By
Graig Uhlin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Despite recycled clichs from the earlier films, dino movie delivers some good scares
Grade: B
Not to be clich, but the "Jurassic Park" series is much like sex after 30 years of marriage - once there was passion, but now it's just a matter of going through the motions. You know, rushing through it, trying to beat the commercial, wondering if you left the front door unlocked. And it's not that it's bad - just familiar, with that been-there-done-her feeling.
The "Jurassic Park" movies have relied on the same formula established by the first in the series and other previous flicks of the monster-movie variety. It's usually the same cast of killer dinos - raptors, T-Rex, etc. - the same flimsy plot device used to get our group of would-be dino food back on the island and the same instrumental score that - much like the theme to "Gilligan's Island" - has been forever ingrained in the collective American subconscious.
But curse of franchises be damned, "Jurassic Park 3," despite all the recycled clichs and dj vu sequences, succeeds where, say, "Jurassic Park 2" did not. The reason is simply a return to the basics - more than that though, this third installment represents an effective streamlining of the prior films to their run-for-your-life essence. With the second film of the series, besides the Herculean task of attempting to best the Spielberg-directed original, the guiding principle was bigger is better. Take the dinos off the island and put them in San Diego. Up the death rate. Up everything, basically. But the finished product failed to excite, failed to scare and failed to seem anything but ridiculous and farcical.
Director Joe Johnston apparently learned from those mistakes. The third film - written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor - gets its flimsy plot device out of the way quick and within the first fifteen minutes, one person is already dead. The film does well maintaining this heightened pace for awhile - killing off its characters at such a fast rate that the audience wonders if it'll have any left by the end of the first hour.
There is of course. Among them, dino-veteran Dr. Alan Grant, the role that has made it appear that Sam Neill has a film career, is deceived into returning to the island (technically, Site B from the second film) by bickering-divorcees Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Tea Leoni, respectively) whose son was stranded on the island after a parasailing accident. Whatever you say, Mr. Screenwriter. Get to the dinosaurs. And thankfully, they do.
Actually, the film makes clever, self-aware use of its own flimsy plot device, portraying its characters, especially the Kirbys, as inept, foolhardy know-nothings who continuously do stuff that will just get them killed. It's frustrating to watch but only works to heighten the tension. It's that same impulse one gets in horror movies to yell out at the screen "Don't open that door!" And it's a refreshing revision from the earlier films where it was the dinosaurs against a cadre of experts and commando hunters.
The other welcome revision is the inclusion of new dinosaurs including T-Rex replacement Spinosaurus (he's bigger, faster and a hell of a swimmer), a few pteradactyls and raptors that can speak to one another. The film makes adequate use of each, only really excelling in the use of those flying baddies. The chase scenes are thrilling but familiar, and none match the deft raptors-in-the-kitchen sequence of the original film. The dinos of this film have gotten a bit smarter and bit more conspiratorial, but no truly original scenes result.
Overall, it is good to see a film franchise gaining steam after a dismal sophomore slump rather than languishing in its own clichs ("Batman and Robin," anyone?). It's good fun, a good scare and a good summer flick.
