{"id":12225,"date":"2025-06-25T19:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12225"},"modified":"2025-06-25T19:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:35:15","slug":"jurassic-park-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/06\/25\/jurassic-park-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Jurassic Park III"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Jurassic Park III <\/strong>(2001)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 92 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (intense sci-fi terror and violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joe Johnston\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Don Davis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Shelly Johnson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 18, 2001 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Tea Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan, Michael Jeter, John Diehl, Bruce A. Young, Laura Dern, Taylor Nichols, Mare Harelik, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Blake Michael Bryan.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $181.1M (US)\/$368.7M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: **<\/p>\n

\u00a0With Jurassic Park III<\/strong>, the magic is gone! POOF! I didn\u2019t feel the same sense of wonder that I did with the vastly superior first movie back in \u201993. Of course, that could have to do with Steven Spielberg sitting this one out, turning over the directorial reins to Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jumanji).<\/p>\n

\u00a0As an avowed big kid when it comes to summer movies, I wanted much more than Jurassic Park III<\/strong> has to offer which isn\u2019t all that much. The \u201cWOW!\u201d factor has been replaced by a \u201cbeen-there-done-that\u201d feeling. Quite frankly, it\u2019s dull. At a scant running time of just 92 minutes, this shouldn\u2019t be the case. It should have been more fun. It should have been more thrilling. It\u2019s neither. Spielberg\u2019s absence is definitely felt.<\/p>\n

\u00a0While we\u2019re on the subject of absent friends, Jurassic Park III<\/strong> is NOT based on a Michael Crichton novel. It\u2019s an original screenplay written by Peter Buchman (Eragon) and Election co-scribes Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Don Davis takes over for John Williams as composer. Only a few hints of Williams\u2019 classic score remain. Shelly Johnson (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II) is no match for original cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. The dinosaurs aren\u2019t even that thrilling this third time around. My interest waned at several points. It feels very routine after eight years and two movies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Dr. Alan Grant (Neill, The Final Conflict) returns in this installment which finds him still digging for dinosaur remnants. Apparently, things didn\u2019t work out with Ellie (Dern in a cameo) seeing as how she\u2019s married to somebody else. While on a dig with his assistant Billy (Nivola, Face\/Off), Grant is approached by a wealthy couple, Paul (Macy, Boogie Nights) and Amanda Kirby (Leoni, Deep Impact), with a proposal. They agree to fund his research in exchange for giving them an aerial tour of Isla Sorna (aka Site B), the island from The Lost World. He accepts mainly out of desperation for money, but soon regrets it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It turns out the couple wants him to help find their 14YO son Eric (Morgan, The Glass House) who went missing eight weeks earlier while parasailing over the island. Would you be surprised if I told you that the Kirbys aren\u2019t wealthy? I didn\u2019t think so. The prehistoric creatures waste no time in attacking the visitors. Two crew members are killed right off the bat. The others- Grant, Billy, the Kirbys and mercenary pilot Udesky (Jeter, Patch Adams) flee into the wild. So begins the search for the missing boy. So begins the hunt for human prey. Get the picture? Thought so.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Jurassic Park III<\/strong> isn\u2019t without its good points. The movie\u2019s best scene has the survivors trapped inside an enormous bird cage that houses a flock of pterodactyls. It\u2019s the first time these flying creatures factor into the Jurassic Park series. There\u2019s also a funny bit involving a lost satellite phone and where the group eventually finds it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the most part, I wasn\u2019t really into Jurassic Park III<\/strong>. The special effects are rather ordinary. The storyline is just okay, better suited to a cheap B-movie than a major Hollywood production. It\u2019s redundant rather than scary. It\u2019s 90 minutes of people being chased by giant dinosaurs and vicious little raptors. The abrupt conclusion perfectly illustrates the term dues ex machina.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0The characters are fairly dull and one-dimensional. Grant, when not playing Indiana Jones (he even has the hat!), pontificates on the perils of tampering with nature. Yeah, yeah, we\u2019ve heard it all before. The casting of Jeter as a mercenary is just strange. He\u2019s so not a rugged tough guy. Leoni is awful in this movie. She\u2019s so annoying. Macy fares a little better, but can\u2019t do much with his thinly-written character.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Basically, we\u2019re talking about a throwaway movie here, a B-level movie with a huge price tag ($93 million). Not exactly what I call money well spent. Universal should have quit while they were ahead. The only ones that might like Jurassic Park III<\/strong> are grade schoolers just old enough to see their first PG-13. The only area in which it succeeds is putting the Jurassic Park franchise on the endangered species list.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jurassic Park III (2001)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 92 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (intense sci-fi terror and violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joe Johnston\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Don Davis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Shelly Johnson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 18, 2001 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Tea Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan, Michael Jeter, John Diehl, Bruce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-fi-fantasy","category-sequels-remakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Jurassic-Park-III-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12225"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12244,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12225\/revisions\/12244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}