Customer Reviews

Jurassic Park Trilogy

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster is still the best of the Jurassic trilogy, and the film retains all the amazement and anticipation it had when it was first released.
Taken from Michael Crichton's thrilling novel, Jurassic Park is one Spielberg's most expertly-crafted films. The special effects are from FX maestro Stan Winston, who did the special effects for Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2 (1991). The seamless combination of CGI and robotic creatures creates some truly terrifying action set- pieces.

Despite what some critics thought when the film was released, I feel that all the principal actors give good performances, especially Sam Neill as Alan Grant and Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm. But admittedly, the dinosaur creations are the main attraction, and Winston's monsters (which won him another Oscar after Terminator 2) are truly frightning. Great entertainment.

The Lost World is an exciting adventure starring Jeff Goldblum, Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore and Pete Postlethwaite. The film picks up four years after the incident at Jurassic Park, where a corporate businessman Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) plans to take dinosaurs off the second island (Isla Sorna, where dinosaurs have been breeding) and bring them to a theme park in San Diego.

Spielberg knows what the audience wants; the film has more dinosaurs, even better CGI and impressive animatronic dinosaurs from the maestro Stan Winston. The action throughout the film is exciting and while not as astonishing as Jurassic, the effects are first-rate. Although the action is good, the story isn't one of Spielberg's best. That said, the principal cast are fine, especially Goldblum as Malcolm ("Ooh, aah, that's how it always starts, and then later the running and screaming") and Postewaite as Roland Tembo, a game hunter intent on shooting one of the Tyrannosaurs. Silly in parts, it's still an exciting adventure movie, with enough action and light humour to satisfy audiences.

Joe Johnston, taking over the reigns from Spielberg, has created an adventure that starts off quickly and hardly ever lets up. Sam Neill, returning to the role which made him famous in the original, is a stronger presence than in the first Jurassic, and the supporting cast of William H. Macy and Tea Leoni manage not to get lost amidst the barrage of CGI dinosaurs. The special effects are, of course the main stars, with Stan Winston's excellent dinosaurs surpass the ones for the original. And the plot (a bunch of people get stuck on an island with dangerous dinosaurs) provides plenty of great scares (a scene with nasty pterodactyls is the high-point) and fast-paced action to satisfy audiences. Great fun.

The trilogy DVD extras are first- rate, with superb picture and sound for all the discs. The special features are exceptional, with a 50 minute 'making of' of the film. Most interesting, however, is the footage of early pre-production meetings with Spielberg and the FX team discussing how certain shots and effects should be done. Also there are storyboards, production photos and web links.

The extras for The Lost Wolrd are fantastic, with a comprehensive 'making of', deleted scenes, trailers and ton of production info. The highlight on the JP3 Disc is the Commantary from the special effects team of Stan Winston, Michael Lantieri and some of the crew. Also, you get a series of 'making of's and trailers. Best of all is Disc 4 "Beyond Jurassic Park" featuring over two hours of never-before-available bonus material from all three films. Excellent entertainment that is a must-have for Jurassic fans.

When this set came out we decided that we had to have it as our previous versions were on VHS. The bonus with this set of four is the fourth disk with all the wonderful extra features. If you enjoy learning how movies are made the fourth disk, while long, is a great companion to the three movies themselves.

"Jurassic Park" introduced us to digital dinosaurs, and how fearsome they could be with modern computer technology. This movie advanced horror and monsters movie in a method similar to the way "Alien" advanced movies. "Jurassic Park" immediately became an audience favorite and the new standard by which special effects would be judged. Stephen Spielberg effectively combined in-your-face terror with special effects to keep people at the edge of their seats and in awe of the life-like creatures.

"The Lost World" unfortunately did not measure up to "Jurassic Park." Many of the characters were unbelievable and there were too many plot holes that were too readily visible to make the movie enjoyable from beginning to end. While there were several parts of the movie that were well-done, there were at least as many parts where the actions of the characters was unrealistic when considering how people in their positions would normally behave. The bumps in actions of the characters just did not allow me to focus on the plot throughout. Another problem with this movie is that it focused too much on action, and very little on the characters themselves. Thus, the movie comes across as more of a cartoon than a horror movie.

"Jurassic Park III" simplified the plot, added new dinosaurs, and allowed the characters to develop more than "The Lost World." The short length of the movie forced the movie to be more simple than the previous movie, and that simplicity makes for a good movie. The best new dinosaur in this movie had to be the pteranodons, though the spinosaur was great also. The characters in this movie generally acted as I would expect them to, and there were fewer outright acts of stupidity. Even the theft of a raptor egg was done in ignorance. So while it was a convenient plot device, you would expect something like that by someone with only minimal knowledge of dinosaurs. I was very happy to see Sam Neill returning in the role of Dr. Alan Grant. His character particularly is very believable.

If you have yet to buy all these movies, and you thought they were all at least good, if not great, this set is an excellent addition to a home video library.

This is more a review of the box set. My room-mate has the 2disc box set (before JIII came out) and I have the DTS edition of Jurassic Park. The difference between the DTS 5.1 on mine and the Dolby Digital on his is astounding. Remember that Steven Spielberg pioneered DTS (Digital Theatre Sound) and this was the first movie to have it. Do yourself a favour if you have a home theatre system and make sure you buy these movies separately with the DTS track on them. It's unbelievable. And with Spielberg signing on to direct Jurassic Park IV and Michael Crichton possibly writing it I would suggest staying away from box sets for the most part unless, like Godfather, you can be sure another sequel is impossible.

This box set is very cool. It has all three films plus a bonus fourth disc containg footage never before seen from the trilogy. If you already bought the first three films, don't panic just yet. I heard that Universal is being very cool by allowing the bonus disc and cover box to be purchased separetly. Although I do not see it on Amazon yet, I am 99.9% sure that it will be aviable. Enjoy!

This has got to be one of the best boxed sets ever! I can't wait to get it! I didn't buy the first boxed set, which contained Jurassic Park and The Lost World, because I knew Jurassic Park III was coming out! That was like a year ago or so and I knew they'd put out a trilogy boxed set when JP3 was released so I decided to wait! Well don't worry, because if you have already bought the first two films, you can still get the trilogy collector's box by simply buying the third film on DVD! Yep that's right, the reviewer who mentioned it before me said Universal was being nice, and it's true! All you have to do if you already own Jurassic Park and The Lost World, is Buy Jurassic Park III and inside the DVD case they're is a form or something that let's you order the trilogy box case that comes with the fourth disc I suppose! So You can still get the Trilogy Box Set wether you've bought the first two films or not!

I'm a huge fan of the Jurassic Park films, the first two anyway. They combine groundbreaking special effects in both animatronics and animation with some really good, solid storylines. The Star Wars of its day, this trilogy is an amazing adventure, some of my favorite movies. The first two, anyway.

Since this is really a rerelease box set and the point of getting it is to get the films on DVD instead of watching them for the first time, thats what I'll focus on. Basically, the movies are great. You won't be disapointed.

As far as DVDs go, the Jurassic Park and The Lost World special editions are about average. They have a fair amount of special features and some nice sounds and transitions, but I think they could have gone a little farther. The menu screens are particurally dark and drab. The features are overall informative and interesting, especially if your a fan of the films.

The Jurassic Park 3 DVD is quite a bit better. It's overloaded with features, the menus have a deffinate theme going and its really well desinged. You get all sorts of neat stuff beyond the basic "Making of" features. There are 360 degree views of the computer models of the film's dinosaurs, step by step tours of the process at Industrial Light and Magic, and some really neat stuff about the art and design of the film. The movie itself is pretty bad and an insult to the first two, but its a really nice DVD.

With this trilogy set you get the bonus "Beyond Jurassic Park" DVD, which is pure [junk]. It's only worth watching if you're a Jurassic Park fanatic, because its basically table scraps from when the films were produced and some really lame, slapped toghether bits like a split screen comparison of The Lost World's key scenes before and after the post production effects. Yawn.

Unless its cheaper to get the boxed set, I'd recomend buying the three movies seperatly and not bothering with the exclusive disc in this set. The Jurassic Park films are excellent movies, not to be missed!

This box set, is whats the word? Fascinating, it measures up for the excellent movies.

JURASSIC PARK -

Jurassic Park gets a easy 10/10 from me. I have been a huge fan, even have a site for the movies, fan of the series ever since I first saw Jurassic Park back in 1996 at five, almost six years old. The movie was just so magical, everything about it was so breathtaking and fascinating, it was oh so perfect. The dinosaurs in this movie have to be the most realisticly portrayed out of any dinosaur films from the past, that was absolutly no question. The charectors were great and added to the specialness of the film, all the actors chosen to star were perfect in there roles except for a minor few such as Martin Ferrero as Donal Gennaro, hes a good actor and all, but he didn't fit the role at all, but he wasn't horrible or bad either, he would have fit as a better Ed Regis if that charector was in the film which it wasn't. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards were the cast members who rounded out most of the cast, each giving there charector a sense of originality and freshness. The actors are so realistic that you never think once that they've memorized the lines from the script, but that there saying everything naturally. From the excellent start to the film to one of the most memorable movie endings in the history of cinema, this film delivers in every way. Steven Spielberg really delivered what he was determined to do, a realistic film where the dinosaurs were portrayed as real as possible and as animals, NOT theme-park monsters. The basic premise of the film: A wealthy Billionare, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) invites a group of scientists/Paleontologists to the island, Isla Nublar (aka Jurassic Park) to endorse the park, in other words, tell the envestors and lawyers that the park is in fact, safe and ready to be opened to the public. But when a greedy worker for Hammond shuts the power off in the park letting loose the dinosaurs, everything goes downward and mayhem occurs everywhere. From over turned explorers to a kid getting shocked on an electrical fence to a Tyrannosaurs chasing a jeep and even Velociraptors stalking kids in a kitchen, you see everything you could possibly hope for. This movie gets an easy ten out of ten. You should be ashamed if you do not have this in your collection. Ashamed.

THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK -

10/10. I don't know, to this day, why some people say that the third flm is better than this one? I simply do not know why? Half the people who claim that the third is better is just because they prefer more action over a well thought out plot (unlike part ///'s disgraceful premise that a four year old could think up in a day) and realistically portrayed dinosaurs (unlike JP///'s incredibly INNACURATE Spinosaur, many do not know and think that the way the Spinosaurus in part 3 is how they were in real life, not true, the Spinosaurs were actually FISH eaters and would never go up against the Tyrannosaurus like it did, but this review is about TLW, not JP///). So basically, in this also Steven Spielberg directed film, a group of InGen workers including John Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) set out to Isla Sorna, Site B, an island that used to be the breeding ground for Jurassic Park's dinosaurs before a massive hurricane destroyed the island forcing many to flee and leaving the dinosaurs to inhabit the island. The group set out to capture as much dinosaurs as possible and bring them back to the mainland to create a new park, 'Jurassic Park: San Diego'. When John Hammond who was forced out of his possition of InGen CEO (President), his nephew taking his place, hears about this, he sets up a team including Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff) and Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) who plays Dr. Ian Malcolms (Jeff Goldblum, from the first film) girlfriend to go and document the dinosaurs at the island to set up a fossil record and prove that the dinosaurs are not dangerous. But when Malcolm hears that his girlfriend has gone to the island, he immedietly sets out to the island to "rescue" her even though she chose to go. When the team members, including Malcolm, arrive, they all discover that Hammond sent them to the island to puroposely stop Ludlow and his team from taking the dinosaurs off the island. The movie turns into a team against team/team against dinosaurs and Sabatoge type film. To make matters worse, Malcolms daughter, Kelly Malcolm (Vannessa Lee Chester) has stowed away on a trailer to the island with them, so he is now forced to watch after her and protect himself and his girlfriend Sarah from the prehistoric animals. The ending is very climatic and makes the whole point of the Jurassic Park movies. Just when you thought that the dinosaurs couldnt' get any better than the first film, you were wrong, the dinosaurs in this film look even MORE realistic and fascinating than the first film. Particularly the Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurs stand out the most. The movie deserved what it gets, which is a ten out of ten. And if you think that part three is better, then you are crazy but hey, we all have our opinions and think different from each other so...

JURASSIC PARK /// -

My rating? 4.5/10 (4 and a half out of ten), this movie was so hyped up and was claiming to be as good as the first two, wrong. First off, the plot, the plot is a plot that you would probably see on a 'Jurassic Park: The TV Series' type show, a divorced couples teenage son gets in a parasailing accident near Isla Sorna and is forced to land there, eight weeks later (do you honestly think a thirteen year old would survive for eight weeks?), the couple (why on earth would the couple wait eight weeks to finally get help??) trick Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill from the first film, hes what makes the movie get a 4.5/10) into going to the island claiming that they are a happily married couple and are celebrating there anniversary by taking an aerial tour of the island by plane, but when the plane lands and invertedly crashes soon after by the islands new "monster", Grant finds out why the couple trully brought him here, to help find there son. Another person who came along with Grant is graduate student, Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola, his charector is the only new charector actually worthy of being in a JP film) who wanted to see the dinosaurs alive and well. After this, the movie basically turns into nothing but a corny running and screaming film where all the charectors destined to die, die half way through the film leaving the half with NO deaths. The dinosaurs, I don't know what to think, the Velociraptors have now lost there eeriness and make you want to laugh rather then shutter, they are portrayed TOO intelligently in the film that its almost laughable in some parts. The Spinosaurus is just...gosh, a big mistake, the film portrays it as a total movie monster which ruins the whole point of the first two films, which was to portray the dinosaurs as animals rather than vicious monsters out to just kill and nothing else. You hardly get to see any herbivores in this film and only see carnivores (mostly the Raptors and Spinosaurus) out to get some fresh meat. The Spinosaurus is portrayed so wrong that its almost disgusting, first off, the Spinosaurs would NEVER have attacked the Tyrannosaurus Rex in real life like it did in the film, second off, the way it broke the Rex's neck, was totally wrong and unbelievable, now, if it would have broken the Rex's neck AND tooken off its own jaw in the process, then it would have been a little more believable, why do I say this? Well simple, the Spinosaurs jaws were made for eating and catching FISH, not breaking a Rex's neck which is almost impossible to do i'm sure.The Spinosaurus wouldn't even chase the humans around like it did unless they were in its territory, instead it chases and stalks them around the whole island! The acting was sub par, Sam Neill and Alessandro did excellent jobs, and I appreciated the great cameo by Jurassic Park star, Laura Dern, who returns for a two part cameo that rounds out to 5 or 6 minutes of the film. Those were actually my favorite scenes, the two cameos with her present because it manages to capture the JP feeling, too bad the rest of the film couldn't do the same. Tea Leoni and William H. Macy, they did a bad job in my opinion, hey, there great actors, oscar worthy of course, but not in this movie, they weren't given anything good to work with and acted a bit over the top. One of the worst aspects, was that Joe Johnston who relys more on Special effects than on plot and story depth, took over the reighns of the directors chair leaving Steven Spielberg only as Executive Producer. The whole style of the film was just so...wrong. But hey, there were some good aspects of the film that I won't list because this film is really about opinion once it comes down to it. 4.5/10. Let's hope that JP IV does better and i'm hoping that I get the privalege of giving it at least a 8/10.

Now, the bonus disc is what saved the box set to get a 3.5/10 rating (due the third film getting a poor rating), the sad part is is that the bonus disc, BEYOND JURASSIC PARK (which gets a 8.5/10) is more entertaining and has more JP depth then the third movie, and the bonus disc just has special features for all three JP films that most, have never before been seen before. The extras are a REALLY GREAT treat for the JP fan and you're really missing out if you don't have this disc, the packaging for the trilogy is really beautiful and convenient. So if you don't have this set in your collection, either go out and buy it NOW or you'll be hitting yourself later on.

OVERALL - The set gets a 10/10.

JURASSIC PARK - 10/10

THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK - 10/10

JURASSIC PARK /// - 4.5/10

BEYOND JURASSIC PARK - 8.5/10

WHOLE SET - 10/10

Well... at least the first one did.

If you're a JP fan, this is undoubtedly one of the best investments you'll ever make. Not only does it include the Collector's Editions of all three films, but a bonus fourth disc whose material seems to stem from special features that were scrapped for the individual releases. The bonus disc isn't GREAT material, but well worth checking out if you're a fan of the series. I liked the particular featurette that covered the big rain storm during production of the first film.

Jurassic Park - Is there anyone who hasn't seen this movie? Can a review possibly help you? Ah, well. Nuts to it. Here's my two cents: a modern classic that jump-started the special effects craze and once again proved that Spielberg is the master of quality popcorn adventure films. If by some slim chance you haven't seen it yet, I'd suggest renting some sort of rig to remove that big rock you've been hiding under all these years.

The Lost World - someone (the name escapes me) once said of the Marx brothers, "Even at their worst, they're still at the top of their game" (or something to that effect). Spielberg's sequel disappointed many, but I really enjoyed it. It's not necessarily a classic like the summary on the back of the DVD case suggests, but it's still a rollicking good time. The cinematography, special effects and acting, especially by Goldblum and Postlethwaite, are great. If only David Koepp would have invested a little more care into the screenplay...

Jurassic Park III - The script has no real source material and Spielberg doesn't direct; Joe Johnston takes the reins. The result: a suprisingly fun hour-and-a-half adventure. The spirit of the original is thankfully intact and the pace of the film is competent. A flawed movie, no doubt about that, but it really surpassed my expectations (the title of the film itself suggests "rush job"). Here's hoping JP4 doesn't disappoint.

Well, there you have it. You've seen the films and wonder if you should invest your hard-earned cash on this box set. My advice? Go for it. Crank those speakers up, get comfy and immerse yourself into the world where dinos rule.

Well, without going into the plots of all 3 movies, which I'm sure everybody already knows, I'll give a brief run-down of what's all included in this box set.

First of all, you get all 3 movies and tons of DVD extras with each regular disc. You get stuff like the "Making of's" and "How'd they do that" along with numerous stills of models and story boards. But what's most interesting is that even if you found that one or more of these movies weren't up to par with one or more of the other ones, then watch the special features of each film and you'll get a greater appreciation of each film. Actually the dinosaurs in JP:III were probably the most sophisticated in all of the films. One of my favorite NEW dinos in JP:III was the Velociraptor. New, you ask? Yes, new. Why? Because if you really pay attention to them in the film and in the extras, you really see that they have been totally redone for this film in not only appearance, but also in intelligence.

Also the 4th disc has additional extras for each film that aren't included on the regular discs. Some of the footage is duplicated, but not much. Did you know that the cliff scene in Lost World was shot along the side of a high-rise parking garage on the lot of Universal Studios? Did you know that a lot of the dino scenes in all 3 movies had both CGI dinos and real animatronic dinos? I dare you to tell the difference.

If you liked this series at all, I highly recommend this set for your DVD collection. It ranks right up there with the Die Hard Ultimate Edition and Alien Legacy boxed sets.

Not to long ago, I got the Jurassic Park Adventure Pack (all three movies in one package) at Best Buy for $5 on sale. But when I saw this set out there, with that mythical 'Bonus Disc', I jumped at the opportunity to get it as well. Now that I have it, though- I'm not entirely sure it was worth the money.

The boxed set contains the three Jurassic Park movies in their original cases, along with the bonus disc 'Beyond Jurassic Park' in a forth case. The three movies are just how they would be if you bought them all seperate, with all of the original features and extras one each disc.

Now when you start up 'Beyond Jurassic Park', the screen is split into three parts: one for each movie. You select the one you want, and it takes you to a sub menu with the few features they have for each movies. There are a few goodies in there, like an interview with Michael Crichton, but the making of specials really don't compare to the extras that are found on the orignal movie discs. As a matter of fact, for 'The Lost World', I'm pretty sure they just edited out a few things from the original extras to make this one. you also get storyboards and a few other interesting things, but all in all it's a bit of a let down.

I love these movies. Heck, Jurassic Park was the first movie I ever bought, and I've owned a copy of every single release that has been made (both VHS, the DVD's when they were originally released, the Adventure Pack and now this set). The movies themselves are about 3-4 stars each. But do yourselves a favor: go get the Adventure Pack instead. It's cheaper and just as satisfying as this set.