Jurassic Park III **** (2001, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, William H Macy, Téa Leoni) – Classic Movie Review 362

You’d think one close encounter with dinosaurs would have been enough for palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill). But here he is in 2001, eight years on from part one, again stranded on a dinosaur island (Isla Sorna) overrun with genetically cloned, super-intelligent velociraptors.

This time he’s been set up to be main course on the menu for dino dinner by distraught couple Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H Macy and Téa Leoni), who are searching for their missing son Erik (Trevor Morgan).

Directed by Joe Johnston, and written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Jurassic Park III is a lean and mean fighting-machine of a scary movie, pared down to a fast-paced 90 minutes, with little screen time for anything except non-stop dino action.

You know:

‘Oh, there’s a dino behind that tree.’

‘Eeek, better start running.’ ‘

Ah, we’ll just get through that hole in the wire.’

‘Oooh, so can the dino.’

‘Er, better start running again!’

That kind of thing.

It’s really nice to have Sam Neill and Laura Dern back, and William H. Macy and Téa Leoni are good additions to the cast.

And if it plays more like a video game than a film, why not?

It follows Jurassic Park (1993) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Jurassic Park IV is planned for 2015.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 362

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