Jurassic Park 3
***
Cinema
Releases - July 20, 2001
Certificate PG. 92 minutes. Directed by Joe
Johnston. Written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor; based on
characters created by Michael Crichton. Starring Sam Neill, William H. Macy,
Tea Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan.
"Jurassic Park III" is nowhere as
intelligent or visionary as the first film of the series, but it's not as
dreary, murky or forced as the second. It's solid B-movie fun. When I read
early reviews of the picture that said as much, I was sceptical, thinking
that this franchise had been stretched as far as possible, and a third instalment
would carry a cumbersome plot and lousy digitised visuals. I was wrong --
in a summer of surprisingly enjoyable studio releases, this one fits in just
fine.
The plot is functional, existing merely to get
Sam Neill back to somewhere inhabited by dinosaurs. It begins with a rich
couple played by William H. Macy and Tea Leoni offering a generous donation
to his research fund in return for a guided flight over Jurassic Park's sister
island. When it's too late, Neill discovers that their plan is to land the
plane and search for their missing son. Cue stranded humans and lots of scary
chases.
The dinosaur scenes are thrilling -- those terrifying
lunges, those piercing roars, the very idea of those huge creatures. "Jurassic
Park" was a landmark achievement in special effects technology, but in the
decade since, studios have gotten lazy and used more and more shoddy, pixelated
computer graphics. Even "The Phantom Menace" looked fake. Here we get convincing
special effects, and should be grateful.
Of course this wouldn't be a B-movie without
ludicrousness, and we also get moments like the scene right after the plane
crash, in which an obvious model shot of a plane falls through a tree, and
the cast look into the camera, bulge their eyes out and scream on cue.
Nice.
"Jurassic Park III" has already split audiences
and critics. I am convinced that I will receive mail agreeing with my positive
comments, as well as floods of abuse from those who think the movie is
unmitigated crap. The truth is that this film balances cheese and polish
with skill, and at 92 minutes, is certainly efficient. I liked it the same
way I liked "Tomb Raider" and "The Mummy Returns". If you think I'm insane
for praising these titles, you obviously don't remember the summer when
moviegoers had to endure "Godzilla", "Lost in Space" and "Deep
Impact".
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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