Amazon.co.uk Review
As long as you expect nothing more,
Jurassic Park III is a satisfying popcorn adventure. A little cheesier than the first two
Jurassic blockbusters, it's a big B-movie with big B-list stars (including Laura Dern, briefly reprising her
Jurassic Park role) and eight years of advancing CGI technology gives it a sharp edge over its predecessors. While adopting the jungle spirit of
King Kong, the movie refines Michael Crichtons original premise and its dinosaurs are even more realistic, their behaviour more detailed and their variety--including flying Pteronodons and a new villain, the Spinosaurus--more dazzling and threatening than ever. These advancements justify the sequel and its contrived plot--just barely spanning 90 minutes without wearing out its welcome.
Posing as wealthy tourists, an adventurous couple (William H Macy, Téa Leoni) convince palaeontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and his protégé (Allesandro Nivola) to act as tour guides on a fly-over trip to Isla Sorna, the ill-fated "Site B" where all hell broke loose in The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2. In truth, they're on a search-and-rescue mission to find their missing son (Trevor Morgan) and their plane crash is just the first of several enjoyably suspenseful sequences. Director Joe Johnston (October Sky) embraces the formulaic plot as a series of atmospheric set pieces, placing new and familiar dinosaurs in misty rainforests, fiery lakes and mysterious valleys, turning JP3 into a thrill-ride with impressive highlights (including a T-Rex vs. Spinosaurus smackdown), adequate doses of wry humour (from the cowriters of Election) and an upbeat ending that's corny but appropriate, proving that the symptoms of "sequelitis" needn't be fatal. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
On the DVD: even though the original movie introduced DTS sound in cinemas, this is the first Region 2 DVD of the Jurassic Park franchise to boast DTS on the DVD. Great sound is complemented by a splendidly crisp anamorphic picture. The extras are many but fairly brief: a quick "Visit to ILM" (earnest men with beards and/or baseball caps sitting in front of computers) shows us the CGI dinosaurs whereas the even shorter "Tour of Stan Winston's Studio" reveals the animatronics--both of which are also explored in the fairly routine "making of" documentary (22 minutes). Behind-the-scenes montages show how three key sequences were created, and the commentary has key members of the FX team (including Stan Winston) revealing all the digital and animatronic secrets. Best of all is the disc's laudable attempt at providing added educational value with in-depth guides to each new dinosaur (plus "turntable" views of them all), and palaeontologist Jack Horner on location at his dinosaur digs in Montana. --Mark Walker
Video Description
DVD Special Features:
The Making of Jurassic Park III
Feature Commentary with the Special Effects Team
The New Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park III
A Visit to ILM
Behind-the-Scenes
Photograph Gallery
Trailers
Tour of the Stan Winston Studio
Storyboards to Final Feature Comparison
ILM's Computer-Generated Dinosaurs
Montana--Finding New Dinosaurs
DVD-ROM Features: Screen Saver, Browser and Theatrical Website
16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Soundtrack: English Dolby 5.1; English 5.1 DTS
Subtitles: English for Deaf and Hard of Hearing
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