The Fabelmans and Jurassic Park

Back in the summer of '93, as a critical 15 year old, I found the dialogue in Jurassic Park to be simplistic and I attributed it to poor writing, bad acting, and worst of all I assumed that it might have been a weakness in Spielberg's direction.  In the years that followed, and after many subsequent viewings of Jurassic Park, I have come to realize that everything about that film is perfect:  Every line of dialog advances the plot, establishes character, or in most cases it does both.  For some reason, I just had the thought, "what if Jurassic Park had the dialogue from As Good As It Gets?"  But then I realized that it kind of already does, just in a condensed form that is more suited for three people trying to outrun a T-rex with a Jeep, than for three people on a road trip in a Saab to get some soft-shell crab.  A quick explanation of "impact tremors", the misplaced optimism of "maybe it's the power trying to come back on", and the juxtaposition of the  phrase "Chilean Sea Bass", all contributed to the overall film in a way that is difficult to quantify - it wouldn't have been the same movie without that specific writing and delivery.

Unsurprisingly, The Fabelmans is another example of Spielberg's filmmaking prowess, yet overall I did not find the film to be as compelling as I had hoped.  There were stand-out scenes that are definitely memorable, but overall it this film felt more like an exercise in Spielberg exorcising his traumatic memories, instead of exposing us to his fears like so many of his greatest films have done.  What I mean is this, Jaws is about the unseen dangers, Jurassic Park is about man's manipulation of the natural world, Schindler's List is about standing alone against evil, and Raiders of the Lost Ark is about snakes.  In each of these aforementioned films, the audience must face the same fear as the protagonist; Spielberg more than any other director is able to bring us into his film.  Yet somehow it is very clear that the main character in The Fabelmans is Spielberg himself, and this time he doesn't expect us to know what it's like to walk a day in his shoes.  Some may conclude that his mother, or maybe his father, or even his own self-doubt is the fear that must be overcome, but I think that would be an oversimplification of what Spielberg is trying to accomplish with The Fabelmans.  Ultimately, I found the film to be disjointed, and it wasn't as satisfying a viewing experience as most of Spielberg's other films, but maybe he wasn't making it for the audience.