Corrected entry: When Hammond's visitors are viewing the 'movie' about how DNA is extracted, a hypodermic syringe is shown taking a DNA sample from an amber source. It's clear that the syringe is one used exclusively for a tuberculosis skin test. It's even labeled as such because you can see the word 'tuberculin' on it.
Corrected entry: The Velociraptors in Jurassic Park are actually larger than the fossil records actually show. Dr. Bakker (who is mentioned by Timmy when they are first getting in the jeeps) was asked for advice on the dinosaurs and he told them the size of velociraptors. Spielberg wanted bigger so they enlarged the raptors. Right before the movie came out, Bakker was at a dig site and a new raptor species was discovered: Utahraptor. It was almost the exact size of Spielberg's raptors for the movie. So, technically, the raptors in JP are Utahraptors. This is all mentioned in a book by Bakker called Raptor Red.
Correction: Spielberg didn't 'want' anything...he was simply being true to the book on which the movie was based, in which the raptors were about twice as large as real life. And truth be told, it was Jack Horner who is credited as paleontological consultant on all three JP films, rather than Bakker. You may also find through a bit of research that the film's version of the dinosaurs were actually more similar in size to another species of dromaeosaur (raptor) called Achillobator rather than utahraptor.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Grant, Ellie, Lex, and Tim are saved by the T. Rex appearing inside the lobby of the main compound and eating the two raptors, how exactly did she (the T. Rex) get in there? All the doors are too small to allow her access and there are no signs of a forced entry anywhere.
Correction: The T-Rex is standing in a huge doorway when she bites the first Raptor. Its a large entry-way where the workers can access to build, as the building is not yet complete. The "gang" exit the building via a smaller door.
Corrected entry: Just before turning off the power, Muldoon asks about putting the lysine deficiency into effect. After a bit of talking, Arnold explains it as it being a security measure to prevent the spread of the animals off the island. He goes on to explain that the animals can't manufacture the amino acid lysine, and that if they aren't given a supply of it every 48 hours, they go into a coma and die. Factually, this is incorrect. Humans have the same "faulty enzyme for protein metabolism," yet we aren't dependant on lysine. So why would the animals be?
Correction: First, this is another example of the "scientists" being stupid (like planting the poisonous ferns). They didn't realize that the herbivores would be able to get lysine from plants on the island and the carnivores get it from the herbivores. Secondly, we are dependent on getting lysine from our diet. It is quite possible to eat an "incorrect" diet that would give you a lysine deficiency causing conditions such as pellegra.
Corrected entry: On the tour ride at the visitor center, Grant spouts pseudo-scientific pap "How do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?" We'll assume that he's some wonder paleontologist who for some reason knows biochemistry (that's rare) but mitosis is the process of cell division - there is no such thing as non-cellular mitosis (hence no one would ever call it that) and secondly there is no reason you would need to interrupt mitosis.
Correction: Grant could call it cellular mitosis. That's what it was referred to in my freshman biology class. And the book explains why they have to interrupt cellular mitosis, since they have to insert new DNA into the eggs.
Corrected entry: A raptor's killing claws wouldn't stay very sharp if they went around tapping them on any hard surface they happened to be walking on. Even tapping them on dirt would dull them if they did it constantly. Compare dog claws, which are constantly wearing on the ground, to cat claws, which are sheathed most of the time.
Correction: As Grant says in the beginning, the claws were retractable, just like a cat's claws. Most of the time they weren't being walked on.
Corrected entry: Just before Grant and the kids climb the perimeter fence, they hear the T. Rex roaring behind them. How does it then get to the Visitors Centre at the end after the power has been restored to the fence? It hadn't already made a hole in the perimeter fence because after escaping its own pen it spent the night and next morning chasing the jeep and then hunting the Gallimimus.
Correction: Whatever hole it made to get into the pen with the Gallimimus would still be there for him to pass through after the power was back on.
Corrected entry: In the scene when the group look at the sick triceratops, don't you think it's pretty impossible for a dinosaur of that size to do a massive pile of feces that high? That's pretty much its own body weight! (00:50:35)
Correction: OK it's not a particularly scientific explanation, but if they are anything like most animals they go in the same place every time. It could be a cumulative pile from the same or many dinosaurs. Or it could be from a larger Triceratops as the sick one is particularly below average size when compared to many fossil findings.
Corrected entry: When Ellie returns with Muldoon to find the children, Ellie sees the car that had fallen down into the T-Rex cage. She runs to the site where the Jeep fell. It's a bit strange, because the car fell down several stories into the T-Rex cage, and she just walked to it.
Correction: The part where she descends to the other car is not shown, but it is implied.
Corrected entry: When sitting in the hall and eating ice cream, look how far she is away from the cups - but a blink later she slightly reaches over the table and gets a spoonfull.
Correction: The shot from behind Ellie shows one tub that is definitely close enough for her to reach considering the manner in which she leans forward. It even has a spoon ready in it.
Corrected entry: In the last scene where they all get in the helicopter everyone is dirty, sweaty, and bloody. Then a few seconds later in the helicopter. Ellie appears to have showered and combed her hair in the past few minutes.
Correction: Not sure about this one. Her face wasn't dirty in the first place, and she appears to have simply run her fingers through her hair. Remember, she didn't spend the night in the jungle or traipse across the whole island.
Corrected entry: In the scene at the very end when everyone's getting on the helicopter, Ian's left leg is bandaged. Then, once he and Hammond are behind the helicopter door, Ian's right leg is bandaged.
Correction: Ian's leg is only seen once during this final scene, and it is his left leg which is bandaged the whole time.
Corrected entry: Malcolm, Grant and Ellie are in the same car, but when Ian talks to Hammond through the camera you can see that Grant is not sitting in the back seat. In the next scene when Malcolm sits down again Alan is sitting there.
Correction: You can see for a couple of frames the Grant IS in the explorer (though mostly hidden by Malcolm's head filling the camera view), but he is sitting in the boot area so that he can look out of the furthest-back side window. Whilst Hammond is saying "I really hate that man", Grant climbs back into the seat, then we see him put his hat on.
Corrected entry: When they are all first taking a trip around the park in the jeeps, they come across the Triceratops lair. Alan jumps out, leaving the door open, Ellie follows very quickly, but when she leaps from the car, you hear two car doors shutting, how was she able to shut both in mid jump?
Correction: As she gets out she leans on the rear door and shuts it, then closes her own door. There is enough time for her to do this.
Corrected entry: During the computer guy's dash for the boat, he crashes a Jeep Wrangler and decides to use the front winch. The sequence shows the Jeep stuck on a downhill in slippery conditions. In order to stop a moving vehicle that way, he would have to be hung up on something solid enough to halt a 20mph+ 3800lbs vehicle cold. The winch was most likely in the 10,000lbs range. The combination of the two would have caused severe damage to either the Jeep or the winch cable. Other than getting the fat man out of the car, it doesn't make much sense.
Correction: Nedry wouldn't have had any idea of the capability of the winch. He was just in a hurry to get out of there, so wouldn't be thinking about damage to the jeep.
Corrected entry: After Timmy has been electrocuted and is back safely you see his hair all sticking up. Same when he and his sister are eating. Upon noticing the Raptor they run to the kitchen, Timmy's hair is nice and neat.
Correction: During the kids' eating session, there is plenty of time for the static in his hair to die down a bit, and for him to flatten it down himself. It doesn't become THAT neat.
Corrected entry: All of the strands of the high voltage electric fence Tim was hanging on were tied together. This means that all of the wires and Tim were at the same electrical potential. Tim wouldn't have gotten shocked. This phenomenon is referred to as "bird on the wire." Birds sit on live electrical wires all the time and do not get shocked because they are not touching the ground and therefore the electricity has no where to go. The only way for Tim to be shocked would be for him to be touching the fence and the ground simultaneously.
Correction: An electric fence designed to stop things jumping into and climbing it would have alternate rails electrified with opposite polarity, or AC current with the opposing phase, resulting in exactly this effect. So, while people often object that it doesn't act like a cattle fence, this is only because cows can't jump or climb, and cow-fences are typically a single rail.
Corrected entry: The brachiosaurus is shown to be chewing, but they didn't chew, they swallowed food whole. Also when Dr. Grant and the kids are in the tree, the brachiosaur's head is larger than it should be.
Correction: There are lots of discrepancies between the JP dinosaurs and modern paleontological studies of dinosaurs. Part of it can be attributed to genetic manipulation, and part of it is attributed to a possibly false understanding of dinosaurs (since it's entirely based on an ever-changing interpretation of the limited fossil record). For instance, according to the film, no one knew dilophosauruses were venomous until JP bred them. Since there are no actual living dinosaurs to dispute the movie's portrayal of their behavior and appearance, it's not a mistake, so long as it remains consistent within the fictional world the movie creates.
Corrected entry: In the kitchen confrontation, the two little children are strong enough to successfully force the freezer door shut on a charging Velociraptor. Twenty seconds later, in the control room, the two adults are only barely able to hold a door shut against a charging Velociraptor.
Correction: There's not really a whole bunch of proof that this is valid. As we saw, the freezer floor was covered in ice, which would have negated some of the Raptor's momentum. The kids could have closed it. In the other case, there was no ice on the floor, so the Raptor had full swing.
Corrected entry: When Muldoon prepares to shoot the raptor he unfolds his rifle butt. However the rifle is already unfolded when he and Ellie are passing the raptor pen.
Correction: Time passed between those points. It is entirely plausible that he folded his stock as he walked into the thick jungle to keep it from getting hung up on the vegetation, only to unfold it again when he has his shot lined up.
An extremely unlikely situation where by he is making it harder for him to defend himself.
The SPAS-12 (a shotgun, not a rifle) can be fired from the hip, as seen in a variety of videos on it. In a dense jungle, being able to swing the gun around to an up-close target without snagging would probably be more important than the shoulder stock. In fact, if you watch Muldoon swing around to try to shoot the "clever girl", the stock is in the way on his shoulder, and he couldn't get the shotgun pulled back far enough to hit her.
Correction: It's actually an Italian shotgun, the Franchi SPAS-12. From the time they pick up the shotgun to the time Muldoon extends the folding stock, you can see the folded shoulder rest still laying atop the shotgun.
Correction: Essentially the mistake is of the characters not the film's creators. We know that in the film the people in the park created the footage to illustrate how dinosaurs were made. It might have not been the most essential thing to get stock footage that the syringe be labelled correctly.
Lummie ★