Jurassic Park III is a 2001 American science
fiction adventure monster film and the third
of the Jurassic Park franchise. It is the
first film in the series that was not directed
by Steven Spielberg nor based on a book by
Michael Crichton. The film takes place on
Isla Sorna, the island featured in the second
film, where a divorced couple has tricked
Dr. Alan Grant into going in order to help
them find their son.
After the success of Spielberg's Jurassic
Park, Joe Johnston expressed interest in directing
a sequel, a film adaptation of The Lost World.
Spielberg instead gave Johnston permission
to direct the third film in the series, if
there were to be one. Production of Jurassic
Park III began on August 30, 2000. Upon its
release, the film received mixed reviews,
with many praising the visual effects and
action scenes but finding the plot clichéd
and unoriginal. Despite being less well-received
than the previous films, Jurassic Park III
was a box office success, grossing $368 million
worldwide.
Plot
Despite deadly and dangerous incidents being
connected with Isla Sorna, tourists Ben Hildebrand
and Eric Kirby decide to parasail around the
island. A dinosaur of unknown species attacks
and kills the boat crew when it passes through
a fog bank, but Ben uncouples the line and
he and Eric, bound together, go sailing into
the wilderness of Isla Sorna.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alan Grant has become famous
as a result of his survival and involvement
in the scandal of Jurassic Park and subsequent
dinosaur attacks. Ellie Sattler has married
a lawyer named Mark Delger and has a son,
Charlie, who calls Alan "The Dinosaur Man"
and a baby daughter whose name is unknown.
One afternoon, while out on a dig, Alan's
assistant, Billy demonstrates how he can use
a 3D printer to replicate the larynx of a
Velociraptor, and he gives the piece to Alan.
They also discuss how raptors are far more
intelligent than they had previously believed,
and had a complex social structure and hunting
pattern. A wealthy couple, Paul and Amanda
Kirby, drop by and offer Alan some generous
funding for his research if he will give them
an aerial tour of Isla Sorna. Desperate for
the money to fund further research, Alan reluctantly
agrees. He flies there along with Paul and
Amanda, Billy, plus Kirbys' associates, Udesky,
Cooper and their pilot, Nash. The group flies
over the plains of Isla Sorna, populated with
groups of Brachiosaurus, Parasaurolophus,
Corythosaurus, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus.
Alan learns that the Kirbys plan to land on
the island, which contradicts what they had
promised earlier. When he objects, he is knocked
out by Cooper, only to awaken to the sound
of Amanda calling out to someone on the island
using a bullhorn. This attracts a hungry Spinosaurus
and Cooper manages to lead it into the path
of the plane before he is devoured. The plane
then crashes into a tree and the Spinosaurus
attacks the plane, killing Nash. After fleeing
the plane, they manage to briefly lose the
Spinosaurus after it gets caught between two
trees. As they flee to safety, a Tyrannosaurus
appears, and the Spinosaurus returns but the
humans escape while the two distracted dinosaurs
fight each other; the Spinosaurus kills the
T.rex by breaking its neck.
Alan demands an explanation about what is
really going on and the Kirbys confess they're
actually a middle-class divorced couple who
are using their life savings to look for their
lost son, Eric, who vanished with Ben eight
weeks ago near Isla Sorna. Alan is dubious
that Eric could have survived eight weeks
on Isla Sorna. Further exploration leads them
to find the parasail entangled in a tree,
with Ben's decomposing body still attached
to it. A video recorder shows them Ben and
Eric's final descent onto the island. When
they stumble upon some raptor eggs they flee,
taking the parasail with them. They find an
abandoned compound and search in vain for
communications equipment. After finding a
broken-down vending machine and phones, they
make their way to a derelict laboratory.
Amanda sees a Velociraptor and the group flees,
but the pursuing raptor signals its pack mates
to chase them, demonstrating the complex social
structure and coordinated actions earlier
theorized by Alan and Billy. During the ensuing
chase, Udesky and Grant become separated from
the others after causing a herd of Corythosaurus
and Parasaurolophus to stampede, Alan grabs
Billy's satchel that he dropped, and Udesky
is killed by the raptors. Alan suspects the
raptors are searching for something. He is
rescued by Eric, who has managed to survive
for eight weeks in an overturned supply truck,
clearly impressing Alan. Eric recognizes the
sound of his father's satellite phone, which
was lost when Nash was devoured; they're reunited
with the Kirbys and Billy before the Spinosaurus
arrives again. They hide inside a small building
and bar the doors. After failed attempts to
open the doors, the Spinosaurus leaves.
Billy becomes possessive of his satchel; Alan
realizes he has taken two eggs from the raptor's
nest in the hope the contents will fund their
next dig, and this explains the raptor attacks.
Alan berates Billy for his careless behavior,
comparing him to InGen. They make their way
to a large outdoor complex, and Alan realizes
in horror that the complex is a giant cage
to house Pteranodon; they attack the group
and fly away with Eric, taking him as food
for their young. Billy uses the remnants of
Ben's parasail to rescue Eric, shortly before
he falls into the river below, then is attacked
and seemingly killed by some of the Pteranodon.
The group find their way out of the cage,
leaving the door unlocked in their panic.
They make their way down river using a small
boat. Alan is shocked by Billy's 'death' and
explains to Eric that Billy was a person who
wanted to do something, not just sit by and
watch. The boat passes by a valley containing
herds of Brachiosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Corythosaurus,
Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus while Eric states
that "Billy was right".
The group finds and retrieves the satellite
phone from inside the feces belonging to the
Spinosaurus. A Ceratosaurus appears and is
repulsed by the smell. The Spinosaurus attacks
and capsizes the boat as Alan is trying to
contact Ellie, and he is only able to convey
the words "The River, Site B" before he is
disconnected. Alan and Paul manage to drive
off the Spinosaurus for good by lighting the
boat's fuel on fire, and the next day they
start making their way toward the shoreline.
Close to their goal, they are surrounded by
raptors who see Amanda as a female 'leader'
and a threat to their clutch of eggs. Using
the imitation raptor larynx, Alan manages
to communicate with the raptors, and Amanda
surrenders the stolen eggs before the sound
of helicopters startle off the raptors.
Returning to the beach, they find that Ellie
had called in the U.S. Marine Corps and the
U.S. Navy to rescue them. They discover that
Billy, while seriously injured, is alive,
and has Alan's hat, which he had lost earlier.
As they leave the island, they see the Pteranodon
group flying free, and Alan recounts that
it's time for them to find their place in
the world again. The pterosaurs fly off into
the clouds, seemingly satisfied of being freed
of their cage.
Cast
Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant, the world-famous
paleontologist who survived the incident on
Isla Nublar and has since developed an apathic
attitude towards the creatures he once admired.
William H. Macy as Paul Kirby, the owner of
a hardware store who poses as a wealthy businessman
in order to lure Grant into helping search
for his son.
Téa Leoni as Amanda Kirby, Paul's ex-wife,
who accompanies the group to Isla Sorna to
search for her son.
Alessandro Nivola as Billy Brennan, a young
and over-enthusiastic graduate student from
Grant's dig site; he knows how to fly a parasail
and he is very physically fit.
Trevor Morgan as Eric Kirby, Paul and Amanda's
12-year-old son who's stranded on Isla Sorna.
Michael Jeter as Udesky, a meek but sardonic
mercenary pilot who flies the airplane to
Isla Sorna. Also a booking agent.
John Diehl as Cooper, a tough mercenary and
weapons specialist.
Bruce A. Young as M. B. Nash, also a mercenary
pilot: according to his dog tags he is a former
Sergeant Major.
Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Degler, née Sattler,
a paleobotanist who also survived Isla Nublar.
Taylor Nichols as Mark Degler, Ellie's husband
and an expert in treaty law at the U.S. State
Department.
Mark Harelik as Ben Hildebrand, Amanda's boyfriend.
Julio Oscar Mechoso as Enrique Cardoso, the
owner and operator of the illegal "Dino-Soar"
parasailing service.
Blake Michael Bryan as Charlie Degler, Ellie
and Mark's 3-year-old son who calls Grant
"The Dinosaur Man."
Sarah Danielle Madison as Cheryl Logan, one
of Grant's graduate students at the Fort Peck
Lake dig site.
Linda Park as Hannah, Ellie's secretary.
Dinosaurs on screen
Ankylosaurus
Brachiosaurus
Ceratosaurus
Compsognathus
Corythosaurus
Parasaurolophus
Pteranodon
Spinosaurus
Stegosaurus
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus
Velociraptor
Production
Joe Johnston had been interested in directing
the sequel to Jurassic Park and approached
Spielberg, a friend of his, about the project.
While Spielberg wanted to direct the first
sequel, he agreed that if there was ever a
third film, Johnston could direct. Johnston
never had any concrete concept for the third
film, other than stating the film would be
"more stand-alone" and feature a lot of flying
reptiles. The third film was greenlit in August
1999 and Craig Rosenberg wrote a script involving
teenagers who get marooned on Isla Sorna.
An earlier storyline by Spielberg featured
Alan Grant living in a tree on one of the
islands and studying the dinosaur population.
New writers were brought in to scribe a story
involving Pteranodon escaping from Site B
and causing a spate of mysterious killings
on the mainland, which was to be investigated
by Alan Grant and a number of other characters
including Billy Brennan, a naturalist named
Simone, a tough military attaché, wealthy
Paul Roby, and Roby's teenage son Miles. Grant's
group crash-lands on the island, while a parallel
investigation is being carried out on the
mainland. The aviary sequence and laboratory
set piece were initially much longer and more
complex, including Velociraptor stealthily
entering the hatchery as the team spends the
night there. Sets, costumes, and props were
built for this version, before Johnston rejected
the entire script five weeks before filming
in order to pursue the "rescue mission" plot,
which had been suggested by David Koepp. Johnston
said that the script was never finished during
production: "We shot pages that eventually
went into the final script but we didn't have
a document". During the pre-production phase,
concept artists created advertising for the
film using a number of working titles including
Jurassic Park: Extinction and Jurassic Park:
Breakout.
After a teaser trailer debuted with Pokemon:
The Movie 2000 on July 21, 2000, Production
began on August 30, 2000 without a finished
script, with filming in California, Oahu,
and Molokai. The storyline contains minor
scenes from Crichton's Jurassic Park and The
Lost World novels that were not featured in
the film versions, such as the Pteranodon
aviary and the use of the boat. In a deviation
from the previous films, the Spinosaurus is
considered the primary antagonist: Johnston
stated, "A lot of dinosaurs have a very similar
silhouette to the T-Rex ... and we wanted
the audience to instantly recognize this as
something else." The silhouette of the Spinosaurus
is also on the poster behind the Pteranodon,
taking the place of the Tyrannosaurus which
had been used in the previous films' posters.
Baryonyx was originally considered to be the
"big bad" before Spinosaurus was chosen, and
early concept posters reflected this. Within
film dialogue, Billy interprets the animal
encountered as a Baryonyx or Suchomimus, but
Dr. Grant corrects his analysis based on its
sail.
The special effects used for the dinosaurs
were a mixture of animatronics and CGI. Due
to new discoveries and theories in the field
of paleontology, the portrayal of several
dinosaurs differed from that of the previous
films. Discoveries suggesting that Velociraptor
were feathered prompted the addition of quill-like
structures on the head and neck of the males
in the film. "We've found evidence that Velociraptors
had feathers, or feather-like structures,
and we've incorporated that into the new look
of the raptor", said paleontologist Jack Horner,
the film's technical adviser.
Given John Williams was busy writing the music
for Spielberg's own A.I. Artificial Intelligence,
he recommended Don Davis to write the Jurassic
Park III score. Williams' original themes
were integrated into the score as well as
several new ones, such as one for the Spinosaurus
that focused on low sounds, with tubas, trombones
and timpani. The fight between him and the
Tyrannosaurus, compared by Davis to King Kong
fighting a dinosaur in the 1933 film, had
a juxtaposition of the Spinosaurus theme with
the one Williams wrote for the T. rex. In
addition, "Big Hat, No Cattle", a song by
Randy Newman, was used in a restaurant scene.
Release
The film earned $181,171,875 in the United
States and $368,780,809 worldwide, making
it the eighth-highest-grossing film of the
year worldwide but still earning less than
either of its predecessors. As with the other
films in the franchise, there was a large
marketing push, including seven video games
and a novelization aimed at young children.
The film was released on VHS and DVD in December
2001. It was re-released with both sequels
in December 2001 as the Jurassic Park Trilogy,
and as the Jurassic Park Adventure Pack in
November 2005. The film has also been released
as a two-disc DVD set alongside Hulk. In 2011,
the film was released on Blu-ray as part of
the Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy. The soundtrack
was released in July 2001.
Scott Ciencin wrote three children's books
to tie in with the film; the first detailed
the eight weeks Eric spent alone on Isla Sorna;
the second had Eric and Alan returning to
Isla Sorna to rescue a group of teenage filmmakers;
and the last involved Eric and Alan leading
the Pteranodon home after they nest in a Universal
Studios theme park.
Reception
Jurassic Park III has received mixed reviews
from critics. It currently holds a 49% "Rotten"
rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 159 reviews.
The general consensus stated that "The dinos
are as cool as ever, but there's too much
of a 'been there, done that' feel." It also
has a 42 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating
mixed or average reviews. On both sites, it
is the lowest rated film out of the Jurassic
Park trilogy.
Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman, who
praised both the previous Jurassic Park films,
awarded the third film only a C grade, writing
"Jurassic Park III has no pretensions to be
anything more than a goose-bumpy fantasy theme-park
ride for kids, but it's such a routine ride.
Spielberg's wizardry is gone, and his balletic
light touch as well, and that gives too much
of this 90-minute movie over to the duller-than-dull
characters." Derek Elley of Variety Reviews
felt likewise, calling the film "an all-action,
helter-skelter, don't-forget-to-buy-the-computer-game
ride that makes the two previous installments
look like models of classic filmmaking". Ben
Varkontine of PopMatters, however, called
it "not as good a ride as the first", but
"better than the second." Much of the criticism
was leveled at the plot as simply a chase
movie with no character development; Apollo
Movie Guide panned the film as being "almost
the same as the first movie" with "no need
for new ideas or even a script". Empire magazine
gave the film 3 stars out of 5, commenting
that it was "Short, scrappy and intermittently
scary" and that the film ultimately "skews
young". There were also complaints about its
short length and small cast.
On Ebert and Roeper, Richard Roeper gave it
a Thumbs Down, while Roger Ebert awarded a
Thumbs Up. In a subsequent review, Ebert called
it "the best blockbuster of the Summer".
Merchandise
Hasbro released a line of 3.75" action figures
in the spring of 2001 to coincide with the
release, including electronic dinosaurs, humans,
and vehicles. The figures were scaled down
from the original Kenner action figures from
the pre-JP3 toy lines. A smaller die-cast
line of toys was also produced, along with
clothes, books, and an interactive game. An
arcade game, produced by Konami, and a video
game, were also part of the Jurassic Park
3 merchandise.
Sequel
A long-awaited sequel titled Jurassic World,
is set to be released on June 12, 2015.
Awards and nominations
See also
List of characters in Jurassic Park
List of extinct genera in Jurassic Park
References
External links
Jurassic Park III at the Internet Movie Database
Jurassic Park III at AllMovie
Jurassic Park III at Rotten Tomatoes
Jurassic Park III at Box Office Mojo
