Review of Jurassic Park III (2001) by Jeff Y — 03 Nov 2015

Another example of paternal bonding gone wrong. During my childhood it was nothing more perilous than a Saturday afternoon showing of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Around the turn of this century it seems the thrill of the day became illegal paragliding off quarantined islands. The world changes so quickly.

In Jurassic Park 3 we are treated to the return of Sam Neill and Laura Dern in an effort to remind us that, hey, the first movie was pretty good! Remember that? Yeah we do. We also remember the sorry Jeff Goldblum vehicle that followed so don't get cocky.

JP3 begins with the same thin setup as the previous sequel. Sam Neill publicly swears never to go to the island, then immediately goes to the island, then becomes trapped on the island. The filmmakers wisely introduce an exciting dinosaur fight and chase at this point and, while I hate to admit it, all is forgiven.

We continue exploring Isla Sorna (again) as Tea Leoni and William H. Mustache search for their marooned son and rediscover a lost romance in the process. I'd imagine if they couldn't handle marriage in rural Oklahoma that being stuck on the most dangerous safari ever wouldn't help them patch things up.

Much like The Lost World this film moves the audience quickly between recurrent action sequences without any suspense or guess work involved. There are also considerable improvements; the dinosaur effects look much better than the last film and the actors bring some feeling of joy to the screen. Tea Leoni basically got paid to yell and run around a lot but it was better than Julianne Moore delivering every line as if she were reading a medical pamphlet.

There are no surprises here but a few thrilling action scenes that are worth your time. Jurassic Park 3 is a lather, rinse, repeat type of film but I walked away feeling cleaner than the last outing.