8-24-11 - "Journey To The Island" ~ John Williams

We're going soundtracking tonight, and it's all because The Best Movie Ever was on TV whilst I was eating dinner.  That's right, Jurassic Park.  Okay, maybe not the best movie ever, but pretty great, no?  If you're somewhere around 25-35, you probably were blown away by the animatronics in the film like I was.  Looking back 18 years later, the dinosaurs don't look nearly as awesome as we thought they did back then... must be how people who watched Star Wars as kids feel about the effects when they watch the movies again.


I loved dinosaurs as a kid; still pretty much do.  The movie (and the book upon which it is based) is, at its heart, a cautionary tale about modern progress in science and technology.  It's full of spectacular lines, mostly by Pittsburgh's own Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm.  

"Now, eventually, ah, you do plan to have... dinosaurs... on your dinosaur tour...right?"

Of course, you have the action/adventure/drama of the dinosaurs escaping and chasing the humans around.  But the real winner is the score composed by John Williams.  The soundtrack complements each scene perfectly.  The triumphant trumpet call as the helicopter approaches the island, the wondrous tone of the strings as the guests behold the brachiosaurus for the first time, the foreboding and unsettling horns as they approach the complex... the symphony enhances the film - precisely the intention.  Bad movie soundtracks can be unoriginal and uninspiring, but good ones can really deepen the experience.

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As a footnote - while Google searching for Jeff Goldblum, I found some tragic news (which apparently escaped my attention for two years, for which I cannot forgive myself...)