Jurassic Park

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Jurassic Park's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Jurassic Park completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) from a DVD on 27 July 2011.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie Jurassic Park contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Jurassic Park is a classic adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the novel by Michael Crichton. The story centres upon Jurassic Park, a nature reserve established on a remote South American island by billionaire businessman John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). Hammond and his team of dedicated scientists have populated the park with a variety of genetically engineered dinosaurs. This technological breakthrough was made possible by extracting and manipulating the DNA from dinosaur blood found in the stomachs of ancient fossilised mosquitoes.

As the reserve nears completion, Hammond invites selected guests to view the site, in the hope of attracting recognised experts to take on management roles at the park. These visitors include palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill), his partner, palaeobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and chaos mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum).  Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joseph Mazzello) are also given the opportunity to see the park and its amazing creatures.

Initially, the visitors are all suitably impressed and astounded at the re-created dinosaurs and carefully replicated habitats. Unfortunately, their wonder turns to fear when the park’s computer system is disabled and several dinosaurs escape the high-voltage confines.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Humans versus the natural world; Genetic engineering

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

The film contains frequent violent episodes involving dinosaurs and their prey.  There are also some episodes of violence perpetrated by humans on dinosaurs.  Examples include:

• Several park employees are knocked to the ground as a dinosaur is released from an enormous crate. One man is attacked and dragged into the cage
• A tyrannosaurus dismembers a live goat
• A tyrannosaurus rocks a car containing Lex and Tim, eventually breaking through the glass sun-roof, rolling the car, and tearing off tyres
• A tyrannosaurus smashes through the toilet cubicle where lawyer Gennaro is hiding, then bites his whole head and torso.  Although not shown, viewers are led to imagine that Gennaro is bitten in half
• A man is cornered by a vicious dinosaur, which spits poisonous liquid on his face and torso, and presumably kills him
• Dr. Sattler runs to escape velociraptors, and then discovers the dismembered body of a man who had been killed by dinosaurs
• Lex and Tim are chased by savage velociraptors
• A tyrannosaurus attacks and eats several velociraptors
  Unidentified park employees fire taser guns at a dinosaur
• Dr. Grant kicks a velociraptor in the head.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are many scenes in this movie depicting rampaging dinosaurs that could scare or disturb children under the age of eight, including:

• Numerous scenes involve salivating, aggressive dinosaurs, with close-ups of mouths, eyes and claws.  Sound effects featuring the dinosaurs’ biting and chewing movements add to the scariness of these images.
• Several scenes build tension and promote the idea of approaching menace, through the use of sound effects such as deep growling, heavy thudding footsteps, and violently shaking bushes.
• Scenes where children are in danger from dinosaurs may be particularly scary for this age group
• Close-up shots of Lex, Tim, Dr. Sattler and other characters depict stark terror on their faces
• Many scenes contain terrified screaming by Lex, Tim, Dr. Sattler, Nedry and Gennaro
• After a goat is torn to shreds by a tyrannosaurus, a large piece of the remaining bloody bone and flesh lands on the window of Lex and Tim’s car

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children in this age group may also be disturbed by the above metioned scenes.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Some children in this age group may also be disturbed by the above metioned scenes.

Product placement

There is some product placement in this movie, including

• Jeep; Jolt Cola, computer and electronics products

Sexual references

There are some very mild sexual references in this movie, including: 

• Dr. Malcolm touches Dr. Sattler’s hand in a suggestive manner
• Dr. Malcolm comments to Dr. Sattler (in a provocative manner), “I refuse to believe you aren’t familiar with the theory of attraction”
• Dr. Malcolm inquires whether Dr. Sattler is “available”.

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

There is some substance use in this film, including:

• Ray Arnold is constantly depicted smoking a cigarette
• Dr. Malcolm drinks from a metal hip flask, which presumably contains some form of alcohol.

Coarse language

There is some mildly coarse and threatening language in this film, including:

•  Okay, who’s that jerk?
•  That crazy son of a bitch
•  Hold onto your butts
•  That is one big pile of shit

The movie's message

Jurassic Park is a classic, well-devised film that operates at a range of levels.  Taken at face value, it offers a fast-paced science fiction adventure which has attained almost iconic status in recent years (due partly to its pioneering use of computer-generated special effects).  Beyond this immediate layer, Jurassic Park also contains an exploration of the role of humans on the earth, questioning the drive for dominance over the planet and nature itself.  Given the multiple frightening and violent scenes, this is not a film for younger children.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with older children include:

• courage
• loyalty 

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with older children the long-term, global consequences of human actions on the planet.