in a lifetime and if you had a chance to experience it during your childhood, well then you belong to a unique group or generation. What Jurassic Park did in the early 1990s is revolutionize the way we see movies. It demonstrated the possibilities of computer imaging and pushed that envelope further than any film had ever done before at its time. It managed to bring extinct species back to life in a way that was so convincing that I myself, 7 years old at the time, thought that they had actually found a way to bring dinosaurs back to life by cloning them specifically for the film. Great film and excellent review!
10. JesperBergstroem 03.13.15 / 7pm

    Perfect review, I could not have said it better myself. This was one of the films that made me interested in dinosaurs as well. One reason to this is because everything looks realistic, both due to the great directing from Spielberg and the special effects. This is a very well directed film and you can tell that Spielberg but in effort when creating this film. When I saw this film I felt the same feeling of screaming run to the characters. The film is directed in a way that encloses you within the frame. I also totally agree that this film still stands today even after 50 years.
11. Sarbjot Singh 07.31.15 / 10pm

    This film is my childhood all time favorite film. I agree with you that creating such an amazing CGI that till this day I cannot find one matching it to the film. Though there is a sequel, I have not seen that film yet but expect it to be even better or the same as the original film. I never knew that this film was from a novel but brings me to think how well and creatively the director put it on a film. Making this film even greater in my eyes. And I totally about this film being one of the greatest ever made, having an effect of real life dinosaurs, making the audience want more.
12. Thomas Madenwald 11.16.16 / 5pm

    I agree. This is one of the few sci-fi films thats stood the test of time. Even the graphics are still somewhat believable during some sequences. This film was a masterpiece the day it came out and still is twenty-plus years later. The realism and wonder in this film is hard to find anywhere els in the industry and that is why it is still cherished to this day. And the fact that it brought DIno’s to life on the big screen.
13. Kathleen Camplin 06.09.18 / 4pm

    Jurassic Park is one of the seminal realistic science fiction movies. The small detail special effects added to the realism of the film. As an example, the dinosaurs breathe, and we see it in multiple scenes. The rising and falling of the abdomen of the Triceratop, to the velociraptor exhaling water vapor on the window. It was important that the dinosaurs weren’t cartoon-like, but were living breathing animals. The filmmakers achieved this feat.
14. Christopher Martinez 10.17.19 / 9pm

    The review for this film was spot on. When I first watched Jurassic Park as a child I fell in love with dinosaurs and iI wanted everything to be about dinosaurs. That phase lasted awhile. The director made this feel very realistic from the movements of the dinosaurs or for example, when the raptor inhaled the vapor from the window to the behavioral traits that raptor are always in packs. Overall the graphics for the year it was made were very spot on making it like if they were actually living creatures.
15. Teala Gonzales 07.15.20 / 4pm

    Jurassic Park has truly stayed a classic and has stood strong against the hands of time. Even after all these years it is still enjoyable to watch. I would definitely agree that there are very few flaws with this film, so much so, even my 3 year old (who is obsessed with dinosaurs) says the dinosaurs look real and loves watching this one over the others. This shows that the special effects for that time were carefully thought out and executed really well. Overall I enjoyed this review, brings about a bit of nostalgia for myself and how many times I watched this film as a kid, getting anxious every time the t-rex came on screen.
16. Esmeralda Espinoza 11.06.20 / 11pm

    I enjoyed reading your feedback and I agree that there is a large number of contemporary science fiction films that fail to deliver the realism. Spielberg did an amazing job with bringing those dinosaurs to life on screen. The mise en scene does an amazing job setting a great foundation to help the dinosaurs and overall scenarios come to life. The actors also did an amazing job, their body language and facial expressions made it hard to remember that they’re just acting. Their acting and the realism of the dinosaurs and overall movie made it hard to differentiate between real and fake. Overall, it is an amazing movie that set a great tone for the following movies.
17. Benjamin Quezada 03.27.21 / 8pm

    Jurassic Park was surely a movie with very very few flaws due to its great performance and directing. It was a new innovative idea to bring dinosaurs to the big screen and it brought a lot of attention to the viewers and turned out to be a very successful film. For the time that Jurassic Park had come out, the special effects for that movie were very impressive. I do remember as well having a thought in my head to let out a sigh of worry when watching the movie even after a couple times due to the “edge of your seat” effect it had on me as well.
18. Nick Sap 06.11.21 / 11am

    Jurassic Park was one of the movies that changed the film industry. In Jurassic Park, key lighting was used when some of the characters were looking for the overturned car of Dr. Grant and the kids. The special effects of Jurassic Park kept us on the edge of our seat thinking what is going to happen next. If you think about how the producers of Jurassic Park made it possible to recreate dinosaurs with special effects you would think it was impossible during the time the movie was made. It shows how much technology has changed and how it changed movies too.
19. Nicholas Sap 06.11.21 / 11am

    Jurassic Park was one of the movies that changed the film industry. In Jurassic Park, key lighting was used when some of the characters went looking for the overturned car of Dr. Grant and the kids. The special effects of Jurassic Park kept us on the edge of our seat thinking what is going to happen next. If you think about how the producers of Jurassic Park made it possible to recreate dinosaurs with special effects you would think it was impossible.
20. Nick Sap 06.11.21 / 11am

    Jurassic Park changed the film industry and how movies are made. The special effects like CGI made feel real that the dinosaurs were actually there. The lighting used in the movie kept me on the edge of my seat because I didn’t know what was going to happen. Key lighting was focused on the car in one scene because the Tyrannosaurus Rex was moving the car around. The lighting also made jumpscares inevitable because you weren’t expecting it to happen.
21. Nicholas Owens 10.27.21 / 9pm

    Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park is such an amazing film and the actors that portrayed it did such an amazing job. The way the dinosaurs were made and created gave such a real feel off as if they were still here on Earth. This film used realism in order to make them look so real. This film is great and has brought millions of attractions that love this even after so many years. The form of this film is also very understanding and able to tell what is going to happen. The narration also did great when following the characters. This is a self-claim film that brings Hollywood back into history and makes it seem like it is during the dinosaur times in real life.
22. Harrison Meisel 09.02.22 / 8am

    Jurassic Park is one of the three movies that really got me interested in Film. From it’s realistic story, amazing characters and even better special effects, it’s considered a classic and for a good reason. The dinosaurs are stunning, both the practical and CGI, and the lighting and cinematography from Steven Spielberg definitely helps in that regard. It’s actors do an excellent job at playing their characters, from their body language, the dialogue, and facial expressions, they really did ‘Spare no Expense’ with the acting here, and the story is equally as good as you said. Overall, I have to agree that this a movie with very few flaws, and is indeed a masterpiece of filmmaking.
23. Matthew Marsico 03.31.23 / 1am

    Jurassic Park is a great family movie, appealing to a very wide audience. The action, intense drama, and spectacular special effects utilized all contribute to what makes this film so appealing. This movie follows on the typical Classic Hollywood Narrative path, which can be seen through the character’s arising conflicts and resolutions, and the film’s simple three act narrative structures. As for the characters, the casting was perfectly done. Each individual really managed to embody the role of their character to put on this climatic cinematic display. (89) Overall, I think the film has pushed the boundaries of what could be considered possible using CGI effects. It’s quite simply a masterpiece.
24. Robby Williams 06.26.23 / 12pm

    Overall I feel as if this review does a great job encapsulating what it felt like to watch the Jurassic Park Film. My brother is a huge Jurassic Park fan and whenever he gets sick or bored there is a good chance that you will find him watching the original Jurassic Park. Because of that I have seen it many times and can attest to the fact that the film really does give you the feeling that dinosaurs have come to life and are being captured and shown on the big screen. It is amazing that the film creators are able to do this. I would definitely call this film a Blockbuster and similar to Star Wars they did a great job merchandising their product to the next generation.
25. Nikolos Ramirez 09.06.24 / 10pm

    This review said it best when talking about how this Sci-Fi adventure film still holds up all these years later. Most movies in that genre during that decade, anything involving CGI was always risky as the final product may not end up looking terrific. Especially when people compare and contrast to modern-day films (which I believe is unfair), it’s easy to dismiss a classic or hidden gems of the times based on their visual effects. Jurassic Park breaks that barrier 31 years later. From the first scene of the Brachiosaurus to the T-rex, the CGI holds up better than any other film produced around that time period. Some modern movies today can’t hold the candle like JP could. That when you know you truly have a timeless classic.
26. Nyssa Larkin-Van Scyoc 11.01.24 / 11pm

    I’m amazed that you could watch this at six years old because I saw a little bit of it as a child and was terrified of T-Rex’s for years. I guess that’s a testament to how good and scary it is! I agree that it was heart pounding to watch even as an adult. I think some of the special effects look pretty bad by today’s standards but I’m sure they were incredible at the time. It didn’t take away from the thrill.

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