Jurassic Park III
Year: 2001
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Starring: Tea Leoni, William H. Macy, Trevor Morgan, Sam Neill & Alessandro Nivola
Runtime: 92 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 26/05/22
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Starring: Tea Leoni, William H. Macy, Trevor Morgan, Sam Neill & Alessandro Nivola
Runtime: 92 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 26/05/22
Despite Michael Crichton only writing two Jurassic Park novels, Universal wanted to continue making films of the franchise because they were such blockbuster hits. Even with the mixed critical reception to The Lost World, audiences were hungry for more dino-disaster. Spielberg stated he didn’t want to return for a third film, having explored everything he wanted to with the concept in the first two films, but he left the franchise in the capable hands of Joe Johnston who had expressed interest in directing The Lost World if Spielberg hadn’t returned to the project. So, with no source material to adapt and a mostly free reign to do what he wanted, Johnston set about creating yet another divisive entry in the Jurassic Park franchise.
Four years after the San Diego incident the public are still in shock at the confirmed re-existence of dinosaurs. Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) continues his research into Velociraptors but is left traumatised by the events at Jurassic Park eight years ago. When he is approached by Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy & Tea Leoni) seeking a tour of Isla Sorna, Jurassic Park Site B, for an extraordinary sum of research funding, Grant reluctantly agrees on the condition that it will be an aerial only tour.
But when the Kirby’s are revealed to actually be searching for their missing son Eric (Trevor Morgan) and the plane crashes onto the island, Grant is stranded with them and his research assistant Billy (Alessandro Nivola) as they desperately search for Eric and a way to contact the outside world whilst they are stalked by the island’s carnivorous inhabitants.
Four years after the San Diego incident the public are still in shock at the confirmed re-existence of dinosaurs. Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) continues his research into Velociraptors but is left traumatised by the events at Jurassic Park eight years ago. When he is approached by Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy & Tea Leoni) seeking a tour of Isla Sorna, Jurassic Park Site B, for an extraordinary sum of research funding, Grant reluctantly agrees on the condition that it will be an aerial only tour.
But when the Kirby’s are revealed to actually be searching for their missing son Eric (Trevor Morgan) and the plane crashes onto the island, Grant is stranded with them and his research assistant Billy (Alessandro Nivola) as they desperately search for Eric and a way to contact the outside world whilst they are stalked by the island’s carnivorous inhabitants.
Jurassic Park III gets a lot of hate and it’s easy to understand why when you boil it down. It’s a stereotypical slasher movie scenario, a group of vastly unprepared people are hunted down one by one by a killer…it just so happens that this time the killer is dinosaurs. The only characters that do anything meaningful are Alan and Eric, and the rest of the characters (particularly Amanda) just stand around screaming or being stupid.
That being said, Jurassic Park III is a fun albeit campy action-horror film. It tries to toe the line between the reasonably light-hearted family adventure of the first film and the dark and gritty Lost World and I would argue that it does a reasonably good job of that. It’s more violent than the original film, though not so cruel as Lost World, and the result is (I feel) pretty good.
Honestly the worst part of Jurassic Park III is the characters. They’re indefensible, and whilst that would be fine in the context of your typical monster movie, the original Jurassic Park set the bar so high that to revert to general civilians being clueless and making it through some extremely dangerous situations all because Alan is the only one with his head screwed on is a massive step back. Leoni’s character is by far the worst as she is just that woman who screams at everything and is completely hysterical, and it’s a shame because Leoni is a good actress in other things but here in JPIII she’s not only wasted but she’s extremely irritating too.
That being said, Jurassic Park III is a fun albeit campy action-horror film. It tries to toe the line between the reasonably light-hearted family adventure of the first film and the dark and gritty Lost World and I would argue that it does a reasonably good job of that. It’s more violent than the original film, though not so cruel as Lost World, and the result is (I feel) pretty good.
Honestly the worst part of Jurassic Park III is the characters. They’re indefensible, and whilst that would be fine in the context of your typical monster movie, the original Jurassic Park set the bar so high that to revert to general civilians being clueless and making it through some extremely dangerous situations all because Alan is the only one with his head screwed on is a massive step back. Leoni’s character is by far the worst as she is just that woman who screams at everything and is completely hysterical, and it’s a shame because Leoni is a good actress in other things but here in JPIII she’s not only wasted but she’s extremely irritating too.
Once you get beyond the characters there’s actually a surprising amount to like for a film that was quite literally constructed from the scraps left behind by the previous two Jurassic Park films. Most of the major action sequences were ones that were cut from either Jurassic Park or The Lost World, but Johnston has somehow managed to Frankenstein them together to make a plot that feels coherent and fully formed. The only one that truly stands out though is the Pterodactyl pen and I feel that’s entirely because it feels different from anything the previous two films attempted.
It’s fun and that’s the key thing here. Even in the way its shot, Johnston feels like he’s going for a Sam Raimi campy horror vibe, and it works surprisingly well. The one area where the film does cross from camp to outright absurd is the infamous dream sequence where a Velociraptor talks to Alan in his dream. It never should have been included but it’s so short that if you genuinely feel like that ruins the whole film then I’d say you aren’t giving JPIII a fair shot.
The special effects have also been improved with even more realistic looking CGI dinosaurs and some truly outstanding animatronics. This film is as of writing twenty-one years old and there’s some moments where I would argue the effects could hold up today, which is a vast technological leap from either of its predecessors.
It’s not great but it’s a whole lot better than I remember it being. Jurassic Park III is the closest thing Jurassic Park had to a rollercoaster before the actual Jurassic World rollercoasters were built in Orlando. It’s all fun and thrills with little room for anything else, and with a tight runtime of just over an hour and a half it’s a lean Jurassic Park film too.
Whilst Jurassic Park III would signal the end of the series for over a decade, the dinosaurs would rise from extinction once again, bigger and louder than ever.
It’s fun and that’s the key thing here. Even in the way its shot, Johnston feels like he’s going for a Sam Raimi campy horror vibe, and it works surprisingly well. The one area where the film does cross from camp to outright absurd is the infamous dream sequence where a Velociraptor talks to Alan in his dream. It never should have been included but it’s so short that if you genuinely feel like that ruins the whole film then I’d say you aren’t giving JPIII a fair shot.
The special effects have also been improved with even more realistic looking CGI dinosaurs and some truly outstanding animatronics. This film is as of writing twenty-one years old and there’s some moments where I would argue the effects could hold up today, which is a vast technological leap from either of its predecessors.
It’s not great but it’s a whole lot better than I remember it being. Jurassic Park III is the closest thing Jurassic Park had to a rollercoaster before the actual Jurassic World rollercoasters were built in Orlando. It’s all fun and thrills with little room for anything else, and with a tight runtime of just over an hour and a half it’s a lean Jurassic Park film too.
Whilst Jurassic Park III would signal the end of the series for over a decade, the dinosaurs would rise from extinction once again, bigger and louder than ever.