Alright, cruising right along into our second week of #JurassicJune. Last week we looked at The Lost World Jurassic Park, so it only makes sense that this week we would continue the Jurassic franchise and take a look at Jurassic Park III.
To my knowledge, there was no book guiding the story here, which many fans claim is the reason it is the ‘weakest’ of the original three movies. I’ve done exactly nothing to verify this, but I read that Crichton was brought in during the earliest days of the script’s development, but after three days of brainstorming, he had nothing, and left to let the movie make itself without his guidance.
Woah.
Whatever the film’s critical reception — many also point to the 14 year gap between titles as proof of the movie’s poor quality — I still think there is a lot to love about this film, and greatly enjoyed my most recent rewatch which was actually somewhat revelatory for me.
Let’s start with my initial impressions. I honestly can’t remember the last time I watched this film (presumably sometime in 2022 in the lead up to Jurassic World Dominion but maybe farther back), so I feel like I can genuinely call these impressions ‘initial’ though there will always be some faint rose-colored echoes of childhood experience tainting a completely objective view of the film.
In any case, my initial thoughts — unfortunately — while watching were that it looked a bit cheap compared to the previous films. In the bonus commentary, a lot of time is spent talking about how this movie was a huge step forward for CGI, and that they used much more of it in this film than any of the previous films, taking painstaking effort to make the skin and musculature of the dinosaurs sag and droop as it might in real life. Unfortunately, it seems to almost be a rule of thumb that CGI just looks worse and worse the older it gets. Ostensibly, there will be some point at which the CGI from ten years ago will not look noticeably worse than the CGI of today, however, I think we’re still a ways away from that (also this movie is now over TWENTY years old).
I wish I could say that it was just the CGI that cheapened the experience for me, but I also thought the practical effects suffered as well. The scene in which the Spinosaurus attacks Dr. Grant and crew in the airplane was essentially all practical effects, and I have to admit, the Spino just seems to move like a robot. The whole sequence feels more like you’re on a ride at Universal more than actually being attacked by a dinosaur.
Finally, I’ve never thought of this movie as a 3D experience, I don’t ever remember watching it with 3D goggles on, whether in theaters or at home. However, I notice MANY shots in the film which seemed to exist for no other reason than that the dinosaur would loom out over the audience members. I haven’t yet watched a movie in 3D and been happier for it so this also was a small strike against the film for me.
But there is still a whole lot I found myself loving about the film. First and foremost: Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus! Obviously what we know about this weird looking dinosaur has changed quite a bit since 2001; however, this version of the dinosaur is still completely captivating. Famed paleontologist, and inspiration for Alan Grant’s character, Jack Horner consulted on the film and explains (in yet another special feature video) that Spino’s skull was 8ft long and (in 2001) was considered the largest predator known. Essentially a whale that could walk around on land and swim. He mentions that they essentially equated size with ferociousness, and bam the classic “Spino vs T-Rex cliche (of which this film is the trope codifier) was born.
I see a lot of flack for this move because these two dinosaurs did not live in the same time period and would never have faced off in this way . . . To which I say, it’s still awesome, and doesn’t break the logic of the movie which is essentially that the folks at InGen didn’t care how an ecosystem would have actually worked, they just wanted to build as many cool dinosaurs as they could. In any case, Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus (whatever it happens to look like at the moment) has played a huge role in my fiction, and likely never would have been on my radar if not for this movie. So I’ll always be indebted to JPIII on that account.
Some other cool dino things I appreciated about the movie: 1) Ankylosaurus sighted! They are also becoming a fav of mine so I was happy to see them included; 2) They at least tried to put feathers on the Velociraptor. Later we’ll see MUCH more where that came from (check out Prehistoric Planet Episode 3 Freshwater for a better representation); 3) Tyrannosaurus Rex shown more as a scavenger than a hunter (interesting!).
I think this post is starting to run on a bit, so I’ll begin to wrap it up with the revelatory bit I mentioned in the beginning of the post. Since I started working in makerspaces back in 2018 (wow 7 years already!), I have half-assedly kept a sort of running list in the back of my mind of all the fiction I’ve consumed which contains a 3D printer, or some type of digital fabrication device. I had completely forgot that this movie uses one to make the velociraptor resonating chamber despite having seen tons of 3D printed resonators on Tik Tok and other places . . . I just never put it together that they actually had one in the movie.
I don’t remember watching that scene when this movie came out and thinking: “Oh I want to do stuff like that when I grow up” . . . and yet here we are . . . with JPIII having influenced my choice of career more than any of the previous two “better” movies. I guess you never can tell.
Give Jurassic Park III a Watch?
Of course! Despite its aging graphics and some other flaws in the film, Jurassic Park III still has quite a bit of wonder for any dinosaur enthusiasts, or even anyone looking for a halfway decent monster movie. I enjoyed rediscovering Spinosaurus, seeing some Ankylosaurs and of course the dreaded Velociraptors.
On a more personal note, I couldn’t believe how the ‘worst’ film of the trilogy was still clearly influential enough on my eleven year old mind to plant the 3D printing seed in my brain, which grew unconsciously over the next 17 years to result in me working with 3D printers nearly every damn day.
That’s all I have for this week. What are your thoughts on Jurassic Park III. Are you a fan? Or did it flop? Did it connect to your life in any unexpected ways? And as always, which dinosaurs did you enjoy seeing in this film? Which are your favorite? Can’t wait to talk some more about this movie! Leave your thoughts in the comments.
(Hopefully) we’ll be looking at Jurassic World next time on the blog! Happy #JurassicJune!
alligators and aneurysms! 
