Jurassic Park III Review
by David N. Butterworth (dnb AT dca DOT net)July 24th, 2001
JURASSIC PARK III
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2001 David N. Butterworth
** (out of ****)
I lost track of how many times someone yells "Run!" in "Jurassic Park III."
As Dr. Ian Malcolm so succinctly put it in "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (the second go-round of the trilogy-to-date ... and there's absolutely no reason why they should call it quits with this one), "Oooh! Ahhh! That's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming."
There's a lot of running and screaming in "Jurassic Park III." What there isn't is the afore-referenced Dr. Malcolm (a sorely-missed Jeff Goldblum, who perked up the first two installments no end with his Chaos theorizing, cool attire, and utterly sarcastic humor) and the sure hand of Steven Spielberg who, perhaps wisely, has abdicated directorial duties to "Jumanji" man Joe Johnston.
For the third time running (and running, and screaming) the dinosaurs alone are worth the price of admission--this time we get big nasty spinosaurs with long snouts and huge finned backs, flying pteranodons with vicious little babies, club-tailed ankylosaurs, noble brachiosaurs, galloping herds of nanosaurs and, of course, a lot more razor sharp velociraptors (although this time out *communicative* ones that can vocalize better than their human prey). Each time out the huge reptiles get more and more convincing as technological advances bring them closer into contact with the prix-fix beauzeaus that either wittingly or unwittingly stumble onto their Isla Sorna.
There seems to be some unwritten rule that future chapters of Michael Crichton's dino-saga must feature cast-offs from a P.T. Anderson picture. In 1997 it was Julianne Moore; in "Jurassic Park III" it's the turn of William H. Macy (who, in the film's scariest realization, is the spitting image of Homer Simpson's good neighbor Ned Flanders). Moore is "replaced" by Téa Leoni, naturally enough, which at first consideration seems to be a sound casting decision ... until you witness Ms. Leoni trying to out act the special effects. Sam Neill is back as paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant as is Laura Dern in a brief bit as Dr. Ellie Sattler; she does the only smart thing and stays the heck off the island.
The plot? "Good dinosaurs, bad people." OK, the real plot: Mr. and Mrs. Kirby (Macy and Leoni) con Dr. Grant into helping them find their son Eric (Trevor Morgan), who has accidentally parasailed onto a Costa Rican island teeming with large, hungry carnivores.
The "Jurassic Park" franchise will always be worth seeing for Stan Winston's mesmerizing creature effects (if you like that sort of thing I suppose--I almost hated "America's Sweethearts" and would have were it not for the lovely Julia Roberts and her genuinely fetching smile, so I guess it's all a matter of taste). But if it's dumb humans crashing through the undergrowth you're after, rent a Rambo movie instead.
--
David N. Butterworth
[email protected]
Got beef? Visit "La Movie Boeuf"
online at http://members.dca.net/dnb
More on 'Jurassic Park III'...
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
