Crichton was an English student at Harvard before dropping that. He then took up medicine, but also dropped that, and under a pseudonym, started writing novels about his time in Harvard Medical School. Eventually, he also turned to making movies, and having movies made of his novels. As a novelist, one of his strengths is how easy his novels are to read - unlike Tom Clancy, he never falls in love with his own jargon if it gets in the way of the plot. But he shows almost no interest in character, and his novels seem set in their ways and skeletal in plot. For JURASSIC PARK and his science novels, however, that's not really a problem. Though JURASSIC PARK was merely an update of 50's sci-fi movies in general (and Crichton's own 1973 film WESTWORLD in particular), it was a good yarn, and while Spielberg's version isn't up to his usual standards, it's entertaining enough.
The story is essentially the same. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), a multi-millionaire tycoon, has created a dinosaur theme park to end all theme parks. The trick is, he's used dinosaur DNA and other scientific methods to create actual dinosaurs. He invites paleontologists Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Grant's girlfriend, and mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to get a sneak peek. Grant and Sattler, though excited, are skeptical at first, but later overwhelmed by what they see. Malcolm, however, remains suspicious, despite Hammond's assurances of safeguards (electric fences). He has good reason to be. Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), an employee, steals some dinosaur eggs to sell to another company, and to cover his tracks, shuts off the power. So the dinos get out, and start wreaking havoc, forcing Drs. Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm, along with Hammond and his grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards), among others, to go on the run.
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