It’s a trip to think that the movie adaptation of Jurassic Park is twenty years behind us now.
It was a very groundbreaking film for its time, blowing open the door for the CGI FX revolution like no film before it, and it took Michael Crichton up to the level of “mega author.” Not to mention it was yet another mega blockbuster for Steven Spielberg, who expertly gave us an incredibly entertaining giant dinosaur epic.
Now Jurassic Park is back in 3D, and it should not only hold up pretty well after all this time, but it’s absolutely a natural to redo in three dimensions. So will today’s audiences make Jurassic Park a hit again? The Wrap believes so, opining that the film should be a “profit-saurus” for Universal.
Yes, Jurassic Park is back on 2,600 screens, 300 of which will be Imax, and its re-release will also prime audiences for its 3D Blu-Ray release on April 26. As one Exhibitor Relations executive told The Wrap, “It will be nostalgia more than 3D that draws people to this movie…it’s the chance to relive the experience of being in the theaters, and the opportunity to share it with another generation – their kids – that will drive moviegoers to this one.”
At the same time, Park is a no-brainer choice for a 3D conversion, and if handled right, it could really be a knock-out. So what’s the word on the new 3D version so far? Entertainment Weekly gave it an A – rating, and reviewer Chris Nashawaty recalled first seeing it in New York, waiting hours in line for it on opening day.
Yet Nashawaty was not impressed with the 3D conversion. “I couldn’t be happier that a new generation gets to chance to experience Spielberg’s Jaws-with-claws creature feature on the big screen,” he writes. “The good news is that Jurassic Park is still one of the giddiest joy rides that Hollywood has ever engineered. The bad news is that the 3D makeover is pretty pointless.”
EW wrote that the 3D is “essentially a marketing gimmick,” yet despite this point of view, apparently the film itself still holds up after all the time, no matter what format its shown in. Now a new generation can enjoy it with their folks who saw it back in the day, making one of Spielberg’s best blockbusters a family experience that’s sure to terrify, awe and delight all over again.
