Review of Jurassic Park III (2001) by Zachary K — 19 Jun 2012
Like the "Jaws" series, the JP films just got worse. This is certainly the runt of the saga, and yet it is not by any means a failure in the sense that, say, "Jaws 3D" was.
Sam Neill's reprisal of Dr. Grant from JPI is so welcome here that his return alone seems to justify this sequel. Without him, this film would have been a miss. Laura Dern's cameo is another gem for fans of the first. William H. Macy is very funny, but Tea Leoni's character reminded me of Kate Capshaw in "Temple of Doom"- not a good thing, and a big step down from the far more resourceful Dern and Julianne Moore from the first two.
Several additional steps are taken to link this strongly to the first, and not so much the second. JPIII was heavily shot in Kauai like JPI (as opposed to the Redwoods of JPII). Composer Don Davis uses all the Williams themes from the original. Stan Winston and ILM are at the top of their game here- the visual effects are often just as impressive as anything in the original two.
My biggest gripe outside of plot: this is just 93 minutes. JPI was 127 mins., and JPII was 129 mins. It felt like this movie had no real middle and no real finale, and ultimately, nothing really to offer except a little bit more of the same.
This review of Jurassic Park III (2001) was written by Zachary K on 19 Jun 2012.
Jurassic Park III has generally received mixed reviews.
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