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Synopsis
Industrialist John Hammond and his bioengineering company, InGen, have created a theme park featuring cloned dinosaurs and prehistoric plants, called Jurassic Park, on Isla Nublar, a Costa Rican island. After a dinosaur handler is killed by a Velociraptor, the park's investors, represented by lawyer Donald Gennaro, demand that experts visit the park and certify it is safe. To perform the inspection, Gennaro invites mathematician and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm, while Hammond invites paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler. Upon arrival, the group is shocked to see a live Brachiosaurus, in addition to two more with a herd of Parasaurolophus.
At the park's visitor center, the group learns the cloning was accomplished by extracting dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes preserved in amber. DNA from frogs was used to fill in gaps in the dinosaurs' genome. To prevent breeding, all the dinosaurs were made female. Malcolm scoffs at the idea, saying it will inevitably break down. The group witnesses the hatching of a baby Velociraptor and visits the raptor enclosure. At lunch, the group debates the ethics of cloning and the creation of the park. Malcolm gives a harsh warning about the implications of genetic engineering.
The group is joined by Hammond's grandchildren, Tim and Lex, for a tour of the park, while Hammond oversees the tour from the park's control room. The tour does not go as planned. Most of the dinosaurs fail to appear and the group encounters a sick Triceratops. It is cut short as a tropical storm approaches Isla Nublar. Most park employees leave for the mainland on a boat, while the visitors return to their electric tour vehicles. Sattler stays behind with the park's veterinarian to study the Triceratops.
Jurassic Park's lead computer programmer, Dennis Nedry, has been bribed by Dodgson, a man working for Hammond's corporate rival, to steal fertilized dinosaur embryos. Nedry deactivates the park's security system to gain access to the embryo storage room and puts the stolen embryos inside a canister disguised as a Barbasol shaving-cream can. The power goes out, stalling the tour vehicles. Most of the park's electric fences are deactivated, allowing the Tyrannosaurus rex to escape and attack the group. Grant and Hammond's grandchildren survive. The Tyrannosaurus injures Malcolm and devours Gennaro. While taking the embryos to the island's dock, Nedry becomes lost in the rain, crashes his Jeep Wrangler, and is killed by a Dilophosaurus.
Sattler helps the park's game warden, Robert Muldoon, search for survivors. They find only Malcolm before the Tyrannosaurus returns. Grant, Tim, and Lex take shelter in a treetop. They later discover broken dinosaur egg shells. Grant concludes the dinosaurs have been breeding. This occurred because their West African frog DNA—Common reed frog can change their sex in a single-sex environment, allowing the dinosaurs to do so as well, proving Malcolm right.
Unable to decipher Nedry's code to reactivate the security system, Hammond and the park's chief engineer Ray Arnold reboot the park's system. The group shuts down the park's grid and retreats to an emergency bunker, while Arnold heads to a maintenance shed to complete the rebooting process. When Arnold fails to return, Sattler and Muldoon head to the shed. They discover the shutdown has deactivated the remaining fences and released the Velociraptors. Muldoon distracts the raptors, while Sattler goes to turn the power back on. As she is turning the power on, Grant, Lex and Tim are climbing the perimeter fence. Grant and Lex make it down in time but Tim is electrocuted. Grant gives Tim CPR and he survives. Sattler is attacked by a raptor and discovers Arnold's severed arm. Muldoon is caught off guard and killed by the other two raptors.
After encountering a Brachiosaurus and narrowly escaping the Tyrannosaurus during a Gallimimus stampede, Grant, Tim, and Lex reach the visitor center. Grant heads out to look for Sattler, leaving Tim and Lex inside. They are pursued by the raptors in an industrial kitchen but escape and join Grant and Sattler. Lex restores full power from the control room, allowing them to call Hammond, who in turn calls for help. Grant, Tim, Lex, and Sattler are cornered by the raptors, but they escape when the Tyrannosaurus suddenly appears and kills the raptors. Hammond arrives in a jeep with Malcolm, and the survivors board a helicopter to leave the island.