23 years ago, Steven Spielberg brought us one of the greatest action movies ever created in the form of Jurassic Park. Still to this day, the movie holds up with such a fantastic solid story and even though it is so old, the CG / practical effects hybrid fail to disappoint.

It’s often hard to explain exactly why we love or hate a movie, it’s what our awesome chaps are so good at when it comes to reviewing the films we watch. It’s even harder to try and explain why we may love one movie more than another or why certain parts of a film will stick in our minds or ‘work better’ than a sequel.

In this instance, the subject matter is Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. The former was directed by Steven Spielberg while the latter by Colin Trevorrow. In my opinion both were excellent but it was the former which really hit the big time and put dinosaurs back on the map (if they ever left that is!). In this fascinating video, Mike Hill attempts to break down Jurassic Park and Jurassic World and explain exactly why it is that we love the first movie so much and the fourth instalment less so. Why it is that the first film became so iconic and why the fourth (although making shed-loads of money) was less memorable.

Jurassic Park

Looking at individual lines, individual shots and even down to individual expressions, Mike explains why the Jurassic Park is the perfect movie and why we love it so much. From how Ellie (Laura Dern) plunging her hand into dinosaur poo is in effect her changing its nappy, how a car can be a symbolic egg to a symbolic tree-house, how a raptor claw is used to represent Alan Gran (Sam Neill) as a raptor to becoming a father figure and how the ‘family unit’ (which has been moulded throughout the entire movie) is so important through to the end of the film.

Huge kudos to Mike for taking the time to break this down and share it with us all. Firm foundations are key people! Check out the video below. If you know media studies teachers, send them this!

The talks was given at THU in Berlin in April 2016.