Sixty-five million years in the making.

Dinosaursmakethat Steven Spielbergs dinosaurswere coming to the big screen inJurassic Park.

Of course, this masterclass of summer entertainment did not take 65 million years to create.

But in many respects, it was the culmination of nearly a hundred years of filmmaking advancement.

The 21st century had arrived in Hollywood seven years early.

Indeed,Terminator 2: Judgment Daybeat the Michael Crichton adaptation to the screen by two years.

However,Jurassic Parkis most definitely the first film to create organic, breathing creatures with computer animation.

And it inarguably remains the film with the best use of that visual trick over 25 years later.

So join us as we return toJurassic Park.

Likewise, Spielberg imagined creating life-sized animatronic dinosaurs for his film until that proved generally impossible.

Or as Tippett said about his Go Motion, I think Im extinct.

Spielberg used the line in his movie.

But that is also why it so brilliantly worked.

The animal is also one of Winstons animatronics.

The first time we see the T. Rexs glorious face was also Winstons animatronic.

In fact, most of the T. Rexs iconic attack on the jeeps is realized via robotic technology.

Production would thus have to stop while Winstons team hand dried the big guy before the next take.

Today, such slavish loyalty and production-slowing to capture the creature on film would never happen.

These arent complex characters, but theyre authentic.

And that tangibility coupled with the texture of Winstons creatures lent yet another tactility to ILMs creations.

It is the closest thing children of the 90s had to claiming their ownStar Wars.

Yet its success could not be duplicated; not even by Spielberg himself.

One could even say thatJurassic Parkis Spielbergs last popcorn masterpiece.

It represented a transition in his interests, which he has never really been able to come home from.

Another way to say that is90 percentofGuardiansfeatures CGI in some capacity.

In 1993, Spielberg boasted about the T. Rex Saves the Day ending inJurassic Park.

But in the end, perhaps the effects are so much better because they hadnt been.

This article was first published on June 9, 2015.