Jurassic Park- An IMAX and 3D experience

“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.