Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Crichton, Michael (Vol. 90) - Ronald Preston (review date 21 November 1990)

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Ronald Preston (review date 21 November 1990)

SOURCE: "Terrible T. Rex and Other Dinosaur Daydreams," in The Christian Science Monitor, November 21, 1990, p. 12.

[In the following review of Jurassic Park, Preston praises Crichton's ability to present technical material clearly and provocatively but faults his poorly developed characters and trite plot.]

"Soon to be a major motion picture," brays the cover of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. Dr. Crichton's books have become films before. The Great Train Robbery and The Andromeda Strain come to mind. But this time the book anticipates the production. This is a screenplay frilled for publication.

Master-of-the universe financier bamboozles Japanese into underwriting a zoo for dinosaurs on a remote, beclouded isle (shades of King Kong). Biotechnologists conjure up the beasts by splicing dinosaur genes gotten from blood sucked by prehistoric gnats and...

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1. Introduction
2. ∗Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Pauline Kael (review date 9 November 1981)
   2. David Denby (review date 16 November 1981)
   3. Gary Jennings (review date 11 November 1990)
   4. Ronald Preston (review date 21 November 1990)
   5. J. P. Telotte (essay date 1990)
   6. Robert Nathan (review date 9 February 1992)
   7. Ian Buruma (review date 23 April 1992)
   8. Karl Taro Greenfeld (review date 11 May 1992)
   9. Julian Loose (review date 22 October 1992)
   10. Stephen Jay Gould (review date 12 August 1993)
   11. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt (review date 6 January 1994)
   12. John Schulian (review date 16 January 1994)
   13. Patt Morrison (review date 16 January 1994)
   14. Julie Burchill (review date 22 January 1994)
   15. Geraldine Brennan (review date 30 January 1994)
   16. Douglas Kennedy (review date 4 February 1994)
   17. Michael Coren (review date 21 February 1994)
   18. Francine Prose (review date October 1994)
   19. Publishers Weekly (review date 21 August 1995)
   20. Mark Annichiarico (review date 15 September 1995)
   21. Mim Udovitch (review date 1 October 1995)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright