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Laramie Movie Scope:
Jurassic Park III

Clomp, clomp, chomp chomp, one more time

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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July 19, 2001 -- "Jurassic Park III" is more of the same. You know the drill, people land on Isla Sonora, the dinosaur island, and get chased around and gobbled up by dinosaurs. It is a pretty good, by the numbers, adventure yarn, but a raptor could write something more original.

Sam Neill ("The Dish") reprises his role as Dr. Alan Grant Sam Neill, as does Laura Dern of "October Sky" who played Dr. Ellie Sattler in the original Jurassic Park movie. There's a brief set up. Foolish man and boy (Trevor Morgan of "The Patriot") go parasailing near the island and accidentally land there. Mother, Amanda Kirby (Téa Leoni of "Deep Impact") and father, Paul Kirby (William H. Macy of "State and Main"), mount a rescue mission with some very amateur soldiers of fortune. They also rope Grant into the expedition, along with fellow scientist Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola of "Timecode"). They land on the island, get into big trouble.

The rest of the movie has them running around the island being chased by big lizards. The plot is very spare. We learn little about science. There are no philosophical discussions about man tampering with nature as there were in the first movie. It is just a flat out adventure yarn. There is no character development. It is just a popcorn movie, but an effective one. The action is non-stop for most of the film. The way the puny, slow humans keep managing to escape the clutch of the dinosaurs is ingenious. The special effects are excellent. The original film "Jurassic Park" pioneered the digital animation techniques used in this film, and they have come a long way in just a few years. The dinosaurs look more real than ever, including some long-snouted thing called a Spinosaurus.

Neil and Macy are both quite good in the film. Neil fires off a bunch of snappy one-liners and Macy is good as a man out of his element, but doing the best he can. Michael Jeter of "The Green Mile") does a nice job as Udesky, one of the mercenaries. The kid, Morgan, is not one of those tiresome brats you see in this type of movie, but a resourceful person who has had to grow up fast. The film is about half an hour shorter than the first two "Jurassic Park" films, and it seemed just about the right length at 92 minutes. There is nothing original about this movie, but it delivers exactly what you expect it to. If that's what you want, this is your movie. If you're looking for a depressing "art" film with something meaningful to say about the human experience, look elsewhere. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

It was unfortunate that when I went to see this film (and "Tomb Raider" too), there were these dreadful people sitting behind me in the theater who talked all the way through the movie. I swear these people had a liquid lunch, they just giggled and talked the whole time they were there. It seems there are more and more people who don't have any manners at all. They act like they are watching television, or playing a video game, at home. A movie theater is different, it is a public place. Those who boorishly talk, spoil the movie experience of everyone within earshot. I can speak from experience when I say nothing these loudmouths have to say during a movie is going to be of the slightest interest to anyone around them. It is just an awful annoyance. Save it for after the movie.

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Copyright © 2001 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)