New @ MPL: Life Finds a Way

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Life Finds a Way

At movie theaters today, most hit films make a third of their total gross on their opening weekend. Films rarely stay in theaters for more than two months -- and even then, only the biggest blockbusters make it that long. But twenty years ago, a movie came along that not only broke the opening weekend records ($50 million in three days, unheard of in 1993), it nearly doubled that opening the following weekend. And after that record two-week showing, the movie stayed in theaters for over a year. (It was still being shown on 100 movie screens in October 1994, when the film was released on VHS.) It was one of the last movies to ever gain that much play in theaters for so sustained a period.

And what's more, it did it without a single big-name star and without an already-established franchise.

I've gotten some raised eyebrows when I've referred to Jurassic Park as the "Star Wars" of my generation. In a world where Star Wars fans will line up for days ahead of time for movie tickets and write down "Jedi" on census forms as their official religion -- can Jurassic Park fans really compare?

Allow me to make my case.

Jurassic Park stars Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant, a paleontologist (a scientist who studies pre-historic life). He and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) are on a dig in the Badlands of Montana, thrilled with their fresh findings but concerned about the future of their research once their funding runs out. Enter eccentric billionaire John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough), who mysteriously promises to fund a three-year dig if Grant and Sattler accompany Hammond to his new theme park and offer their opinions on attractions "so astounding, they'll drive kids out of their minds."

It's a crazy offer, but Grant and Sattler aren't about to refuse. Joined by mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), and fussy lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero), the group travels to a small island off the coast of Costa Rica to see Hammond's flashy new attractions.

The attractions, as it turns out, are genetically engineered dinosaurs, created by scientists who have extracted dino DNA from ancient preserved mosquitos. (No, this would never actually work -- but c'mon, it's a movie.) A previous accident that had occurred with one such "attraction" led Hammond to track down a handful of experts to experience the island for themselves and vouch for the park's safety.

But electrified fences and tranquilizer darts only go so far, and it's not long before disgruntled-employee sabotage leads to the dinosaurs escaping their cages and wrecking havoc on the humans around them. Hammond, Malcolm, and Sattler must find a way to restore working computer systems to the park, while Dr. Grant promptly finds himself lost amidst a cadre of loose dinos -- with Hammond's two young grandkids at his side. (The lawyer winds up eaten.) The ensuing film is an action-adventure story like few others.

A Jurassic Park scientist extracts DNA from a preserved mosquito

To understand the impact that Jurassic Park had on the film industry, you have to delve deeper into what the franchise really accomplished. When it premiered in 1993, Jurassic Park broke new ground in the world of special effects. Although Terminator 2: Judgment Day had already used computer generated imagery (or "CGI") to great effect two years previously, Jurassic Park was held up as proof positive that a new era of movie-making had arrived. Here, now, was CGI being used to create the appearance of living, breathing dinosaurs. There was a bit of a meta effect going on with Jurassic Park: just as movie character John Hammond had found scientists capable of recreating 65 million year old animals from rebuilt DNA, so had director Steven Spielberg found artists capable of recreating those same animals -- but out of computer programs and pixels. The result of the latter was a new world of visuals that was like nothing that the movie-going public had ever seen before.

To say it succeeded audience expectations is to put it far too mildly. These days, movie trailers cram in shots of the film's most impressive special effect sequences, in an effort to entice audiences into the theaters. But the trailers for Jurassic Park had not made fully apparent what audiences could expect to see, saving all of the best effects shots for the movie itself. The resulting anticipation to see what the movie had to offer was a huge reason why so many people -- myself included -- went to see the film ... and our anticipation was definitely rewarded.

A computer-generated T-rex eating a Gallimimus (don't worry, the Gallimimus is CGI too)

The irony, of course, is that so many of Jurassic Park's greatest shots weren't CGI at all. Many of the most memorable sequences -- the T-rex attacking two stalled Jeeps (with passengers still inside them), or a pair of Velociraptors stalking the kids in the Visitor Center kitchen -- were achieved with real, physical models, not CGI effects. Most of the shots of the T-rex, for instance, were not computerized but were instead filmed with puppets and robot pieces designed by special/visual effects wizards Stan Winston and Phil Tippett. From building a full-size T-rex robot (weighing in at 9,000 pounds) to creating raptor suits for actors to wear, the practical effects gave the film a more "real," physical feel to it than CGI shots alone could have created.

One of the T-rex "robots"

But to be clear, it's not all about the special effects. One other reason that the Jurassic Park franchise has remained such a steadfast favorite for so many fans was the messages behind the movies. It was one of the first big-budget, visual effects bonanzas I ever saw that nonetheless had something to say. The movie had a strong, clear message -- coming through from Michael Crichton's original novel (Crichton also co-wrote the screenplay) -- about the importance of showing respect, care, and perhaps a little caution within the world of scientific advancements. "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could," snaps Ian Malcolm to an unrepentant John Hammond, "They didn't stop to think if they should." While the film is in no way anti-science, it does caution its audience against the temptation to misuse knowledge that's been untempered by humility or discipline.

It's hardly all doom-and-gloom, however. The film's other message -- and it's a strong one -- is the unstoppable force of life. Despite everyone's best attempts to keep the animals of Jurassic Park caged and controlled, the effort is a futile one. Even before the dinosaurs escape, they're forcing their way around the barriers the scientists try to impose: trying to hunt despite being fed, trying to escape despite the fences, and -- most surprising of all, since all the animals were genetically engineered to be female -- building nests and breeding. "Life cannot be contained," Ian Malcolm explains. "Life breaks free, expands to new territories -- painfully, maybe even dangerously. But ... life finds a way."

The movie makes clear that its lessons go beyond the boundaries of the story's fiction. Jurassic Park was released during a time when paleontology was making tremendous breakthroughs in the discipline's understanding of the ancient animals of some 100 million years ago. Originally viewed as sluggish, cold-blooded, and somewhat stupid ancestors of today's reptiles, fresh evidence led scientists to revise their theories. A new understanding was born: dinosaurs were much quicker and more limber than previously thought to be, and many of them had been quite intelligent. What's more, many dinosaurs -- with their particular bone structures and skeletal shape -- are actually closer relatives of today's birds than they are to reptiles.

The dinosaurs may have died out (precisely why is still unknown, although the most agreed-upon theory is a catastrophic meteorite), but their genes live on in their avian cousins. Life finds a way.

I was ten years old when Jurassic Park hit theaters, and I can still remember the twin thrills of fear and excitement that shot through me when I first saw the T-rex break through her fencing and start the adventure. The movie took care to set up its story before launching into the thrills, and it was approaching the first-hour mark when the fences went down and the action began. It was a roller-coaster ride of a movie, unlike anything my ten-year-old, dinosaur-loving self had ever seen before. It's the best time I've ever had at a theater.

I watched the movie over and over as a kid. (I can still quote plenty of the lines verbatim!) I eagerly awaited the arrival of the two sequels, and Michael Crichton's original novel (on which the film was based) was the first "grown-up novel" I ever read.

Last weekend saw the release of a new 3-D version of the movie, hitting theaters in celebration of Jurassic Park's 20th anniversary. The timing, for me, is strangely fitting: it's right around my thirtieth birthday. What better time to return to theaters and become a kid again?