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Ghost Canyon

'Jurassic Park - 25th Anniversary Collection' [4K]
(Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Chris Pratt, Laura Dern, Julianne Moore, et al / 4K Ultra HD + Blu ray + Digital / NR / 2018 / Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)

Overview: Celebrate one of the biggest movie franchises of all time with 'Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary Collection'! From Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park), Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III), and Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World), dinosaurs once again roam the Earth in an amazing theme park on a remote island.

4K Ultra HD Verdict: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment continues to expand their 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray catalog offerings this May with the simply AMAZING release of 'Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary Collection - 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital' 8-Disc Box-Set!

Released this past May 22nd, 2018 via Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, for my money, this INCREDIBLE 'Jurassic Park - 25th Anniversary Collection's sharpness takes a fairly large step forward from others in their 4K Ultra HD catalog; and even comes with HDR (High Dynamic Range) for the complete 4K Ultra HD experience, of course.

So, what we have is the action-packed adventures where we find man up against prehistoric predators in the ultimate battle for survival. Featuring visually stunning imagery and groundbreaking filmmaking, these epic films are sheer movie-making magic which were 65 million years in the making. Welcome to Jurassic Park!

'Jurassic Park - 25th Anniversary Collection' is presented to as an impressive eight-disc pack with a sheet for a Digital HD Copy. Other stand out points you should know are: Codec: HEVC / H.265; Resolution: 4K (2160p); HDR: HDR10; Aspect ratio: 2.00:1, 1.85:1; Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1, 2.00:1.

As with most all 4K UHD's, everything that we watch features a much brighter, deeper, more lifelike set of colors. Noticeably crisper with the overall clarity receiving an obvious boost here on this release, what's more is that it's enjoyably noticeable.

The picture enjoys the fruits of the added resolution in terms of bringing out extremely fine facial and especially dinosaur textures within the action scenes, which in comparison leaves the 4K UHD Blu-ray presentation looking almost smooth and flat.

As for the audio, well we have: Jurassic Park 4K - English: DTS:X; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); Spanish: DTS 5.1; French: DTS 5.1; Japanese: DTS 5.1; Portuguese: DTS 5.1 -- The Lost World: Jurassic Park 4K - English: DTS:X; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); French: DTS 5.1; Spanish: DTS 5.1; Japanese: DTS 5.1; Portuguese: DTS 5.1 -- Jurassic Park III 4K - English: DTS:X English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); French: DTS 5.1; Spanish: DTS 5.1; Japanese: DTS 5.1; Portuguese: DTS 5.1 -- Jurassic World 4K - English: DTS:X; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); French: DTS 5.1; Spanish: DTS 5.1; Japanese: DTS 5.1; Portuguese: DTS 5.1.

Finally, the Subtitles included on all four movies are: Jurassic Park 4K - English, English SDH, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish -- The Lost World: Jurassic Park 4K - English SDH, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish -- Jurassic Park III 4K - English SDH, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish -- Jurassic World 4K - English SDH, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish.

Overall, this is a strong 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation, and, for the most part, the audio track remains fairly similar to its DTS-HD counterpart; with much of the action occupying the surrounds with outstanding directionality and placement where effects flawlessly pan between the sides and rears.

Phew! OK, so, as for the movies themselves, well, here's our rundown's and verdicts as we progress. Firstly, the original, 'Jurassic Park' (1993). Featuring Academy Award winning visual effects and groundbreaking filmmaking that has been hailed as 'a triumph of special effects artistry,' this epic film is sheer movie-making magic that was 65 million years in the making.

Jurassic Park takes you to an amazing theme park on a remote island where dinosaurs once again roam the earth and five people must battle to survive among the prehistoric predators. Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough, discover the breathtaking adventure you will want to experience again and again.

In truth, 'Jurassic Park' is one of my all time favorite films for it is a masterpiece and a landmark in film history. For anyone unfamiliar with the story, the Steven Spielberg adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel is about a rich entrepreneur named John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) who has designed and built the world's first amusement park with live dinosaurs.

Hammond needs specialists to sign off on the park before the insurance company will allow him to open for business so he enlists Dr. Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr. Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) to take the ride through Jurassic Park, along with us.

Of course after the ride begins things start to go wrong, due to sabotage, and chaos ensues as the dinosaurs take over the park. The movie is a fast paced, suspenseful, and well done, in the tradition of 'Jaws', not an exact reference of the source material, but the version that was meant to be.

Next up is 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997). Director Steven Spielberg takes us back to the scene of 'Jurassic Park' here within this blockbuster sequel. Chock full of even more dinosaurs, action and Academy Award nominated visual effects and more, it's one of Hollywood's sqequel's that truly still stands the test of time.

Four years since the disaster at Jurassic Park, two groups are in a race against time that will determine the fate of the remote island’s prehistoric inhabitants. Featuring an all-star cast including Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn and Pete Postlethwaite, this action-packed thrill ride will leave you on the edge of your seat ... again!

Pulse pounding and very scary follow up to the original 'Jurassic Park,' this one has everything a real sequel should have. A continuation of the story that makes sense and real character progression, not to mention much better special effects and more scarier scenes of pure carnage.

Jeff Goldblum once again shines as wise cranking and adventurous Ian Malcolm and Julianne Moore is almost as good as his partner in crime. Thrown in a gracious cameo from Sr Richard Attenborough and a scene stealing Pete Posselweight as a dinosaur hunter and 'The Lost World' becomes almost as memorable as the original 'Jurassic Park'.

Almost, because the luster of seeing dinosaurs on the big screen has already been done with the original movie, but the showmanship Spielberg gives to this sequel more than makes up for it.

We then return to the action-packed world of prehistoric dinosaurs in 'Jurassic Park III' (2001) where man is up against dangerous predators in the ultimate battle for survival.

Adventure runs wild when renowned paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) agrees to accompany a wealthy couple (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni) on an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, InGen’s former breeding ground for prehistoric creatures.

After they are terrifyingly stranded, Dr. Grant soon discovers that his hosts are not what they seem and the island’s native inhabitants are smarter, faster, fiercer and more brutal than he ever imagined.

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, this visually stunning blockbuster features all-new dinosaurs and special effects that you need to see to believe.

Well, it's so hard to really put this movie down, because despite it's problems and there is many, it has it's heart in the right place. The aim I guess that the people behind the scenes were aiming for was a family movie with a bit of suspends and while there is a family movie to be had here, it also tries to be a 'Jurassic Park' film - and unfortunately it fails as both to a degree.

It fails as a family movie cause the script is not strong enough to support the story. Despite the venom thrown at William H Macy and especially Tea Leoni, both are very appealing actors and they do work hard to make it all work but the script just handicap their efforts to make it possible.

It fails as a 'Jurassic Park' film cause it lacks the tension, suspense and the story points that made the first two films in the series so well made and memorable. Not to mention the fact that they felt like fully formed movies with a beginning, middle and end.

The worst of the bunch thus far, 'Jurassic Park III' just feels like a Saturday morning serial. Not bad, but nothing like the other films in the series; sorry.

In the last one, 'Jurassic World' (2015) (well, to home entertainment at least, given that there is a brand new one, 'Jurassic World: The Lost Kingdom' coming to theatres everywhere this summer), the Jurassic World theme park lets guests experience the thrill of witnessing actual dinosaurs.

But something ferocious lurks behind the park's attractions – a genetically modified dinosaur with savage capabilities. When the massive creature escapes, chaos erupts across the island. Now it's up to Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) to save the park's tourists from an all-out prehistoric assault.

Simply put, 'Jurassic World' successfully expands from park to world. Truly, it's a Jurassic world after all. Even though Steven Spielberg didn't direct it, he's still the executive producer. The visuals were thrilling and spectacular and so was the plot line.

As the time passes on, the visuals get more artistic and realistic. This series, for my money, and save for the third installment, never wears out it's welcome. Hey, perhaps in a few years time we'll even get a Jurassic Space installment?!

Taking a look at what's also included here within this delightful, and heavy box-set, the eight-disc's come housed within a DigiBook set contained within a sturdy slip box.

Once the box-set is opened, you'll see that the discs are housed within each right-side panel, easily slipping into an opening made for them. Each film has two full-length spreads / four panels per film. The full-color artwork showcases both poster art and images from each film and below the posters are brief plot synopses.

For a lover of the movies such as myself, this DigiBook is an attractive addition for the 'Jurassic Park' films.

As for a dip into some of the glorious Special Features included here on this 8-disc box-set, well, for starters, the trilogy of Return to Jurassic Park: Dawn of a New Era, Return to Jurassic Park: Making Prehistory, and Return to Jurassic Park: The Next Step in Evolution are dynamite!

Return to Jurassic Park: Dawn of a New Era (HD; 25:25). The first part of this all-new documentary concentrates on the seismic sea change that the filmmakers encountered when they realized that CGI was the way to most effectively create many of the special effects in the film.

Return to Jurassic Park: Making Prehistory (HD; 20:16). This section concentrates on the film's impressive production design with regard to recreating the Jurassic era on film, most of which was done on soundstages. There's also some cool footage of some stop-motion previz work done on some sequences.

Return to Jurassic Park: The Next Step in Evolution (HD; 15:03) is a more in-depth look at the development of the CGI elements in the film, many of which were composited very late in the production. The learning curve was steep and incredibly fast on this film, since this was such a new technology at the time, with some shots being improved literally on a day to day basis.

Then come Return to Jurassic Park: Finding The Lost World (HD; 27:40) deals with Spielberg's decision to tackle this sequel after the exhausting years of making the original and then Schindler's List; and Return to Jurassic Park: Something Survived (HD; 16:30) talks about the increase in use of CGI between the first and second features, but also how seamlessly the practical effects by Stan Winston were combined with the purely digital effects, often within the same sequence.

Another stand out is Return to Jurassic Park: The Third Adventure (HD; 25:20). Perhaps oddly, this outing deals initially with the Universal Theme Park's Jurassic Park ride, and then only tangentially gets into the production of Jurassic Park III. This includes interviews with Joe Johnston, the cast and crew, as well as Spielberg.

And although there are many, many more Special Features to behold here in this lush box-set, another good one is Behind the Scenes which includes Featurette's on: Tour of Stan Winston Studio (SD; 3:14); Spinosaurus Attacks the Plane (SD; 1:48); Raptors Attack Udesky (SD; 00:59); The Lake (SD; 1:38); A Visit to ILM (SD; 14:52) features Concepts, The Process, Muscle Simulation and Compositing Dinosaur Turntables (SD; 6:23), which features 11 species included in the film; Storyboards to Final Feature Comparison, and Production Photographs.

These are Widescreen Presentations enhanced for 16x9 TVs via 1080p and comes with the Special Features of:

Disc 1 - Jurassic Park:
Features High Dynamic Range (HDR) for Brighter, Deeper, More Lifelike Color

Disc 2 - The Lost World: Jurassic Park:
Features High Dynamic Range (HDR) for Brighter, Deeper, More Lifelike Color

Disc 3 - Jurassic Park III:
Features High Dynamic Range (HDR) for Brighter, Deeper, More Lifelike Color
Feature Commentary with Special Effects Team

Disc 4 - Jurassic World:
Features High Dynamic Range (HDR) for Brighter, Deeper, More Lifelike Color

Disc 5 - Jurassic Park:
Return to Jurassic Park: Dawn of a New Era
Return to Jurassic Park: Making Prehistory
Return to Jurassic Park: The Next Step in Evolution
The Making of Jurassic Park
Original Featurette on the Making of the Film
Steven Spielberg Directs Jurassic Park
Hurricane in Kauai Featurette
Early Pre-Production Meetings
Location Scouting
Phil Tippett Animatics: Raptors in the Kitchen
Animatics: T-Rex Attack
ILM And Jurassic Park: Before and After the Visual Effects
Foley Artists
Storyboards
Production Archives: Photographs, Design Sketches and Conceptual Paintings
Jurassic Park: Making the Game
Theatrical Trailer

Disc 6 - The Lost World: Jurassic Park:
Return to Jurassic Park: Finding The Lost World
Return to Jurassic Park: Something Survived
Deleted Scenes
The Making of The Lost World
Original Featurette on the Making of the Film
The Jurassic Park Phenomenon: A Discussion with Author Michael Crichton
The Compie Dance Number: Thank You Steven Spielberg From ILM
ILM & The Lost World: Before & After the Visual Effects
Production Archives: Production Photographs, Illustrations and Conceptual Drawings, Models, The World of Jurassic Park, The Magic of ILM, Posters and Toys
Storyboards
Theatrical Trailer

Disc 7 - Jurassic Park III:
Return To Jurassic Park: The Third Adventure
The Making of Jurassic Park III
The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park III
The Special Effects of Jurassic Park III
The Industrial Light & Magic Press Reel
The Sounds of Jurassic Park III
The Art of Jurassic Park III
Montana: Finding New Dinosaurs
Tour of Stan Winston Studio
Spinosaurus Attacks The Plane
Raptors Attack Udesky
The Lake
A Visit to ILM
Dinosaur Turntables
Storyboards to Final Feature Comparison
Production Photographs
Feature Commentary with Special Effects Team
Theatrical Trailer

Disc 8 - Jurassic World:
Deleted Scenes
Chris & Colin Take on the World
Welcome to Jurassic World
Dinosaurs Roam Once Again
Jurassic World: All-Access Pass
Innovation Center Tour with Chris Pratt
Jurassic's Closest Shaves – Presented by Barbasol®

Jurassic Park Collection Limited Edition 25th Anniversary 4K Digibook UNBOXING video!

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