Watch: ‘Jurassic Park’ and Its Prehistoric Symphony

Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park‘ wasn’t just about the dinosaurs. Nor was it just about the story, such as it was. A combination of elements made it successful, drawing people to the theaters in multitudes, even drawing movie snobs such as myself! Certainly, Dean Cundey’s cinematography brought the film’s monstrous and only-semi-herbivorous presences into viewers’ faces in a memorable way, but there was also another significant element: the sound. Had sound designer Gary Rydstrom decided to "go digital" with the sounds, the technology of the time might have yielded a product with only a fraction of the film’s staying power or box-office command. Instead, as Jacob T. Swinney (a Press Play regular) shows us in this video and in his explanatory notes, Rydstrom took a more adventurous route, using lion roars and dolphin chirps to recreate what poet Walt Whitman would have called the dinosaurs’ barbaric yawps. With ‘Jurassic World‘ on its way to theaters this Friday, looking at and listening to the original entry in the series may give your movie-going experience more heft.