Jurassic Park Movie Analysis

As in the case with many novels and their film adaptions, Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel version of the original Jurassic Park story differs greatly from that of its 1993 film variation. One such disparity that can be noted between the two is the beginning of both adaptions. The beginning of the novel version deals with the enigmatic migration of packs of small carnivorous dinosaurs to the Costa Rican mainland, where they cause havoc in the form of attacking people and their domestic animals throughout the heavily-forested countryside and Dr. Grant and Sattler are dispatched to investigate these occurrences (only to find out that what they are dealing with are dinosaurs), whereas the beginning of the film adaption deals with the transport of

Grant is the one who leaves to try and restore the power himself; in the film, it is Ellie Sattler who does this. In the novel, John Hammond is more apathetic and megalomaniacal, completely dismisses Dr. Malcolm’s “chaos theory” as mere nonsense, and clearly cares more about making a profit off of his genetic creations and his grandiose theme park than the current situation at hand (and it is that same arrogance that eventually leads to his death); in the film, John Hammond takes on a more heroic persona, he clearly sees the terror and disbelief of the cloned dinosaurs and has no further plans with Jurassic Park after seeing that, and actually cares about the survivors and attempts to get them off of the island in any way he can (plus, he actually survives to be featured prominently in the next installment in the series). In the novel, Donald Gennaro is not present for the tyrannosaur attack and leaves the island with the rest of the survivors (although it is mentioned that he would later die due to disease between the events of this novel and its sequel, The Lost World); in the film, Gennaro is present for the tyrannosaur attack and is actually eaten alive (filling in the role of the scrapped character of Ed Regis in the film

Animals that were featured in the novel but were not present in the film adaption were Procompsognathus, Cearadactylus, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, Styracosaurus, Coelurus (referred to as “Coelurosaurus”), Dryosaurus, Othnielia, Euoplocephalus, Hadrosaurus, Maiasaura, Microceratus (called “Microceratops” at the time”), and Meganeura (giant dragonflies). Animals that were present in the film adaption but were not present in the novel were Brachiosaurus, Gallimimus, Parasaurolophus, and Alamosaurus (even though it only appears as a skeleton in the visitor center alongside another skeleton of a tyrannosaur). And last but certainly not least, the endings of both adaptions differ greatly as well. The ending of the novel features the destruction of Isla Nublar at the hands of the Costa Rican air force, with virtually all organic life on the island dying as a result of the atrocious napalm and flames, in addition to the survivors being detained inside of the hotel for a few