| Jurassic Park III |
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| 1/2 |
| Rating: Mixed Distributor: Universal Pictures Running Length: 1 hour, 32 minutes MPAA Rating: PG-13 Release Date: July 18th, 2001 (wide) Genre: Action/Adventure, Thriller, Drama, Sci-Fi Director: Joe Johnston Cast: Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Tea Leoni, John Diehl, Micheal Jeter, Trevor Morgan, and Laura Dern. |
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| Plot: Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) is tricked, or kidnapped depending on how you look at it, into going to Isla Sorna. Isla Sorna was the island used for experimentation to the original final product Jurassic Park, a different island. It is the island for which the first sequel took place. Two parents (William H. Macy, Tea Leoni) need to find their lost child after he disappeared in the island by accident. They decide Grant will be of use to them, as he encountered real dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, and is an expert in the field. However, the limited ammunition they bring fails quickly, and everyone is left to run for their lives a lot. There are new dinosaurs, and the raptors can speak. Everyone as usual, must find a way to escape, and call for help from their desperate situation. |
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| Critique: Jurassic Park III fails to bring enough new ideas to the table. It rehashes the conflict from its predecessors, and relies on its special effects. It lacks the lush adventure storytelling that the original had, as the films are getting farther and farther from Micheal Crichton's original book. Also, although Joe Johnston is a fine, capable director, he is still unable to capture the humanistic edge, thoughtful scope, and emotional sincerity that Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two gives to his films. Also, Joe Johnston is unable to deliver well paced, well delivered, and well organized action. He certainly is capable, if you look at the fun diversion he was able to provide in Jumanji and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. He may not be totally to blame, as the writers came up way short in the creativity department. He had little to work with. Still, there certainly are individual moments that have energy and provide pulse pounding action. Not all is lost by any means. Even as the film is inconsistent it isn't totally devoid of good moments. This is especially true of the acting. Sometimes it seems painfully obvious the performers are being lazy. Other times it seems there is genuine effort. Of course, either way they are given such awful dialogue that they can only be expected to do so much. Yet, maybe they are responsible for choosing to deal with the material in the first place. It's more than possible that like the protagonists of all the JP films our actors were tempted to join the film simply for a good pay check. Is that so wrong? Well, not necessarily, but it certainly explains why anyone would join such a doomed project. You can't write a review of a Jurassic Park film without complimenting the film on its devastating special effects. The visual creations are astonishing. It helps the film along with its many rough spots, although in the end not enough. The sound and sound editing is also very strong. The cinematography is usually very fascinating, with a few stylish maneuvers. The score is purely based on the terrific original theme song from John Williams, but it doesn't always flow with the story. The expectations of a film are usually lowered when it's a second sequel, a third film in a series, a sequel to an original sequel that wasn't very strong. Yet, the film isn't a total failure. It has its enjoyable moments, but not enough. The film is severely flawed, with a weak screenplay, a lack of unique thoughts, and often unconvincing directing and acting. I don't recommend this lackluster effort, even if it is far from a terrible film. review by supernothingman |