“Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler… Welcome to Jurassic Park.” The white-bearded, jolly John Hammond smiles, as a prehistoric long-neck giant stumbles by shaking the ground while the three climb out of their Jeeps. They gaze in awe at the magnificent herbivore, a creation that has been imagined and drawn through children’s books and skeletal evidence. The children and adults in the movie theater exclaim in joy and fascination as their childhood dreams are finally met with the action-packed movie that sparked the dinosaur epidemic of the early 90’s.

“Dinomania” has not only captivated the scientific community, but it has also pervaded the entertainment industry. The movie ‘Jurassic Park’ was built on the foundation of Michael Crichton’s book of the same name. The extreme relevance of science and genetics was expressed through the character of Ian Malcom: mathematical genius and founder of the Chaos Theory proposed in both of the action packed film and book. As such, the movies had wide appeal to both science-lovers and action-lovers. Although the first book’s ideas were spread throughout all three movies of the trilogy and also incorporated in the new Jurassic World film, the movie has captured attention from Special FX teams, robot mechanics, and directors wanting a bit of the dino-fandom to enter their realm. There are many parts of the book that were not installed into the movies, but overall, the movies were a huge successes, ranking 16^th in highest grossing films of all time.

The Jurassic Park epidemic inspired all people, young and old, to pursue the field of paleontology. With the movie’s release, 600 students at the University of California in Berkley enrolled in an introductory dinosaur class. Colleges and paleontologist professors had to prepare for the influx of new students enrolling in their classes after the movie impacted the entire nation. It’s exciting for many to think about how dinosaurs were here before us, how they thrived, and how there are never ending theories of how the dinosaurs could have died, from destructive meteors to poisonous gas to natural selection. Nobody is exactly sure what killed the dinosaurs, but many theories have been proposed, and scientists and fans alike are still debating it to this day, thanks largely in part to the movie series.

Theories about what the dinosaur looked and acted like are also a huge debate today. The movie had to take many scientific liberties to enhance the plot line. Scientists have concluded that some dinosaurs had feathers and not all were the scaly reptilian creatures that Jurassic Park has portrayed them to be, such as menacing Velociraptor. Creatures like the Velociraptor were also smaller in real life. Though they did have hooked claws and terrific speed, they were actually about half the size the movie presented them to be. Other aspects of the movies, such as the portrayal of the Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park III as a swimming beast, have been questioned and analyzed. It is important to remember that this movie series is not a scientific documentary, but rather a thrilling movie experience that has been dramatized for the audience.

The dinosaur fantasy that Jurassic Park reignited in the 90’s also relates to technological advancement, especially in genetics. Recently, geneticists have almost completed the genome sequence for a wooly mammoth to be resurrected and cloned for the years to come. While this scientific achievement is legendary, some critics look to Jurassic Park and how the genetic resurrection of dangerous dinosaurs that were not familiar with their new surroundings ended up ruining the park. Some worry that the mammoths could end up ruining a habitat or failing to adapt to their new surroundings. Although the movie is fiction, it does touch upon the dangers of exploiting cloning and genetics.

Jurassic World, coming out June 12^th, has made nostalgic fans of the Jurassic Park trilogy and dinosaur fans come together in anticipation of the next installment in this mega-series. The early release of trailers and a website how allowed fans to make criticisms and suggestions before the movie comes out. The directors have listened to many of them and altered some of the effects casted in the movie to make the experience as realistic as possible. Jurassic Park III was a huge let down to many fans, but Jurassic World may help the franchise regain its power through the resurrection of dinosaurs and disaster.