Jurassic Park III Reviews

"Great, just great. We're in the worst place in the world and we're not even being paid."

The law of diminishing returns always catches up with popular franchises at some point. While some may contend that Jurassic Park's first sequel, The Lost World, was a subpar follow-up, it remains a robust continuation that deserves more love in this reviewer's opinion. But a similar defence cannot be mounted against 2001's Jurassic Park III, which is nothing more than a big-budget B-movie lacking the scientific underpinnings of its predecessors. With Steven Spielberg relinquishing the director's chair to blockbuster purveyor Joe Johnston, this is a Jurassic Park adventure with many hungry dinosaurs but very little in the way of substance, intelligence or suspense. It's entertaining to a point, but too episodic and clichéd, not to mention it features dumb characters doing silly things, and it suffers from a contrived narrative. There is a reason why this franchise remained dormant for a subsequent fourteen years.

Following the events of the first movie, palaeontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) still lives in the shadow of the experience, being consistently badgered for information about Jurassic Park. Approached by wealthy married couple Paul (William H. Macy) and Amanda (Tea Leoni), he's given a proposition: they will pay him handsomely if he accompanies them on a plane trip over Isla Sorna and acts as their dinosaur expert. Alan reluctantly agrees, bringing along his young, wide-eyed assistant Billy (Alessandro Nivola) for company. As it turns out, however, Paul and Amanda are separated and have travelled to Isla Sorna to search for their son, Eric (Trevor Morgan), who is stranded on the island. Gee, do you think their plane might be destroyed, leaving them to deal with rampaging dinosaurs for an hour?

Michael Crichton only published two Jurassic Park novels, meaning that the trio of credited writers here had to develop an original story, and the result lacks any sort of intelligent backbone. One has to wonder, though, why Crichton's The Lost World wasn't used as a basis for this sequel since Spielberg's motion picture of the same name bears a minimal resemblance to its literary namesake. Crichton himself actually helped the writers come up with ideas but quit when he failed to conceive of something satisfying. Go figure. Jurassic Park III progresses like a bog-standard B-movie, with mostly flat dialogue and a poor structure. Indeed, it lacks a legitimate climax, fizzling out with an odd deus ex machina that cannot hold a candle to the iconic sequences that closed the prior features. Furthermore, it lacks a solid beginning and end, which gives credence to the rumour that there was no finished script in place when filming began.

Johnston and his team seem to have forgotten that 1993’s Jurassic Park only featured fourteen minutes of dinosaur screen-time - and of that, only four minutes was comprised of computer-generated beasts. Jurassic Park III neglects the build-up and the masterful sense of tension that Spielberg was renowned for, with the dinosaurs here starting their rampaging barely twenty minutes into the movie. The less is more approach of the original picture remains far more effective - after all, in that movie, several nail-biting minutes are spent observing the characters in utter terror as they hear the T-Rex approaching. Even The Lost World managed to continue the franchise in an admirable fashion. But none of that deft sleight-of-hand is present here - Jurassic Park III is all about the money shots. It would not be too much of an issue if this was a proper, cheesy B-movie with R-rated violence like Deep Blue Sea, but it's not. Instead, we're stuck with goofy sequences like a talking fucking raptor in Alan's dream. Plus, John Williams did not return to compose the soundtrack, and the resultant score sounds like a limp imitation.

If nothing else, Jurassic Park III does offer brisk entertainment and a handful of action scenes that are admittedly enjoyable. It certainly looks good, with sturdy production values and solid cinematography that masterfully captures the dinosaur action. The animatronic dinos are terrific for the most part, though some sequences look a tad shonky. Surprisingly, the computer-generated beasts are actually a step down in quality compared to its predecessors - they often look surprisingly phoney. This is probably attributable to the fact that the dinosaurs are on-screen so much, making it a case of quantity over quality. Also, the movie commits a cardinal sin by showing the new Spinosaurus battling everyone's favourite dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and coming out on top. It's an attempt to up the stakes and announce the Spinosaurus as the new king, but the sequence doesn't sit right.

Performances are standard across the board, with Neill doing what he can while the other actors are simply there. Jurassic Park III is also predictable with its ensemble; no major characters are allowed to die off, with the unimportant side roles becoming dino fodder. It just detracts a lot of tension from the action set-pieces, which are in need of a more nuanced craftsman like Spielberg. At the end of the day, Jurassic Park III is watchable, but generic and forgettable. And the end result is a crime compared to the majestic motion picture that spawned it.

5.1/10

When Speilberg wasn't going to direct this movie I bet people were scared, heck I was too. The first two Jurassic Park were very exciting, and the story was pretty consistent and easy to follow, but something happened in this movie.

First off, they chose the two most annoying characters in what I think in cinema history. The Kirby's were just annoying and it took me away from the movie. Especially the acting from William H Macy and Tea Leoni. I have seen William H Macy in a lot of films and he usually is a very good actor, but here he was terrible. Maybe it was the script? But whatever it was he was horrible, and so was Leoni, the most annoying voice and a very annoying scream, plus her emotion in the film was horrible. Sam Neil on the other hand was very good, and usually is in movies. I also enjoyed watching Alessandro Nivola who played Billy, he wasn't great but was probably the only character I cared about besides Grant.

Another thing that bugged me was the scene when we first see the Kirby's, did anyone else think that was awkward and not played well. I just felt like it was awkward and the writing was terrible, I just felt like OH we need you because we just want you there, couldn't have they done something better than that. Plus the twist that they pull on you a little further was so dumb that I was laughing. There were some very laughable scenes in this movie, which if anyone would want to watch it I would because its so bad that it's laughable in some spots.

Didn't the dinosaurs look a little too much CGI. The first time we see the Spinosaurus did anyone else notice how CGI/mechanical it looked, it really took away from the excitement from the movie. I mean yes the CGI is very different in the 90's but this is about 7 years after the original don't you think the CGI could have been better. Also the T-Rex fight was waaaaaaaay to short. I was like that's it, just that. The T-Rex was the most dominate character in the first two movies, and just like that its dead. I was saying too myself they should have been much more to that fight, much more.

I did think some of the action scenes were pretty cool, especially the bird cage was defiantly a fun scene. Other than that all I cared about was Grant and Billy nothing else really got me into the movie. The acting annoyed me and so did the characters. Hopefully the 4th installment will be worth the wait.

*This review contains spoilers.*

Ever wondered what Jurassic Park would look like if it were made exclusively for kids? Probably a lot like Jurassic Park III, an almost unwatchable third entry in an otherwise solid film series. Lacking the fun, suspense, and overall entertainment value of the first two films, Jurassic Park III is filled with moments of unintentional humor, tedium, and disappointment all around.

Jurassic Park III begins almost identically to Jurassic Park: The Lost World. A few people are enjoying their vacation a little too close to the dinosaur-infested Isla Sorna, and ends in disaster. One of these unlucky victims is an unlucky boy named Eric. Eric's divorced parents (who curiously were not with the boy at the time of this accident) are determined to go to Isla Sorna and find him, despite the dangers. They also manage to trick Dr. Alan Grant to come along with them (as well as a friend of Grant's named Billy Brennan). As expected, chaos ensues when they reach the island and there doesn't appear to be a way back home.

I wonder if Jurassic Park III was initially planned as a children's film. The body count is much lower than that of the previous two films, and there's more chase scenes than actual violence. The characters seem more like cartoon characters than actual people, and the tone of the film feels more like a sitcom than a Sci-Fi action flick. Not to mention one scene that where three of the main characters are digging through dino doo, as well as an unbelievably awful dream sequence involving a talking dinosaur.

My theory is further supported by Eric, the 12 year old son of the Kirbies (the couple that convinced Grant to come to the island with them) who survives on the island by himself for eight weeks and proves remarkably resourceful. This is a dramatic change from the children of the previous Jurassic Park films, but not a positive one.

The fact is, the Jurassic Park films already require you to suspend your disbelief a bit, but Eric's impressive survival skills (among almost a dozen convenient escapes) pushes it all over the line.

On the bright side, Jurassic Park III doesn't have a the horrendously slow beginning that the first two films had. The original film took at least an hour to really get going, and it took The Lost World a good 40 minutes. In Jurassic Park III, the chaos starts in about 20 minutes (which also shortens the overall run time to about 90 minutes). Unfortunately, the "chaos" isn't much more exciting than the talking in the first 20 minutes.

While the first two Jurassic Park films were extremely suspenseful and unpredictable, Jurassic Park III is almost the opposite. Any and all "boo" moments can be seen from a mile away, meaning that successful scares are few to none. The action scenes are uninteresting and lack excitement. One scene in particular seems almost an exact copy of the "dangling trailer" scene from The Lost World, only much shorter, and lacking any suspense.

Much of the suspense comes from the small body count. Now, there's no right way to say this part, but here goes: More people needed to get eaten. I already mentioned that relatively few people get eaten, but it needs to be emphasized. Adding to my theory that this was initially supposed to be a kid's film, basically all the main characters live. At one point, it seemed Jurassic Park III might have changed it's mind and killed off a semi-important character, but we later discover the character didn't die at all (and I might add that this weak twist was also highly predictable).

The entire film seems very cheap and just thrown together. The special effects, while not bad, are far less impressive (and believable) than those of the first two Jurassic Park flicks. And editing seems to be rushed as I spotted a large number of continuity issues.

The acting is weak, though this has more to with the script than the actual performances. Because the characters in the film are mostly idiots (some seems unusually stupid), the actors appear to be idiots as well, which is something a film should never do. Especially irritating is Tea Leoni as Amanda Kirby, portraying the single-most stupid and annoying character in the entire Jurassic Park film series.

John Williams did not score this third entry (despite his involvement with the first two), which only adds to both this film's slopped together feeling, and my ever-growing respect for the composer. However, replacement composer Don Davis does a pretty commendable job at utilizing Williams' existing themes. While Williams refrained from frequent use of the original's themes for The Lost World, Davis uses them freely and frequently. The score isn't as skilled as either of the previous entries in the series, but it's plenty of fun, and includes some very spirited arrangements of the main theme (especially at the end).

Downright awful in almost every respect, Jurassic Park III isn't funny, isn't exciting, and isn't memorable. Having more in common with the Honey I Shrunk The Kid sequels than any of the Jurassic Park films, Jurassic Park III is a highly flawed and highly disappointing movie in just about every regard. And yet, this is not the end. After over a decade of being in Development Hell, Jurassic Park IV is finally getting made, which will hopefully wash out the bad taste that Jurassic Park III has left behind.

Since this movie had a rather bad rep, I had rather low expectations before watching this flick. Furthermore, I thought that the first sequel was really abysmal, especially when you take into account that it was directed by someone like Steven Spielberg. Eventually, I must admit that I was actually positively surprised by this 3rd installment. I mean, of course, it was not a masterpiece whatsoever but, at least, it was better than the preposterous second movie. Obviously, Joe Johnston is no Steven Spielberg but I thought the directing was good enough and it was full of pretty awesome action scenes. Furthermore, the casting composed of Sam Neill, William H. Macy and Téa Leoni did a good job. To be honest, this movie didn´t add much to the whole concept but I think is rather difficult to expand it and, as a result, they pretty much end up repeating basically the same story over and over again (that´s why I don´t really see the point of making a fourth one). To conclude, in spite of the bad word of mouth, I thought it was actually a rather well made and entertaining blockbuster extravaganza and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you enjoyed the previous installments.

I actually think Sam Neill was drugged or blackmailed to do this film. There is no way this film could topple its predessors!

Take a perfectly good franchise and place it next to a toilet bowl. Shit on it and then dunk it in! I'll flush it for you.

This film added nothing to the over-arcing story! It was a freak accident that helped nothing and no one out. You literally go from, T-Rex waltzing around in Californee to rescuing a muggy kid on another island! I think this is where next seasons Lost is gonna be!

I'm a massive fan of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. I know it gets slagged off as a scavenger these days but who cares. You think of Dinosaurs, you think of the King. The fight scene between it and the Spino was rigged. Super-Predator my arse! It wasn't even discovered until three years after the Islands were made! Thank God they didn't throw in that chameleon dinosaur from the Lost World novel. I would have blown up.

JP4 isn't gonna save the franchise if they think beating this is their only solution!