The novel’s cast fit the colder vibe Crichton is aiming for, a more intellectual experience than an emotional one. The characters in the book also underwent significant changes between the page and screen. In contrast, the movie is lighter, being a mostly family-friendly adventure film that touches on these themes but does not devote the soul of its work to them. Many pages are devoted to the science behind the story, including numerous sequences where Ian Malcolm (played by the marvelous Jeff Goldblum in the film) waxes philosophical about the dangers of creating dinosaurs. The thematic heart of the novel is also much more of a cold, science fiction thriller, in the vein of Crichton’s earlier works such as The Andromeda Strain. The dinosaurs are utilized to explore the themes of chaos theory and challenges the readers to think about the questions raised. A straight adaptation of the novel would certainly have been an R rating at the very least. The novel, however, features numerous violent, gruesome scenes that are not for the faint of heart. While the film has several disturbing or scary sequences (such as the Velociraptor scene in the kitchen), it was given a much more whimsical spin thanks to Spielberg’s involvement. The book’s content is for lack of a better word not family friendly.

While both works are classics of their genres, this piece will showcase the differences between the two, showing how different they are even if they share the same characters, plotline, and principal ideas. Readers are often surprised when going back to the original book and finding how different the book was before making the transition to the big screen. The film also became a huge hit but was a very different beast to the novel, both in terms of theme and characterization. It was adapted into a blockbuster film in 1993, directed by Steven Spielberg. Michael Crichton’s novel Jurassic Park was first published in the year 1990, and quickly shot up the best seller list, becoming Crichton’s best known book.

Jurassic park the novel