he giant-size, genetically engineered dinosaurs of InGen's Jurassic Park
experiment-gone-awry have returned, and this time they're bigger, they're nastier and they're smarter.
Not to mention more lifelike.
Renowned paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Neill) is living a nice, ordinary life—and finding that even the notoriety provided by his initial visit to Jurassic Park nearly a decade ago isn't enough to earn the respect of his peers at a symposium when he presents his theory that dinosaurs once talked to one another.
Disturbing this ordinary life are a wealthy bombastic couple (Macy and Leoni), who sweep in to Grant's Montana work site and use a blank check to entice him to provide a flyover guided tour of Isla Sorna, the unfortunate InGen "Site B" where the chaotic events of The Lost World: Jurassic Park unfolded in the second installment of the series. Not far into the flyover, however, Grant learns the couple aren't wealthy adventurers, but a divorced mother and father searching for their young son (Morgan), who crashed onto the island eight weeks earlier after a parasailing accident.
After their plane crashes on the island, Grant helps the group survive—even though he's still traumatized by his first encounter with the dinosaurs so long ago. Neill's Grant, in fact, is the glue that holds this film together—just as Grant provides the fortitude and experience to carry the group through this hellish trip, Neill's consummate experience and presence provides the necessary foundation without which this movie would have spiraled to depths well below mediocrity.
Even though this is the first Jurassic film not directed by Steven Spielberg, the franchise does well in the hands of director Joe Johnston. A tightly edited 90 minutes, this is a popcorn thrill-ride that's at times corny and forced. But the ever-more-realistic visual effects of the dinosaurs compensate for some of the other elements in the film that ring hollow.
Behind the birth of the dinosaurs
Sweetening the deal for this disc are the multitude of extras that are guaranteed to enthrall dino-lovers of all sizes. There are nearly a dozen extra elements on the DVD, most of which are welcome, well-implemented complements to the film itself.
The 22-minute-long documentary The Making of Jurassic Park III is filled with
behind-the-scenes footage. This segment includes interviews with producer Kathleen Kennedy—who's been with the Jurassic series since the beginning—director Joe Johnston, dino-wiz Stan Winston and stars Sam Neill, Téa Leoni and William H. Macy. Winston appears later in the all-too-short three-minute tour of Stan Winston Studios, where the animatronic dinosaurs were first given life.
Speaking of the dinosaurs, there's a useful seven-minute segment on the new dinosaurs featured in
Jurassic Park III; the sequence is filled with footage and specs so you can tell a T. rex from a Pterandodon or a Spinosaurus on screen. Flip over to Dinosaur Turntables, where there are 3-D models of 12 dinosaurs, including their mammoth dimensions—which, in some ways, are as scary as the dinos' menacing teeth.
There are three scenes that are compared frame-for-frame against the original storyboards upon
which the sequences were based. Also, there are short segments that delve behind the making of three
specific scenes.
Aside from the documentary, the other particularly satisfying extra is the section titled A Visit to ILM. Once selected, there are four choices (concepts, process, muscle simulation, compositing), each of
which leads to another branching menu of content viewing options, all of which combine to explain just how
the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park III could look quite so real.
Other sections on the disc include a four-minute segment with paleontologist Jack Horner, a consultant to the Jurassic Park series who talks to the real-life dinosaurs; production notes and cast and filmmaker bios (all of which are surprisingly readable on a TV screen, unlike the notes incorporated on many DVDs); the theatrical trailers for each of the three Jurassic Park films, and the Jurassic Park Archives, which contain promotional adverts for Jurassic merchandise.
