Jurassic Park (1993)

Movie · 1993 · Adventure, Science Fiction · 2h 7m · PG-13 · English

Curator score: 8.4/10 (3.2M ratings)

An adventure 65 million years in the making.

Overview

A wealthy entrepreneur secretly creates a theme park featuring living dinosaurs drawn from prehistoric DNA. Before opening day, he invites a team of experts and his two eager grandchildren to experience the park and help calm anxious investors. However, the park is anything but amusing as the security systems go off-line and the dinosaurs escape.

Ratings

Director

Steven Spielberg

Production

Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment

Cast

Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, BD Wong, Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Gerald R. Molen, Miguel Sandoval, Cameron Thor, Christopher John Fields, Whit Hertford, Dean Cundey, Jophery C. Brown, Tom Mishler, Greg Burson

Where to watch

Peacock Premium, AMC, Philo, Peacock Premium Plus

Curator Review

Verdict

A landmark blockbuster that blends awe, suspense, and cleanly staged action with a genuine sense of wonder. Its effects, pacing, and Spielberg’s control of scale still make it one of the most entertaining adventure films ever made.

Best for

  • fans of high-concept adventure
  • viewers who like suspenseful creature features
  • people who appreciate practical effects and early CGI craftsmanship
  • audiences seeking a crowd-pleasing blockbuster with real tension

Skip if

  • you want a quiet character drama
  • you dislike peril involving children
  • you are looking for a purely science-heavy or hard-SF film
  • you prefer horror that is more graphic than suspenseful

Overview

Jurassic Park is the rare blockbuster that feels both enormous and precise. Spielberg turns a simple premise into a masterclass in escalation, moving from wonder to dread with total confidence. The film’s best trick is that it never stops being fun even as it becomes genuinely scary.

Worth noting

The dinosaurs are the obvious draw, but the movie’s lasting power comes from how carefully it builds them into a believable world. The sound design, editing, and visual effects are all doing heavy lifting, and the result still plays as a technical benchmark. It’s also sharper and funnier than many remember, with a strong ensemble that gives the chaos some personality.

Bottom line

What makes it endure is the balance: spectacle with discipline, thrills with wit, and a real sense of consequence. It’s not just a movie about dinosaurs escaping; it’s a movie about human confidence collapsing under the weight of its own ambition. That combination keeps it evergreen.

Top Letterboxd reviews

ciara (5★) · 22530 likes

i strongly relate to jeff goldblum in this film because in this scenario i too would just walk around being sexy and flirting with laura dern then get injured at literally the first instance of danger and spend the rest of the time lying dramatically on a table, still being sexy and annoying everyone but with my top off this time

Ellie ✨ (4.5★) · 10481 likes

those dinosaurs were all lesbians and they were all valid

James (Schaffrillas) (5★) · 7881 likes

I have seen the light. Been watching a lot of Spielberg lately, and out of what I've seen so far, this is the movie he directs the FUCK out of the most. Jeff Goldblum in this has more rizz than any man who ever lived

James (Schaffrillas) (4★) · 7808 likes

Dope as hell movie. Would've liked more Jeff Goldblum and less stupid ass kids tho

tara (4.5★) · 7511 likes

I personally fully support laura dern inheriting the earth

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Topics

blockbuster, creature feature, suspense, practical effects, early CGI, adventure, science fiction, family peril, 90s cinema, thrilling

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