Jurassic Park III (2001)

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Concerning the original 'JP' trilogy, it seemed abundantly clear that while the first film was to go down in cinematic history as a massive achievement for its time, its sequels were pretty weak in comparison. While I did mention liking 'Lost World' with my reasons, I can safely say that 'Jurassic Park III' was something I strongly disliked at the time. I still strongly dislike today, considering it among the worst of the 'Jurassic' titles. But does it have any redeeming qualities? Well, a bit more on that later.

Seeing this in theatres back in 2001, I can still remember being ultimately excited, but strongly let down. While some may praise this for its short running time and getting straight to the point, I felt it was too short and ultimately somewhat pointless, considering the film's entire plotline is followed by an ending that will leave one shaking their head, wondering, "We couldn't have done this from the beginning?" Not gonna spoil it, but for those who have seen the movie, you probably know what I'm talking about.

The film opens immediately with a stupid decision as young Eric (Trevor Morgan) and a friend of his stepfather's go paragliding right next to Isla Sorna, which is the island full of wild dinos we recall from 'The Lost World.' Predictably, shit happens, and it's pretty reminiscent of the beginning of 'Lost World', where it leaves us wondering what happens until it gets addressed later on in the film. Then the film cuts to our heroes from the first film, paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), who is now married with children to someone who isn't Alan, named Mark (Taylor Nichols).

This is extra irksome nowadays, as in the 'Jurassic Park' book, Ellie is a student of Alan's, but they changed it up to a relationship in the film. Yet here, things do not carry through, the point being, if you're gonna change it anyway, and do it reasonably well, I might add, you might as well keep rolling with it, especially considering they have such chemistry between them here. But I digress; all this means is that the film is worse than I remember after finally reading the books. But to get to the point, he's trying to secure funding for his Velociraptor research.

Funding comes in the form of a couple by the names of Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni, respectively), who write a generous cheque to Alan in hopes that he will be their guide on a low-flying tour of Isla Sorna. He reluctantly accepts, bringing along his protégé, Billy (Alessandro Nivola), a promising young paleontology expert. Before long, however, it's revealed that Alan and Billy have essentially been kidnapped, as the Kirbys need an expert to help them navigate the island safely, as they search for their missing son, Eric, from the opening of the film.

To get right down to criticisms, let's start with the Kirby couple. Both are annoying in their way, but perhaps most grating is how often they call out for Eric. It doesn't stop at Eric, either. 40% of this film's dialogue is just yelling out names. A lot of the rest of it is just stupid decisions. There's also too much antirealism going on here, namely the concept of a kid surviving a full 8 weeks. That's right, this search is 8 weeks after Eric goes missing. Even the best 'Jurassic' movies are over just a few days. It's far too difficult to buy into.

Going back to what I said before about redeeming qualities, about the best I can give it is that they introduce some new prehistoric creatures to the mix, like Pterodactyls, and most infamously, the Spinosaurus, who no one talks about anymore, aside from the idea that it downs a T-rex, much to the shagrin of 'Jurassic Park' fans. So even any praise I can try to give ends up as a disappointing detail. Lastly, the CG is just CG at this point, and is far more obvious-looking than in the previous films, and hasn't aged nearly as well. It's a bit of a dice roll to figure out which of the 'Jurassic' films is the worst, but this is definitely in the running.

1/5

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