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JURASSIC
PARK III REVIEWED
BY CHARITY BISHOP
Our
rating: 3 out of 5 Because
of: violence, thematic elements
Rated:
Ever
since the first Jurassic
Park came out in 1993, the public has become
enthralled with the hair-raising encounters with dinosaurs
seemingly caught on tape. It is no surprise people have
always been fascinated by dinosaurs. After all, they were
big, they were bad, they were cool, and they were scary. And
we're safe... or so we thought until Steven Spielberg
brought to life a terrifyingly realistic world of reborn
evolution and a chilling premise: people trapped on an
island inhibited by meat-eating dinosaurs. You've
heard that old adage, "Same song, second verse"
right? Well in the case of Jurassic Park III, it's
the same song, third verse.
The film opens on the
blue sea surrounding the lush green tropical island now home
to the T-Rex and his plant-eating prey. A para-sailer gets a
wee bit too close, and mysteriously everyone down on board
the little boat... disappears. The boat runs aground and the
two people are forced to make an emergency landing on the
island. Several
weeks later, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) is desperately trying to figure
out how to keep his low-budget dig from going under due to
lack of funds. Apparently since there's a living breathing
museum of dinos somewhere in the South Pacific, who cares
about old bones? Why not just wait a few years until the
dinos die out (or are blown up by the Cuban government) and
get some new material to study? Fortunately a wealthy
couple, Paul and Amanda Kirby, have a proposition to offer:
they want to fly over Dinosaur Island and they would like
Dr. Grant to act as their tour guide.
Naturally,
Dr. Grant never wants to see another living, breathing dinosaur
as long as he lives... but the amount of zeros on the check
persuades him to give it a go. Along with his young
assistant Billy (Alessandro Nivola), they board the plane to adventure... and
literal hell. The couple has no interest in sight seeing; they're looking for their eight-year-old
son (Trevor Morgan). Dr.
Grant is knocked out cold to prevent his protest at their
decent and
the plane lands on the island. Unfortunately, Mrs. Kirby's
screaming through a megaphone has brought the attention of
some rather unpleasant carnivores... and when they make an
emergency liftoff the plane's tale is snapped in two,
sending them spinning into the underbrush with no way
home.
The
first film had an original premise and the second and third
follow in its footsteps. But where the third
lacks in originality, it certainly makes up for itself in
special effects and animatronics. The dinos look shockingly
(and terrifyingly) realistic. If you were scared of the
T-Rex all along, wait until you meet something bigger, meaner, and
hungrier than him. As an always fan of Sam Neill, I stuck it
out merely to see if he makes it out alive. Of course we're
all familiar with the general plot by now: people trapped on
island with nasty little and big dinosaurs, and everyone who we're
not attached to (and sometimes are) gets eaten. The
single new item which makes the Raptors in this film even scarier (if
possible) is the fact that since The Lost World came
out, scientist have learned and speculated on the fact that meat-eaters were highly intelligent and able to converse
with one another, thus hunting in packs with the desire to
trap their prey. This idea is pulled into play with
the Raptors literally calling for help, alerting one
another, and setting traps for our unfortunate homo sapiens.
There are also a host of new dinosaurs that range from the
enormous to the downright comical, and T-Rex literally gets
his tail kicked by a newer, bigger, and meaner creation that
Dr. Grant never knew existed in Jurassic Park. Fortunately
Jurassic Park III is less violent than The Lost World
was. In this version we never actually see anyone
torn into shreds. But we do glimpse numerous creatures
(and even a few people) being chomped, swung around, stepped
on, and killed. One man is mauled but left alive as a
trap... then his neck is broken by a Raptor. The T-Rex takes
on a larger dinosaur in a violent fight which winds up with
good old Rex having his neck snapped. People are chased and threatened by
dinosaurs, a child is
pecked violently by flying creatures, and expendable
characters die. A human carcass (made mostly of sinew and
bones) falls from a branch, entangling
Mrs. Kirby and she freaks out.
Language-wise
the film is hardly flawed. I heard no abuses of Jesus' name,
although there are many uses of "Oh, my God" and a
few minor profanities. Mrs. Kirby is seen briefly in her bra
as she changes clothes. The most horrible premise (other
than the graphic and often unsettling violence) is the
stupidity of the people involved. You really do want to
smack them, firstly for getting Dr. Grant trapped on this
island; secondly for abandoning someone to a dinosaur;
thirdly, for screaming out their son's name through a
megaphone when there are large meat-eaters on the island;
and lastly, for being such profound idiots. If
you were a fan of the first, you'll probably enjoy it. But
if you're like me, once was enough.
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