Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #11 Jurassic Park
Box Office: $407.2 Million Dollars
Oscar Nominations: Best Sounds Effects Editing, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects
Oscar Wins: Best Sounds Effects Editing, Best Editing, Best Visual Effects
MovieRankings.Net: 94/100
Available To Stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime ($4)
Seeing Jurassic Park in the theaters in 1993 felt like you were watching a magic act. This and Toy Story felt like you were seeing something that couldn't be possible. You knew the dinosaurs were fake...but how could they look so real? There had obviously been CGI in movies before (check out The Abyss which had come out a few years earlier) but never this impressive. Mix that with a cast that was focused on great actors more than hiring superstars and you are left believing that dinosaurs could walk the Earth.
You could make a case that Steven Spielberg's 1993 is the greatest year for not just any director but anyone ever in film. He had Jurassic Park and Schindler's List both come out that year. I think you can also put Jim Carrey's 1994 in the discussion (Ace Ventura, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber) along with Steven Soderbergh's 2000 (Traffic and Erin Brockovich). Those guys had amazing movie years but I think Spielberg had the best.
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It's funny to think where Spielberg was professionally before Jurassic Park came out. He was obviously still a massive director but was in a bit of a slump. His most recent two movies were Always in 1989 (which is a better movie than people give it credit for) and Hook in 1991 (I understand younger people have nostalgia for this movie but it's a terrible waste of talented people). Jurassic Park came out June of 1993, Schindler's List in December. Those two movies combined to win 10 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. This is when Steven Spielberg jumped from being a great director to a legendary one.
Having a movie with a giant premise but having a gifted director and a cast of brilliant actors is one hell of a recipe. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sir Richard Attenborough are perfect. Especially Goldblum, who should have been nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. John Malkovitch is very good in (#65) In The Line Of Fire but Goldblum's Ian Malcolm is a fantastic character. Even the supporting roles were brilliantly cast with Samuel L. Jackson and Wayne Knight. I even believe the two main kids (Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello) are actually scared of these dinosaurs in front of them.
Even with the DNA stuff (which is pretty brilliantly explained), this movie still feels fresh. It's aged remarkably well. A lot of that credit should go to Michael Crichton. His 1990 novel has so many of these clever ideas in it. He also co-wrote the screenplay. This movie's premise was so believable that the network news shows has segments at time asking if we could make dinosaurs from fossilized mosquitos.
They've made sequel after sequel of this trying to capture the magic of the original. Even Spielberg made a sequel that didn't work. I don't think they'll ever quite do it right. The feeling you had in the theaters seeing dinosaurs walk and chase after humans was so amazing to see. It's very hard to recapture that magic. That's how great Jurassic Park is. It took a concept as basic as dinosaurs and created a perfect vision of it.
11. Jurassic Park
12. Jackie Brown
13. A Few Good Men
14. The Fugitive
15. The Truman Show
16. Fargo
17. Swingers
18. Reservoir Dogs
19. There's Something About Mary
20. Sleepers
21. Schindler's List
22. Rushmore
23. Fight Club
24. Saving Private Ryan
25. True Romance
26. Dumb & Dumber
27. Kingpin
28. Donnie Brasco
29. Heat
30. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
31. Rounders
32. Unforgiven
33. Trainspotting
34. The Game
35. Out Of Sight
36. Carlito's Way
37. Seven
38. L.A. Confidential
39. Speed
40. Gattaca
41. Misery
42. Tombstone
43. Ransom
44. Wayne's World
45. The Insider
46. Back To The Future Part III
47. A Bronx Tale
48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt
49. Eyes Wide Shut
50. The Sandlot
51. Happy Gilmore
52. Contact
53. The Green Mile
54. Man On The Moon
55. Boyz N The Hood
56. Grosse Pointe Blank
57. Independence Day
58. The Rainmaker
59. Go
60. The Firm
61. Magnolia
62. The Talented Mr. Ripley
63. Tommy Boy
64. The Usual Suspects
65. In The Line Of Fire
66. My Cousin Vinny
67. Awakenings
68. JFK
69. Toy Story
70. Home Alone
72. Titanic
73. Billy Madison
74. Apollo 13
75. Braveheart
76. Edward Scissorhands
77. Cape Fear
78. The River Wild
79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
80. 12 Monkeys
81. Stir Of Echoes
82. Mission: Impossible
83. Total Recall
84. Quiz Show
85. For Love Of The Game
86. Being John Malkovich
87. Men In Black
88. Scream
89. Alive
90. Three Kings
91. Glengarry Glen Ross
92. Die Hard With A Vengeance
93. The Blair Witch Project
94. Twister
95. Dirty Work
96. Election
97. Tremors
98. Any Given Sunday
99. The Wedding Singer
100. Clerk