After the semi-debacle ending of THE LOST WORLD, I had no idea what to expect from JURASSIC PARK III, released in 2001.
It's a decidedly mixed bag, offering up more shrugs than thrills.
The GOOD:
Sam Neill is back as Dr. Alan Grant and he's terrific when given a chance. But I find it hard to believe that he could be convinced to visit the island of Isla Sorna, the "backup" island where dinos were developed and grown before being sent to Jurassic Park.
The twists and turns the screenplay takes to get him crashed back on a dino island with no way off are painful and ridiculous.
GOOD: Director Joe Johnston (Captain America, Jumanji) structures a 90-minute adventure and propels everything forward at such a pace, its a fast ride that sometimes doesn't give you much time to see its flaws. He knows how to structure an adventure.
GOOD: The special effects team is excellent, offering up some old and new creatures, including some great full size creatures from Stan Winston.
THE BAD: If I never see Tea Leoni in anything again, that will be too soon. My GAWD she is annoying as Amanda Kirby, looking for her son, whose idiot father managed to get him dropped on the island via a hang glider (?). Every time Leoni screamed his name into a megaphone, I prayed a dino would leap out of the bushes and devour her. Unfortunately, even THEY find her annoying and she manages to shriek, whine and blab her way through the whole movie.
The usually terrific William H. Macy (Fargo) is equally weak as her new husband, bumbling his way through scene after scene, contorting his face into reactions that must be meant to convey his real thoughts about the screenplay.
Poor Allessandro Nivola (American Hustle) is saddled with the most predictable plot point in prehistoric creature film history. If you don't see it coming, you might have fallen asleep.
Anytime the dinosaurs or Neill are on screen, its not bad. Anytime they aren't, its time to get popcorn.
They ought to have a contest between Kate Capshaw in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and Tea Leoni here for most annoying character ever portrayed on film.
Leoni wins and the audience loses.
A disappointment at the box office, it killed the Jurassic series for 14 years, until 2015's "Jurassic World".
Part Three gets a D.
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