Greetings and salutations, my friends.

This is your friendly Man Undercover here with a new thread.

Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Jurassic Park".

Here's the rundown of it:

Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler are two paleontologists who practically live for digging up dinosaur bones and making discoveries, their most recent find being the skeleton of a raptor. However, when the two of them are approached by a wealthy businessman named John Hammond, he offers to take them on a personal tour of an island theme park he's created as a request by its investors. The park in question is called "Jurassic Park". They also find themselves in the company of a mathematician and chaos-theorist named Ian Malcolm, who was invited to attend the tour by Donald Gennaro the lawyer.

Upon visiting the island, Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm are surprised the island doesn't just house a theme park...but dinosaurs too! Living and breathing dinosaurs that were created through the use of genetic-engineering by the park's scientists. Despite being amazed by all that was accomplished and Hammond's assurance that everything is under control, though, the three visitors are critical of how careless Hammond and the scientists have become over their use of genetic engineering, one reason being because humans and dinosaurs might not coexist as well as anyone hoped.

However, during a terrible storm, the park mysteriously loses power. With the electrical fences made to keep the dinosaurs in their enclosures off, the dinosaurs themselves are free and everyone's lives is put at risk; and with the phones down, the tourists and remaining employees are stranded and don't have anyway of contacting the mainland.

Will the people stuck on the island survive and manage to get the power back on? Or will they be doomed to extinction?

Before I reveal my thoughts on this movie, I'd like to tell you guys a little secret:

The "Jurassic" series is a franchise that I've been acquainted with for as long as I can remember. My experiences with the films are ones that I'm particularly fond of, and as a guy who's a very big dinosaur fanatic...well, it's hard to deny that I fell in love with the series hook, line, and sinker.

I've been interested in reviewing members of the franchise for a long time, of course. But, I ultimately put off doing so based on my interest in seeing other things. Until now, that is. I thought that the Halloween season would be the perfect time for reviewing the first film based on it being a thriller with scary and intense moments, and it was the time I always had in mind for the occasion anyway. I was originally going to review the other "Jurassic Park" movies during this month, but as you can see I wasn't able to fulfill that desire due to time reasons.

So, want to know what I think of this movie in words?

Well, I really can't deny it, "Jurassic Park" is as awesome as I recalled it being!

For instance, the direction by Steven Spielberg, and the screenplay by Michael Crichton and David Koepp, were amazingly well-done.

Having often remembered that co-writer Michael Crichton was also the author of the book this movie was based on, I could tell that he, Koepp, and Spielberg were obviously wanting to be as faithful to the book as possible while also taking risks. In this case, finding ways to strengthen the story more and make it better than the book. Even by changing things up. Plus, Steven Spielberg was the perfect choice for directing this movie, because whether a movie is an epic adventure or a suspenseful thriller he has this incredible ability to give a film he directs a sense of human personality. The film had tons of surprises, an unpredictable nature, and genuinely suspenseful moments, of course. But, it also contained emotion and heart that was deeply soul-tugging, and there were witty and humorous moments that balanced the overall tone and proved to be entertaining to watch. The film had great themes and morals about greed and ambition too, as well as on what happens when humans try to play God.

The special effects used to create the dinosaurs were astonishing, if I may add.

Even from a 21st century standpoint, the dinosaurs looked so real that it was like the filmmakers went back in time to incorporate them in this movie. They carried no signs that they were created through computers, that's for sure. The effects team's use of puppetry throughout the movie was wonderful too, and the hard work that they put into making sure the dinosaurs didn't look like puppets made the presence of them all-the-more appealing.

The music by John Williams was magnificent as well.

No matter what sort of scene the movie came to, Williams created a melody that was instantly memorable and enrapturing. His music carried an emotional resonance that helped it feel like something made by a human, and the way his score reflected the overall tone and direction was heart-stopping. A prime example comes from the part featuring the brachiosaurus and parasaurolophuses, because the melodies for that moment reflected the astonishment of the guests and brought a sense of wonder to the presence of the dinosaurs.

Finally, the acting, casting, characters, and character development were outstanding.

Having previously read that some film critics didn't think the characters were as well-worked as everything else, I really must say that I completely disagree. All throughout the movie, I noted that every character had a personality that helped them stand out, and the performers looked like they were having the time of their lives being there! The characters themselves weren't without development, and they all carried a sense of something incredibly human. On top of that, the characters drove the story to a tee, and the dialogue the filmmakers gave them was both enjoyable and natural.

In my opinion, the characters who had the greatest developments were Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and John Hammond, and the performances of Sam Neill as Alan, Laura Dern as Ellie, and Richard Attenborough as John were outstanding. Jeff Goldblum and his character of Ian Malcolm were likewise quite the scene-stealers, and the performance of Bob Peck as Robert Muldoon was so incredible it was award-worthy.

As an honorable mention, I'd like to add that Wayne Knight did an excellent job portraying Dennis Nedry. Despite his character not being the most recurring, Knight portrayed Dennis with brilliant personality, comedic-timings, and commitment, each of which helped the character stand tall with the others and not fade in their shadows. With how much of an essential part Dennis played in the story, it was nice to see him have as much development as possible before his unexpected death.

In conclusion, "Jurassic Park" is what I'm happy to classify as one of the all-time best movies. Not only does it represent history in the making, but it has everything a movie needs to be enjoyable.

So, I rate "Jurassic Park" a solid five out of five stars.