Here we go, they finally made a third film to the famous Jurassic Park franchise with Jurassic Park III. Starring Sam Neill, William H. Macy and Tea Leoni, this movie, while enjoyable, turned out to be a downfall for me in the Jurassic Park series and the following will explain why I think so.
Having two great films with Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, they decided to make a third movie which had no novel ahead of it nor having it be directed by Steven Spielberg. Taking place four years after the events of The Lost World, we return to Isla Sorna, InGen's Site B. Eric Kirby and his step-father are para-sailing in the illegal restricted zone of Isla Sorna for a tour of the island to see if there are any dinosaurs near by to get pictures of. Naturally, something goes wrong and the ship is attacked and both of the para-sailors land on the island. Hmm...I wonder what is going to happen. Don't you? Do I sense B-movie territory?
Back on the mainland, we are reunited with Dr. Alan Grant, survivor of the first film, and his old flame Elle Sattler, who is now married with two kids. Explaining his continued fascination with Velociraptors, he freaks her out by talking about them again and if she "remembered the sounds they made." Anyway, after he leaves dinner with her and her husband, he goes ahead and talks at a university about his new theory of raptors, to which no one really listens and eventually gets up and leaves before he can finish. Not doing a very successful job, he can't raise enough support from people to preserve his dig site in Montana and tells his new assistant Billy Brennan that they have to pack up in three weeks. Anyway, as they get some new information regarding the raptors, a man by the name of Paul Kirby comes in the tent looking for Grant. Telling him that he has a proposition for both of them, he invites them to dinner.
Okay, so where does he take them? He takes them to what appears to be Grant's hangout bar. Ordering drinks, I guess the idea is to get Grant drunk to agree to take them over to an areal tour of Isla Sorna. Grant agrees eventually when they write him a check for as much as he wants in order to refund his digging site.
Now, we are on our way to Isla Sorna. When they arrive, Grant gives the tour when all of a sudden no one is listening to him. There seems to be an agenda, which we don't know about yet. Anyway, as the group lands, Tea's character, Amanda Kirby, uses a bullhorn to call for someone named Eric. No what do you think happens? We hear a ferocious roar from what seems to be a large dinosaur. With everyone rushing back on the plane, the group leaves a mercenary behind and doesn't stop for him. Eating the poor dude, the Spinosauras comes out and bumps into the plane, causing it to crash and go down into the jungle, stranded. Grant, reluctant as ever, realizes the truth behind this couple and they are not who they seem to be at all. They are just an average couple looking for their son, the boy who is lost with his step-father at the beginning of the film, and need Grant to come along in order to help them since he has experienced being isolated on an island filled with dinosaurs in the past. Okay, fair enough. It's basically a rescue mission and they take Grant against his will to this island.
Eventually the group split up and Grant is on his own surrounded by raptors. This is actually a pretty good scene. Dr. Grant yet again is surrounded by raptors and awaiting death. All of a sudden, he is rescued by Eric who in fact has been trapped on the island for 8 weeks. Soon the family reunite and then they are chased by what seems to be the new main antagonist of the movie, the Spinosaurus. Chasing them again, the crew end up in an aviary meant for the pteranodon. Something that hasn't been seen before in the series, the crew try to run and escape from the flying dinos. Eventually escaping, with the loss of Billy in the process, the crew then end up on a boat heading to the coast to escape the island. With a final confrontation with the spinosaurus and then the raptors, they escape the island and live happily ever after...How nice.
Now, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this film when it first came out. But as it grew on me, I realized that it was all just made to get some extra bucks in Universal's pocket. The scrip wasn't even finished when production began and I'm sure they spent all their money to lure back Sam Neill to the role he made famous in 1993. The characters aren't that likable and there is no character development. Just a few jokes here and there. Some are actually quite funny and the actions scenes are good as well, but the movie just doesn't live up to the other two films. It's hard to take it as seriously as you can with the other movies, which is a real bummer. I do find myself watching it from time to time and try to get a different view of it. Some parts of the films are just over used and just seem really cheesy: when the family reunites and then at the last minute, Billy survives at the end of the film. It was just way too predictable. And the most disappointing thing in the movie for me, would have to be the raptors. They are not the savage animals from the first two films, but in face pretty boring and uninteresting. You just don't have that same fear of them that you had in the first two movies.
If they do make a fourth film after all, I hope they will shoot with a completed script and have more likable characters. And make it longer than just an hour and a half!
