Jurassic Park

Crichton's spine-tingling thriller translates well (but not faithfully) due to its main attraction: realistic, rampaging dinosaurs. Genetically cloned from prehistoric DNA, all is well until they escape from their pens--smarter and less predictable than expected. Contrived plot and thin characters (except Goldblum), but who cares? The true stars are the dinos, an incredible combination of models and computer animation. Violent, suspenseful, and realistic with gory attack scenes. Not for small kids, though much of the marketing was aimed at them. At the time, Spielberg knocked his own "E.T." out of the box office top spot, making "JP" the highest grossing movie ever. The T-Rex has since been bested by an iceberg and Celine Dion.