Jurassic Park Earned Comparisons To Alien From British Censors When It Released

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

JP logoTwenty years ago, Steven Spielberg released a classic film that changed the course of big summer blockbusters. Jurassic Park combined thrilling action and compelling characters in a family-friendly summer movie. The movie was also a game changer in terms of visual effects, as it incorporated CGI with practical effects to bring to life its world of dinosaurs rampaging around an ill-fated theme park. While the film is a classic of modern cinema, Jurassic Park was, at times, seen as a film too frightening for little children. The film features a scene with a T-Rex eating a lawyer, so it’s safe to say that some very young children might be freaked out about the film.

As reported on Empire, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) recently revealed their rating and critique of Jurassic Park from 1993. While the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) might give a few reasons why a certain film received a rating, the British counterpart apparently adds in-depth analysis and criticism for any given film. One BBFC reviewer called Jurassic Park “a must-see film for families and children, with beautiful recreations of the dinosaurs, this does feature some scary moments particularly as the monsters are so real. There is a long build-up and it is really only in reel 4 that things hot [sic] up, when Laura Dern character asks where is the goat.”

To clarify, John Hammond’s granddaughter Lex (Ariana Richards) asks about the goat, not Laura Dern’s Dr. Ellie Sattler. The BBFC reviewer goes on to compare Jurassic Park‘s thrilling chase scenes to Ridley Scott’s Alien. The reviewer continues:

After the children are rescued and head back to safety, there is more chasing and terrorizing in reels 6 and 7 … These [scenes] are nightmarish but all within PG since … one can’t really believe the principals are going to be killed [and] there is little sign of violence being done to humans.

It’s interesting to read what people thought of Jurassic Park before it was released in theaters. Apparently, Spielberg’s film was described as “Things go wrong in Dinosaur Park,” which sums up the film nicely. The BBFC reviewer gave Jurassic Park‘s theme a “U” rating (Universal), but ultimately gave the dinosaur film as “PG” for violence. In the States, The MPAA gave Jurassic Park a “PG-13” rating for “intense science fiction terror.”

Meanwhile, it looks like we really are finally going to get Jurassic Park IV. That sequel is rumored to take place 20 years after the first film, in a fully operational theme park with real dinosaurs. Allegedly, the new Jurassic Park has become the world’s most popular amusement park — and the safest — until a new aquatic dinosaur escapes from its tank. Director Colin Trevorrow poo-pooed all the JP4 rumors, insisting that we shouldn’t “believe everything you read, there are way more insiders on the Internet than there are in real life.” So does that mean we won’t get The Office‘s John Krasinski as a dinosaur trainer after all?

Universal hasn’t given Jurassic Park IV an official release date, but its director says that they are “two years out,” which would place its release in 2015.

This year is the 20th anniversary of the original Jurassic Park, and to celebrate, Universal Studios re-released the film with a new 3D up-conversion for a limited, one-week engagement back in April. It was completely worth the 3D up-conversion treatment just to see Jurassic Park on the big screen again.