10 Biggest Jurassic Park Movie Mistakes & Goofs You Probably Never Noticed

Jurassic Park is one of the most respected films in cinema, but that doesn't mean Steven Spielberg's blockbuster doesn't have its share of goofs.

Jurassic Park is one of the most celebrated films in cinematic history, but that doesn't mean that Steven Spielberg's blockbuster doesn't have its share of significant mistakes. Based on the bestselling sci-fi novel by Michael Crichton, it follows a group of experts in paleontology and mathematics including Dr. Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr. Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), who are brought to an eccentric billionaire's island theme park in order to sign off on the safety protocols that will allow it to be fully operational. It just so happens to be populated by cloned dinosaurs which, after breaking loose from their paddocks, terrorize the visitors.

Jurassic Park turns 30 and fans have been able to see it again for a limited time in theaters as well as enjoy it with a 4k release at home, allowing them to spot some of the errors they never noticed before. Some are as small as spotting an errant crew member in the background of a shot, but others are as dino-sized as seeing a camera crew's hand visible in the foreground. The blockbuster used cutting-edge CGI and animatronic technology at the time to make its plot a real thrill ride, but the complexity of bringing such a Herculean project to life meant plenty of goofs and continuity errors.

Jurassic Park begins with action and suspense as the infamous raptor known as The Big One is being transported via forklift from her paddock to a nearby holding pen. One InGen worker named Jophery Brown is designated to open the holding pen gate and transport cage gate so she can pass through, but The Big One rams the rear of the cage, sending Brown tumbling down and in the line of carnage. As the actor falls, a member of the camera crew's arm can be seen briefly reaching to stop him from landing on the camera before the next scene involves Muldoon trying to hold his arm as he gets pulled back by the raptor.

When John Hammond first pops up in Dr. Grant's trailer to cajole him into visiting Jurassic Park, he has a thick Scottish accent. After they arrive in the park, his flamboyant brogue diminishes more and more, until when he's having an intimate conversation with Dr. Sattler over ice cream about his flea circus in Petticoat Lane, England, he sounds like a proper English gentleman. It's not quite as stark as Kevin Costner's playing Robin Hood a few years before because it's not abrupt, but it's noticeable by the time Jurassic Park ends.

The gates leading into Jurassic Park are an impressive sight to behold, and marveling at them as the land cruisers begin the tour effectively ignores one Jurassic Park goof. The gates are supposed to open and close automatically, but eagle-eyed fans will be able to spot someone walking right behind the large doors as the tour begins to hold them closed as the vehicles move forward into the rest of the park. Mistakes and continuity errors like this are much more visible in the 4k release.

The scene involving Jurassic Park villain Dennis Nedry versus the venomous Dilophosaurus is iconic, but one Jurassic Park goof takes away from its impact. After Nedry's jeep gets stuck in the mud he has to use a tow cable to get it free, and while finding a tree to lash it around, a Dilophosaurus pops up and opens its frill for the first time. One of the wires used to expand the frill is just visible to the right of the frame in the light from the jeep's headlights.

When the T-Rex escapes its paddock the action is taken to the next level, and one Jurassic Park mistake reveals a little behind-the-scenes magic. In Jurassic Park's original T-Rex scene when the T-Rex rolls one of the land cruisers, eagle-eyed fans can see a stage light as well as what appears to be a potted plant. It's easy to miss because the headlights of the vehicles do a good job of directing the focus of light and concealing anything that doesn't directly pertain to the horror unfolding from the giant dinosaur.

A goat is deposited inside the T-Rex paddock for an evening feed just as the land cruisers carrying Dr. Grant, Dr. Malcolm, and the children arrive. It begins to rain, and while Tim has the night vision goggles trained on the goat, it disappears, only to reappear inside the T-Rex's mouth just as she's swallowing it whole, with every limb accounted for. Just before Rexy escapes from her pen, she drops a goat's leg on Tim's car, and when she attacks the car the leg is gone.

The CGI used in Jurassic Park is still considered impressive, especially when viewed through the lens from which it was made, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. During the stampede of the Gallimimus, the T-Rex leaps out and catches one of the smaller dinosaurs in its jaws, and an editing error occurs; the Gallimimus' head as well as its neck phase through the T-Rex's neck. There's so much commotion and adrenaline during the scene that it doesn't really register, highlighting the strategic filmmaking technique by Spielberg to cover up any visual effects issues with a little sleight of hand.

In the last third of the movie when Dr. Sattler enters the cafeteria, she finds Hammond eating all the ice cream because the power's off, and it would be a shame to waste it. Curiously, the ceiling fans are still working just fine despite the power being down throughout the park. It's a small Jurassic Park continuity error that has huge repercussions for the plot, considering the power being out everywhere is one of the main safety concerns and the reason Dr. Sattler decides to make a break for the utility shed in the first place.

In one of the most harrowing scenes in Jurassic Park, Timmy climbs up the perimeter fence to the park just as Dr. Sattler is turning the power back on and gets electrocuted. Fans have debated the probability of Tim getting electrocuted the way he does in the film, as well as the fact that he could have easily slipped through one of the cables, but the scene has bigger problems in terms of realism. The perimeter fence of the theme park appears to end a few yards away from where Tim climbs it, which was not supposed to be included in the shot, and makes it look like Grant and the children take the risk for no reason.

Grant is reclining in his seat with Tim and Lex passed out in his arms, the John Williams' theme music is swelling to a crescendo, and just as Jurassic Park's final shot features the helicopter heading off into the sunset a giant spider web glistens and moves across the frame. Most likely, this occurred because the camera wasn't being operated by a camera person but mounted on an additional helicopter following the hero one. It might have been missed before it went up, and at the time wasn't fixable in post-production, but in hindsight seems a pretty big error to end one of the most famous blockbusters of all time with.