On Twenty Years of Summer Entertainment with Jurassic Park

In 1993 Spielberg’s Jurassic Park first arrived at the cinema. It was an atypical summer blockbuster, lauded for its set pieces and special effects. Twenty years later, as Jurassic Park arrives in cinemas for a second time round (adding IMAX and 3D) it highlights the disintegrating quality of the summer tent-pole film.

The majority of the summer cinema offerings of recent years (or since the Marvel invasion) have been closer to theme park rides than films. They are loud, flashy, long, fun while they last but ultimately forgettable and short lived. Stories and character seem secondary to special effects and merchandise opportunities. And, while Jurassic Park offered huge merchandising opportunities and broke barriers with its groundbreaking special effects, its stories and characters are rounded, intelligent and relatable. The special effects serve the story, not the other way round and the action evolves organically, unafraid to focus on character.

Yet even more significant and rare amongst recent summer films is Jurassic Park’s ability to shock and move audiences. After repeated viewings, it is still spine tingling when the T-Rex emerges in the dark and rain from the shredded broken electric fence or when Lex and Tim crouch, terrified in the reflective aluminium kitchen, hiding from the predatory Velociraptor. And, just as he can today, Spielberg effortlessly switches from perfectly judged excitement to move the audience, such as when John Hammond reminisces about his early flea circus, or Alan Grant is moved to tears at the sight of the ill Triceratops.

Is it a change in the industry that prevents the majority of summer films offering what Jurassic Park does? Is it a lack of opportunities for new exciting directors or those experienced ones, like Spielberg? (Spielberg himself wrote that Lincoln (2013) was almost made for TV due to lack of investment). Or is it simply that audiences now prefer the shallow excitement of Fast and the Furious 6 or the repetitiveness of Iron Man 3? Perhaps it is a combination of all three, or maybe it is simply rose tinted nostalgia.