Review: Jurassic Park 3D

Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi, monster-movie classic re-released in 3D.

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Jurassic Park’s once-innovative technology may have been eclipsed by more sophisticated onscreen trickery in the two decades since its release, but the film still has plenty to offer audiences as a suspenseful adventure that has stood the test of time. That’s not to say the last twenty years have been particularly kind to its costumes or onscreen gadgets (“look, a CD-ROM!!”), or the chaos theory pop science spouted throughout by Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum in a performance that now is plain weird – or plain awesome).

These aspects of the film prove vaguely snigger-inducing throughout its first act, but in a testament to Spielberg’s powers – utilised here in arguably his last great adventure yarn – once the dino-doo hits the fan and giant carnivores start running amok, Jurassic Park still proves as thrilling as ever.

The 3D conversion seems to have been approached with the film’s mid-90s aesthetic firmly in mind. Rather than trying to drag Jurassic Park kicking and screaming into the 21st Century there’s a frequent Viewmaster-like feel to the layers that have been created, some elements pulled hard into the foreground while others are banished further into the background to create an environment of great depth.

It’s a stylistic approach rather than a realistic one, further playing up the comic book feel established by the film’s early colour palette and scale of its creatures and sets. Once the adventure really begins, the 3D further enhances the amusement park ride feeling the film induces, proving a welcome addition that’s more than the usual thinly-veiled excuse to wring a few more box office dollars out of punters.