In 1993’s original Jurassic Park, a bit of poor editing creates a pretty major plot hole that the movie never addresses. Few movies are frequently called flawless, but a disproportionate number of them are directed by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg’s work is often hailed as the height of blockbuster cinema and, while his later career might include some more divisive titles, classics like Jaws and Jurassic Park are considered by many critics to be nigh on perfect movies. However, even almost perfect movies have their plot holes.
While Jurassic Park’s sequel The Lost World’s T-rex plot hole is an outrageously obvious oversight for a major blockbuster, one moment in the original movie is almost as egregious. Like many of the plot holes featured in Jurassic Park, this scene’s pivotal mistake is easy to miss on first viewing. Jurassic Park is a propulsive, smart thriller, and its engaging plot ensures that many viewers may well miss out on questions like “How did the T-rex manage to fit inside the visitor’s center during the finale” or “If the scientists used mosquitoes to harvest dinosaur DNA, how did they clone plants from the Cretaceous period to feed them.” While these are pressing questions, one is, in hindsight, even more bizarre.
Jurassic Park's T Rex Cliff Makes No Sense
Few fans noticed on first viewing that a previously non-existent cliff appears out of nowhere when the T-rex attacks the jeeps in Jurassic Park. One moment, the T-rex emerges from a gap in the fence. Then, it seems like, through that same gap, the jeep suddenly gets thrown off a cliff. This begs the obvious question – where did the ground that the T-rex was standing on go? This plot hole is left unexplained sense in Jurassic Park, but the original script notes explain this as they suggest that the T-rex actually dragged the jeep for several meters, repositioning it over a cliff’s edge.
While this detail isn't included in Jurassic Park, it does explain the paddock's bizarre geography. Like Jurassic Park’s forgotten original explanation for why the cloned dinosaurs can’t survive in the wild, this was likely cut due to time constraints or because its inclusion would have screwed up the pacing of the movie. However, like the above-mentioned explanation, the clarification around the seemingly magical disappearing cliff would have ensured that Jurassic Park made more sense. It might only be noticeable upon a re-watch, but the moment is still jarring due to the decision to cut the T-rex’s repositioning of the jeep.
The Original Jurassic Park Script T Rex Explanation Makes Sense
Jurassic Park’s original script notes clarified the weird, unclear practicalities of the T-rex attack by noting that the dinosaur moved the jeep before tossing it over the cliff’s edge. This would explain why the T-rex was able to clamber out of the enclosure without climbing up a steep cliff front since the portion of the enclosure that the dinosaur stood on was flat ground. However, since the scene of the T-rex repositioning the jeep was lost between page and screen, what viewers got was a confusing instance of a cliff appearing when it was convenient for the story of Jurassic Park and disappearing once it fulfilled its story function.
