Today we're going to talk about the dinoriffic, Jurassic Park. I'm not one for dinosaurs but I thought hey, why not. I know it sold a boatload of copies and spawned a bunch of movies and it fit the criteria so here it is. I'm sure a lot of people are very familiar with this story so I'm going to do a quick and dirty summary:
An old man with a lot lot lot lot lot lot of money and an unhealthy obsession with dinosaurs wants to make a dinosaur theme park with real live dinosaurs on an island of the coast of Costa Rica. He actually does a pretty decent job. But when a bunch of people (2 dino docs, a mathematician, the old man's 2 grandkids, and the lawyer for all of the park's investors) come to the island a corrupt worker messes with the computers so that all of the animals get loose on the island. Through various circumstances a lot of the people are stranded outside with the dinos, but the people who are locked into buildings are not that much better off.It turns out that some of these dinosaurs are much more territorial and aggressive and super smart than anyone had anticipated and none of those qualities are good when combined in an animal that's the size of a car with sharp pointy teeth.
One of the things that I thought was interesting was the scariness vs size for the dinos. I mean the t-rex is scary and huge. But the little velociraptors were smaller but more scary (I thought). But I think the t rex is more marketable and that's why is skeleton is on all of the books and movies!
I thought this was an action packed book with some heavier science and math thrown in to balance it out. (Crichton was incredibly smart so thats where that comes from). One thing I thought was weird that in my cheap, paperback edition that I read there was a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. It really could have used another run through the editing office. 2.5 out of 5 stars. ROAR.
What does this have to do with LOST? A mysterious island filled with large carnivorous critters? Check and check at both locations.
So it'd been a pretty long time since I'd seen the movie so after reading the book I got it from the library. It actually follows the book relatively close. Except in the book Drs. Stattler and Grant are not a couple. And Dr Malcolm is a less flirty, rock and roll than Jeff Goldblum plays him, but I like it. There's also a couple of inconsistencies about who does and doesn't die but I won't get into it because spoilers, maybe for like 3 people. One thing that I misremembered was that I thought the game warden was Draco's hot dad but I was wrong. Memory is a fickle thing!
I absolutely love the book version! It is gritty, eerie, and terrifying in its own way. I mean, it's just more realistic and believable! However, that movie did a pretty great job adapting it, making it enjoyable for all viewers. I remembered being obsessed with dinosaurs after watching this film as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI agree! The book is more suspenseful think. (In the movie I kept getting distracted by the old computers and technology!) I wonder how many kids became paleontologists after watching that movie!
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