“Welcome To Jurassic Park” –The way Octogenarian Sir Richard
Attenborough says this line ,with Twinkle in his eyes and boyish charm n
enthusiasm displayed all over is still etched
in mind.
Twenty years back, I was just out of junior college( which
was almost vernacular similar to high school), still struggling with the
difference between “Written” English of Times Of India style and “Spoken” English, when I saw this movie in
Sterling Cinema( A prestigious one in Mumbai for English Movies) with my
friends . Dolby Surround Sound was the ‘IN’ thing at that time and not many
theaters had installed the System. Watching it on a big 70mm screen sitting in
Dress Circle was amazing experience.
Till then like many
Indians not very conversant with English, I was watching action Movies (Arnold’s
or Stallone’s) released much later than their
International release …Some like “Total Recall” even did not make it past
Censors at that time for excessive violence…Anyways, those were the days of
restrictions…
I had not seen ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Indiana Jones Series by Spielberg before so
there was no pedigree for me.I was too scared and did not understand much of
Jaws when I had watched it at young age.
Write from the
opening shot the movie was gripping and though I did not understand everything at
that time I was mesmerized by the visual effects, technical Brilliance and the
Grandness of the film.
So when I saw the Poster of re-release of Jurassic Park on Best Bus , I decided to show
it to my son.
I was more than excited to see it in 3D and IMAX and Early morning on Saturday we
land up at Bhakti Park Wadala.
Now the IMAX at Wadala has stopped being a 360 degrees
Experience as original, but the giant screen and the original sitting
arrangement still means you are IN the movie.
The Digitally Re-mastered and edited version of the original
still hold you spell bound.
The helicopter Landing Scene at a discrete Coasta Rican
island of Jurassic Park is still awesome.
The sheer Vertical drop with a massive
Waterfall as a backdrop in 3D and at IMAX screen is worth the rupee.
The expressions of the Visitors at the First sight of Dino’s
, the male protagonists moving up n down on a sick Triceraptor’s tummy with its
breathing , the Flock of Dino’s changing directions every time , almost trampling the kids , The feeding
scene of T-rex, the havoc created by T-rex and velociraptors , the Drama, the Climax is simply
Awesome.
My son being a huge Dinosaur fan, was way ahead of me in recognising
different species and varieties of the Animal displayed onscreen. The original
film was made in 2D format but still had enough anxious moments which are
amplified in 3D effect. In spite of the fact that I had watched it before, many
times I was taken aback by the effect of 3D.
That Spielberg is a master storyteller with total command on
the media, technological brilliance evident in the film ,is no secret. What is
interesting is the HUMAN emotions at display. Be it the mathematician, the
Underwriter’s representative, the grand children, The Creator of the Park or
the male –female protagonists( she reminded me of Steffi Graph)--- All the characters
display distinct set of emotions which
are so natural and well captured. I feel this is the biggest differentiator for
the movie . Instead of just remaining a SCI-FY movie with superb special
effects, the HUMAN touch makes it everyone’s movie.Even the underlying message
of the Movie ,that one should not go against the NATURE is very well explained
through the Mathematician. There are some very apt, peppy dialogues… “ Nature
will Eventually find its Way” or Nature chose to extinct Dinosaurs so probably
they had exhausted their utility on Earth and hence one should not try to
recreate what is chosen to be extinct, or You can create and control the dinosaurs
but you cannot create the surroundings which existed millions of years ago
meaning you cannot predict how the creature will react …I can go on and on
To my surprise, there was a round of applause from the
audience as the end credits rolled…and No it was not from the kids but from the
grown up Adults who perhaps were as Nostalgic as I was….
The significance of the last scene where a flock of birds is
shown flying in slow motion was not lost on my Son who enthusiastically explained
that the Birds are miniature and evolved version of the now Extinct Dinosaurs .Needless
to say that I did not understand this back then…
Twenty years on, a bit wiser me, understood the movie much
better and came out of the Dome with my respect for the magician grown manifold.
Go Watch it with kids.
