Jurassic Park: Collector's Edition
Universal / 1993 / 122 Mins / Rated PG


MOVIE
You know that DVD has finally come of age with movie releases on the format as big as this.

Jurassic Park ushered in a new watermark for the movie industry and was a huge box office success which also featured huge WOW factor special effects, so now after 7 years we can get to see it at home on out favorite format. Welcome to Jurassic Park.

For the 2 if you who haven't seen Jurassic Park it's the story of a nature preserve created by the eccentric billionaire John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough) that contains dinosaurs that have been cloned and brought back to life after 65 million years.

To get the okay he needs from investors to keep the park open he needs testimonials from experts in the field of dinosaur studies. Hammond asks Dinosaur experts Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to come to his island for the weekend to see his park. Also along on the trip are Mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) a scumbag layer who deserves everything he gets and a couple of snot nosed kids.

Anyhow while at the park one of the it's employees, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) is doing a little insider work and needs to steal some Dinosaur embryos and in doing so must shutdown the fences in the park which in turn lets loose some of the coolest looking creatures seen on film including the kings of all beasts, the T-Rex. Senational.

VIDEO
I've always wondered why Steven Spielberg stopped using scope lenses and began using a flat aspect of 1:85:1. A lot of his earlier movies like Close Encounters were filmed in the scope format and looked sensational. I guess it's just my preference towards the 2:35:1 ratio over the 1:85:1 ratio.

That little rant aside, Jurassic Park looks wonderful on DVD. Not reference quality mind you, but it is still very good.

Jurassic Park sports a nice crisp transfer free from MPEG artifacts. There was some grain evident in the movie but this seems to be from the source print Shadow detail was wonderful throughout. Color saturation was spot on and richly detailed.

Jurassic Park is framed at 1:85:1 and is 16:9 enhanced.

This is a single-sided, dual layer disc. The layer change occurs at 75:12 between a scene change it is well placed.

AUDIO

Jurassic Park was the first movie to sport DTS sound and yes I know a lot of you are complaining that there is no DTS track on the R4 release. All I can say is, enough already. Yes DTS is a good sound format, yes it's good to have choice but as I have said before if something has to be compromised to get that sound format on a disc then it should NOT be on the disc. 

Thankfully Columbia/Tri-Star have stuck to there guns and released a solid disc with a great Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack in English, German and Hungarian. For good measure they have also included a Dolby Digital 2.0 track.

I listened to the 5.1 track and was suitably impressed right from the get go with excellent surround integration into the mix. The soundtrack was very dynamic and at times the surround separation boarded on the remarkable which again shows that sound designed Gary Rydstrom is the best in the business. Add to that the excellent music by John Williams and you have got demo material baby.

EXTRAS

A nice selection of extras on offer.

Documentary - Making Of Jurassic Park: This 50 minute documentary is one of the best examples of a "making of" around. It is hosted by James Earl Jones and is very in depth about the making of the movie. Framed at 1:33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Storyboards: This is comprised of 5 scenes from the movie and contain no sound. 1:33:1.

Featurette - Pre Production Meetings: Runs approx 5 minutes. This shows the main effects crew and Spielberg discussing the design of Dinosaurs and sets. 1:33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0. Poor quality.

Featurette - Locations: This is a short 2 minute snippet of Spielberg finding locations in Hawaii for the exterior shots. Limited Value.

Featurette - Animatics: This is a 3 minute animatic by Phil Tippet as he storyboarded the Kitchen Sequence. 1:85:1, not 16:9 enhanced, no sound.

Featurette - Foley Artists: This is a too short section on how the sound effects crew create sound effects. Good stuff. 1:33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0.

Theatrical Trailers: This section features the trailers for both Jurassic Park and The Lost World. Both trailers are framed at 1:85:1, 16:9 enhanced with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. There is also a 3rd trailer for Jurassic Park 3 which is framed at 1:33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0. The first 2 trailers look good but do not have a 5.1 soundtrack sadly. The 3rd teaser trailer is a travesty.

Other extras include:

Production Photos
Production Notes
Dinosaur Encyclopedia
Cast Notes
DVD-ROM Weblink Only

Subtitles: English, Greek, German, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, Bulgarian, Croatian, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Arabic.

FINAL THOUGHTS
A wonderful disc that is a must have for your collection no matter what anyone says about the movie. Get it now.

16:9 ENHANCEMENT DISC RATING

VIDEO:
AUDIO:
EXTRAS:

PLOT:
OVERALL:

REVIEW EQUIPMENT

Display: 48" Sony RPTV.
DVD Player:
Panasonic A350 Player using S-Video Cables.
Receiver:
Pioneer VSX-D508 Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.
Speakers:
Accusound speaker system.

Copyright © 2000 by [Roger Ward].
Revised: 15 Oct 2000 23:27:14 +1100 .

DVD INFORMATION
Region Coding: Region 4
No of Discs: 1
OFLC Rating PG
Running Time: 122 Mins
Case Type: Clear Amaray
Release Date: 10/10/2000
Catalog Number:
List Price: $39.95
Distributor: Columbia/Tri-Star
DISC SPECIFICATIONS
Disc Format: PAL
Disc Type: Picture Disc
Disc Format: SS-RSDL
Chapters: 20
Macrovision: Yes
Manufacturer: Sony DVD Center
VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Film Format: 35mm
SOUND SPECIFICATIONS
Dolby Digital:

5.1 Surround
2.0 Surround

DTS: None
PCM Stereo: None
Other: None
Languages:

English
German
Hungarian
Subtitles: Yes
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary: None
Theatrical Trailer: Yes (3)
Teaser Trailer: None
TV Spots: None
Dolby Trailer: None
Documentary: Yes
Cast & Crew Bios: Yes
Deleted Scenes: None
Music Videos: None
DVD Rom Content: Yes
Collectable Booklet: None
Scene Access: Yes
Animated Menus: Yes
Production Notes: Yes
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