Jurassic Park III Review
by Eugene Novikov (lordeugene_98 AT yahoo DOT com)August 9th, 2001
Jurassic Park III (2001)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"You cannot land on this island!!"
Starring Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Tea Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan, Michael Jeter, John Diehl. Directed by Joe Johnston. Rated PG-13.
Jurassic Park III is shameless populist entertainment, short, breezy, well-made and unpretentious. It's the epitome of the cliche that is the "popcorn movie." Free of the scientific and ethical mumbo-jumbo that polluted the first two installments in the series, director Joe Johnston, with a prodigious technical skill that rivals Spielberg's, simply turns on the dinosaur machine and gives the audience what they expect from a Jurassic Park movie: a hell of a ride.
Plot and dialogue are likewise formalities Johnston feels free to dispense with, and for once, it's fine with me. The movie's skeleton is this: paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), the only character returning from the previous films, is recruited by Mr. and Mrs. Kirby (William H. Macy and Tea Leoni, uh, respectively), to be their guide as they fly over Isla Sorna, the island where genetically engineered dinosaurs roam free. Grant is extremely reluctant to do this, as he has been extremely critical of the experiments that brought the specimens into existence. So imagine his shock when the Kirbys, who have an ulterior, if not malevolent, motive, land on the island without consulting him, leaving them to fend for themselves in a confined space with huge, unexpectedly intelligent lizards running around.
Then, with nothing standing in its way, the movie takes off. The dinosaurs look awesome, with the special effects team employing a new method of mixing animatronic reptiles with CGI ones. When a giant lizard chases the characters, the sight is genuinely frightening; for the first time, the dinosaurs actually look gargantuan. Like Spielberg, Johnston also knows what to do with them; too many movie special effects just sit there on the screen, expecting us to be awed by their mere existence. These dinosaurs do everything we'd expect an actual dinosaur to do, and there is even a jar of T-Rex urine that makes an appearance.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Jurassic Park III is its running time of less than 90 minutes. A lot of directors feel that when they are given a lavish budget, they must make a long movie to justify it (see The Mummy Returns), and a lot of them wind up feeling tortuous. Johnston realizes the film's breezy, thrill-park-ride nature and works accordingly. There isn't a word, moment or shot wasted; this is the most stringently utalitarian movie I have ever seen.
The credits roll just about when we would expect the third act to begin. Though I was having a great time, this was okay by me. I like suprise endings no matter the nature of their surprise; others I've talked to have felt slighted at the lack of a de facto climax, but their complaints sounded fairly moronic (sorry, guys). At least you can't call the movie repetitive.
I'm grateful for movies that truly want to entertain, rather than drown the audience with special effects and marketing gimmicks. The phrase "popcorn movie" seems to apply to everything that's not considered an "art movie," but there's an art to popcorn movies as well. It is clear, despite the film's simplicity, that a great deal of work and thought went into all of the aspects of Jurassic Park III, and not just into the special effects. Artistry can be found in the unlikeliest places.
Grade: B+
Up Next: America's Sweethearts
©2001 Eugene Novikov
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