Jurassic Park (Rifftrax)

Film Year:  1993
Genre:  Science Fiction, Adventure, Thriller
Director:  Steven Spielberg
Starring:  Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Laura Dern, Ariana Richards, Joseph Mazzello, Bob Peck, Wayne Knight, Samuel L. Jackson
Rifftrax Year:  2008
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Weird Al Yankovic

The Movie

Steven Spielberg exploded into cinematic pop culture in 1975 with Jaws, and while he established a diverse career in the years since spanning films like Raiders of the Lost Ark to E.T. The Extra Terrestrial to The Color Purple, in 1993 he was provided with an opportunity to bring forth something of a spiritual successor to his man vs. nature film.  Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, which was a retooling of a concept he had used in the 1973 film Westworld (yes, it was a movie before it was a TV series), Jurassic Park tells the story of a theme park that has brought dinosaurs back to life via cloning techniques and presents a zoo unlike any other full of extinct creatures.  True to any Michael Crichton story, if something can go wrong with science it will.  During a pre-opening investigative tour of the park the power shuts down, leaving visitors stranded outside of safezones with carnivorous beasts on the hunt.

A lot of fuss has been made about Jurassic Park's use of computer graphics which, while not the first film to use such, were innovative at the time.  CGI has often come under attack in the years since, with many stating that Jurassic Park's CG dinos have never been topped.  This is hyperbole.  Take a look at the first full dinosaur we see in the film, a Brachiosaur which is entirely a CG creation.  It looked realistic enough back in 1993, but reinvestigating the film on it's 4K transfer one can clearly see its age.  Many films in the years since have improved upon the texture seen here.

But Jurassic Park is more or less celebrated for the fact that it didn't entirely rely on computers to get the job done, but mixed it in with animatronics by Stan Winston, which still look spectacular to this day.  Most of the dinosaur shots I remember in hindsight are the shots where the creatures were puppets, and the blending of the two techniques works in the film's favor.

The story itself is filled with a few bits of conveniences.  For the entire disaster at the park to work one needs to believe in Dennis Nedry's subplot about smuggling dinosaur embryos off the island.  While this is a fine excuse, one also needs to buy that Nedry's only real window for this was during an inspection tour, which feels like a majorly conspicuous time for him to be doing this, although granted the flaws in the park do provide a diversion for him.  Spielberg does have a great knack for turning contrivance into natural story flow.

Jurassic Park is a fantastic example of movie magic.  In a lot of ways it has shown its age.  Our knowledge of dinosaurs has grown since 1993, making the film's creatures look archaic, not to mention its portrayal of dinosaurs wasn't 100% up to date with what we did know at the time (the size of Velociraptors and Dilophosaurs are not accurate).  But in many of the places it counts it ages like fine wine.  It's fine adventure spectacle, and one worth watching more than once.

The Trax

Parody songwriter Weird Al Yankovic gets to play in the riffing booth today and he showcases a great chemistry with Mike.  The duo riff away on this classic film with a casual flair, not being tortured by it but rather observing it.  Unfortunately for the most part while the pair demonstrate that they could provide a great commentary, they've either picked the wrong movie to pump their creative juices or they're just not trying hard enough.

Things threaten to derail early as we're introduced to our main character of Dr. Alan Grant.  The "boy or girl?" riffs on the bratty kid who annoys him start out funny but get drug through the mud until they're irritating.  When the scene mercifully ends you cross yourself and thank god that you may not hear another riff on the subject, but Al doesn't let go of it that easily.  He continually brings the subject up throughout the film, much to my discontent.

Fortunately that's not all the Trax is made up of.  However a good portion of it is bland safe lines that don't really amount to much humor.  Occasionally there's a good laugh thrown into the mix.  During the famous "Welcome to Jurassic Park" scene they come up with the killer quip of "Now to swoop in with that timeshare sales pitch!"  I was also quite fond of the no-show T-Rex sequence in which Mike states that "A crowd has gathered to watch a goat lie down.  They should have called this Kansas:  The Ride."  But most of the riff coasts on the watchability of the movie with some cute jabs at it mixed in with some mediocre ones.  I was rarely groaning unless Al brings up his "boy or girl?" inquiry again.  Jurassic Park is okay.  Nothing worth going out of your way to see.

Average