Things the Movies Did Better than the Novels?

JP: I'd say the movie did the whole Main Road Attack sequence a lot better than the book did, actually. In the book, the attack is just so fast. It's intense, but it happens, then it's over and done. You don't get to truly appreciate the danger and power of the Tyrannosaurus, what an awesome moment this is: the first time a T. rex is roaming the Earth cage-free. In the movie, the attack is so much more dramatic.

TLW: I think the movie does a better job at isolation. The island does not really feel like a tropical island at all. The only time you realize that it is a tropical island is when looking at it from the beach or from the sea. It kind of reminds me of Chief Martin Brody's line from "Jaws" - of course another Spielberg film - "It's only an island if you look at it from the water". Indeed, the entire island as it is represented in the film and in the concept stage looks more like a mainland than anything else. The mountains go off into the distance, with misty clouds and other landscapes following. The first thing we are described when Dr. Ian Malcolm's team arrives on Isla Sorna in Michael Crichton's book is the volcanic lip surrounding the island. In the book, we are given set locations, and constant reminders that this entire experience is contained. We are constantly being reminded that we are on an island. Not so much with the film. The film works completely on the theme of lack of containment. Catch a T. rex and put him in a cage? He breaks out! This whole constant theme of containment and breaking free, then attempting to contain again, only to once again break free is done, dare I say, even better in the movies than it is in the books! No doubt, Crichton makes a masterful case for Complexity Theory and other mathematical theorems that intricately explain the reason Jurassic Park fails in the first book, but where the theme of control and containment comes in, that is all Spielberg.

JP///: The Aviary scene. I liked it much better in the movie. It felt all around creepier and more foreboding.

There's a JP/// novel? I know there's a junior novelization.

JP:
I think the JP movie develops the feelings of wonder, awe, and magic more than the book does. In my opinion, it makes the film more enjoyable, especially with the contrast between that "magic" and the horror in other scenes. I like the book a lot, but I don't think I would have liked the movie very much if it was just like the book.

I also generally like the way the human characters are portrayed in the movie better than the book. The kids, especially, are more likable, and I like their storyline with Grant in the film. Hammond's change in character from what it is in the novel is also one of the best choices made for the movie.

TLW:

For the most part, unlike JP, I like TLW novel better than the film, but there are some things that were done well in the movie. Tembo is one of my favorite characters. I also liked the idea of including one of Malcolm's kids in the story, especially since he mentions them in JP (although the actual implementation could have been done better, but Kelly wasn't that bad). The "villain" storyline was also slightly more fleshed out in the movie.

Megatronus Rex wrote:

There's a JP/// novel? I know there's a junior novelization.

There's scenes in JP/// from the novels.

The soundtrack

I preffered the ending of Jurassic Park to the novel.

Some:

Gennaro/Regis combination in one person is better than two separate people.

Grant had story arc by not liking kids from the start.

Grant didn't lose his temper, like he did in the novel few times for some reason (especially at Gennaro in the end)

The initial T-Rex attack on the road.

Arnold death scene wasn't shown.

T-Rex kills most of the raptors rather than Grant & co

The film ends almost as soon as they get phones working and to the chopper (= action climax over), rather than dragging around epilogues in finding raptor nests and fixing loose ends

Kelly only played a (relatively) minor part in TLW, and she wasn't as annoying as she was in the novel

Arby doesn't exist

TLW Malcolm isn't as visibly annoyed and bored as his novel counterpart. Although he's still awful in comparison to "real" JP Malcolm

Malcolm seems to have actual motivation in going back to the island, and when he's there he wants out asap like any normal human being

No need for Malcolm retcon explanations due to him not "dying" in JP

Malcolm doesn' turn into support character half way through TLW

TLW doesn't try to kill off the "T-Rex eyesight" thing

Sarah Harding doesn't try to kill anyone

InGen "villains" are better than the BioSyn trio

T-Rex doesn't carry anything living in it's mouth for it's juvenile