Jurassic Park 3D, Blu-ray+DVD+UV Digital Copy (1993-2013)
Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Ariana Richards, Joseph Mazzello, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, BD Wong Studio: Universal – [4/23/13] Music: John Williams Writers: Michael Crichton & David KoeppVideo: 1.85:1 for 16:9 1080p/24
Audio: English DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio, Spanish/French DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Region Code: A,B,C Extras: Disc 1: New (HD) 3D :The world of Jurassic Park 3D” – 8 minute featurette Disc 2: Jurassic Park Blu-ray, (HD) Return to Jurassic Park: Dawn of a new era – 25 minute featurette, (HD) Return to Jurassic Park: Making pre history – 20 minute featurette, (HD) Return to Jurassic Park: The next step in evolution – 15 minute featurette, Archival featurettes: The making of Jurassic Park – 49 minutes, Original featurette on the making of the film – 4 minutes, Steven Spielberg directs Jurassic Park – 9 minutes, Hurricane in Kauai featurette – 2 minutes; Behind the scenes features: Productions meetings, animatics, ILM/Jurassic Park (before and after visual effects), storyboards and more, Theatrical trailer Length: 127 minutes Rating: ***** Video: **** Audio (7.1) *****
The original 1993 release was a tremendous hit, combining CGI dinosaurs with mechanical contraptions, kids in trouble, a mad scientist, and a subdued love story thrown in for the romantics.
Now, JP is back, with an updated 3D conversion that mostly works and makes the intense original scenes even more intense. The plot of the film is well known. A Walt Disney-like character, played by Richard Attenborough, has an island filled with cloned dinosaurs, but things got out of hand, and he’s invited a lawyer and some scientists to assure the public that Jurassic Park is safe. Of course it isn’t and most of the film is spent watching Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, child actors Ariana Richards and Jospeh Mazzello running away from the big and rather bright and hungry lizards.
Even after 20 years, the film still has its thrills, and the 3D conversion by Stereo D for the most part works well. The same company did the Titanic conversion, and this seems to be equally successful. The best scenes were the Jeep falling out of the tree, and the dinosaurs in the kitchen sequences. Much of the film is shot in low light, and dark is not the best lighting for 3D, so at times, things get a bit muddy. Overall, the film is enhanced by the conversion, and while the 3D disc doesn’t seem quite as sharp as the 2D Blu-ray, it looks quite good viewed on both a 46 inch LCD and an 80 inch projection system.
The sound was completely remastered in both 7.1 and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Listening to the 7.1 version was a very involving experience, equal to the 3D visual enhancements. The surrounds were subtle for much of the first half of the movie, with jungle background sounds, but when the dinosaurs appear the surround channels come alive with deep bass heft and excellent directional effects.
If you loved Jurassic Park in 1993, you’ll love it now. The 2D Blu-ray looks great, and if you have the equipment to display the film in 3D you’ll be rewarded with an even more exciting experience.
—Mel Martin