Welcome to Jurassic Park – A Story on Paper and Screen

By: Emma Tong

120 miles west of Costa Rica, in the middle of the stormy Pacific Ocean, lies Isla Nublar: a scenic island hiding frightening stories. Amidst the relentless rain and dense foliage, you might chance upon a dead body, or two, and possibly a dinosaur. 

Jurassic Park unveiled the frightening story of what might happen if we decide to toy with nature. Driven by money and power, John Hammond and his merry band of scientists and businessmen fashioned an island where creatures from 65 million years ago march among present-day humans. It sounded like a good idea, promising all of them piles of money.

And it was going smoothly (as smoothly as a theme park could go). For the first few years, Hammond and Henry Wu churned out dinosaur after dinosaur. But Hammond decides to bring his two grandchildren, a paleontologist, paleobotanist, and a chaos theory mathematician, and it all comes crashing down. 

If you can look past the sanguinary scenes, long rambles of scientific information (that is completely ignored in the movies), and often somewhat disjointed chapters, you'll find that Jurassic Park is a book about more than dinosaurs. It’s about the fusion of science and business, it’s about the complexity of nature, and chaos theory. It’s about reputations and politics, and the corruption that happens to maintain the former. Jurassic Park, authored by Michael Crichton and published in 1990, is definitely a book worth reading. 

So, after you read the book, you might turn to the movies wanting more. (Or perhaps you just want to watch the movie) Now I’m not going to straight up bash the movie, and say that the book is blatantly better because, well, it’s not. 

Shocking right? In most book versus movie comparisons, the book always comes out on top. Why? Well, simply put, in a book, you can put a lot more. Most (successful) movies don’t have a Guy in the Chair narrating every character’s every thought; they have a more important job. A movie is supposed to keep you on your toes at all times – could you imagine a movie like “Jaws” if it was interrupted every time Bruce opens his mouth with a small factoid about sharks? A book on the other hand, can afford to be a little off topic at times. 

In Universal Studio’s 3-film franchise, – not including the “Jurassic World” films – Alan, Ellie, and Malcolm explore Crichton’s world more than he himself could have imagined. Without comparison to the novel, it’s a cinematic masterpiece. The grand soundtrack, sweeping landscapes and marvelous climax scenes make it perfect by movie standards. 

The problem arises when you compare it to the book. When people complain about “Jurassic Park” (the movie), they often say something along the lines of, “The movies don’t include any scientific information!” 

And I completely agree. I find that the book was much more informational – you would’ve never known that the raptors were going to leave the island, or that there were actually two T-Rexes if you just watched the movies – but the book was also a little more bland. There was relatively little dramatic effect, and the chaos depicted throughout almost every scene in the movies just wasn’t there. 

Overall, the book and the movies both have their charms. One is more ‘philosophical’ and the other is more heart-pounding. But one is also more wordy, while the other not at all. One thing’s for sure, both are amazing in their respective ways, seeing as they dominated their industries upon release. Of course, both are tailored to different audiences – I myself seem to fall right in the middle of both – and so you might find yourself leaning more to one than the other. But with all that being said, at the end of the day, it’s not a competition. So if you’re ready to explore the mysterious islands of Costa Rica, then I will leave you with a few words: Welcome to Jurassic Park.