I Still Love This Iconic Jurassic Park Shot, Despite The Fact It Makes Zero Sense

There is one image from the Jurassic Park franchise that has become one of its most iconic, despite the fact that it doesn’t really make sense. The Jurassic Park franchise is still going strong with summer’s Jurassic World Rebirth adding to the franchise’s massive box office total. However, it is generally agreed that the original Jurassic Park has yet to be topped.

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Jurassic Park is a masterpiece of blockbuster filmmaking, delivering a level of thrills and spectacle that the Jurassic Park sequels have been chasing ever since. The rest of the movies can’t capture the wonder of the first movie, and its iconic moments have defined the franchise.

That is not to say it is a movie without its flaws. Like any movie, Jurassic Park makes mistakes in logic and factual information. The difference is that Jurassic Park is so entertaining that the audience is having too much fun to notice these mistakes or even care.

The Rippling Water Has Become An Iconic Shot In Jurassic Park

The Moment Has Been Referenced And Parodied Many Times Since

There are so many unforgettable moments that help to make Jurassic Park a classic, but one image has really defined the movie. The shot comes during the brilliant introduction to the T. rex, which is perhaps the best set piece in the entire franchise. It is a masterclass in filmmaking as director Steven Spielberg raises the tension with one brilliant shot.

With the tour cars out of power, the park’s guests are stranded in their vehicles as the rain falls outside. Unaware that they are next to the T. rex paddock, and that the power to the electric fence is off, young Timmy (Joseph Mazzello) focuses on a glass of water. He sees the water starting to ripple.

It is a perfect chilling image that puts the audience on edge. The sound of the rain almost drowns out the sound of the T. rex’s footsteps, but those ripples tell us that something big is coming. It is a perfect reminder of just how massive these creatures are and how out of place their gigantic statures seem in the modern world.

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The moment is so good that it is used again in Jurassic Park as an injured Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) notices the water in a puddle. The moment was so famous that it has been referenced and parodied endlessly, in movies like Shrek 2 and Wayne’s World 2, as well as shows like Family Guy.

The Jurassic Park Franchise Proved The Water Ripples Don’t Make Sense

The T. Rex Somehow Becomes Very Sneaky Later

As soon as the audience sees the water ripple in the glass, we know what it means and what is coming. That is all the more impressive as Jurassic Park quickly abandons this logic later in the movie. While the ripples are used again for the later scene with Ian Malcolm, there are a number of moments in which the T. rex sneaks up on characters.

As Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and the kids are watching a group of dinosaurs running through a field, the T. rex suddenly emerges from the forest and eats one, without warning. Even more egregiously, the ending of Jurassic Park sees the T. rex sneak up on a pack of raptors about to attack the human characters without them knowing.

It suggests that the T. rex’s footsteps are so powerful that they cause water to ripple, and yet no one would notice if a T. rex suddenly walked into the lobby of the Jurassic Park visitors’ center. Indeed, these inconsistencies are carried throughout all the Jurassic Park movies.

The Original Jurassic Park Is Filled With Mistakes, But It’s Hard To Care

Jurassic Park Overcomes Its Minor Flaws

For those who like to nitpick at things, there is no movie that will have zero mistakes to find, and Jurassic Park is no different. The science behind the concept is the kind of thing that has to simply be accepted, but the more we learn about dinosaurs, the more it becomes clear that Jurassic Park‘s depiction of them is not very accurate.

However, there are also more glaring mistakes, including another obvious one in the brilliant T. rex attack sequence. The image of the T. rex stepping onto the road is breathtaking, but the sequence ends with the jeep being tossed off the road down a deep drop that was not there before.

Much like the ripples in the water glass setting up a rule that the movie doesn’t follow, it is easy to overlook such mistakes because Jurassic Park delivers so much excitement and fun. In a bad movie, mistakes might seem more apparent and add to the frustration of watching the flawed movie. That’s not an issue with Jurassic Park.

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One thrilling scene after another gives the audience very little time to sit and start figuring out if everything makes sense. In fact, a lot of these mistakes were only caught because fans rewatched the movie constantly. Some Jurassic Park moments are easy to spot right away, but are quickly dismissed by viewers so they can go back to enjoying the ride.

Jurassic Park

10/10

Release Date

June 11, 1993

Runtime

127 minutes

Writers

Michael Crichton, David Koepp

Producers

Gerald R. Molen