Jurassic Park 3

Jurassic Park 3 grabs hold of the flailing franchise and drags it back from the brink with big pointy teeth! And its no surprise to discover that it does so by sacrificing its cinematic legitimacy for cheesy monster movie sensibilities.

Jurassic Park 3 stars Sam Neil, reprising his role from the first film, as Dr. Alan Grant, world famous paleontologist and Jurassic Park survivor. Reluctantly hired to serve as dino guide to a pair of spoiled brat tourists (Tea Leoni and William H. Macy) on a JP Island fly by, things quickly go awry and Grant finds himself once again hunted by Ingen's hungry creations.

Compared to the previous two films, JP3's story is almost idiotically simple, written at a level that even a caveman could comprehend. And while JP3 also lacks a lot of the humorous charm so eagerly provided by Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm, it manages to stomp through the theater in an altogether entertaining and enjoyable fashion.

Unlike JP2, JP3's characters are actually lovable, each in their own meaty dino food way. No annoying screaming little girls, or evil tycoons to wish death on here. Just a band of desperate folks trying to keep from ending up as a T-Rex main course. As always, William H. Macy steals the show, never a moment wasted when he's on the screen.

JP3 avoids trying to seem intelligent and weighty, a la JP2. It also manages to avoid spending any time on anything much at all other than a lot of running and screaming. Yet, somehow there is a decided lack of gore when compared to previous Jurassic Park films, which seems odd when one considers that action is all this film has to offer.

But despite the utter simplicity of the film, I found myself enjoying it, in a sort of haphazard, crunchy way. There is something appealing about watching a film where you aren't constantly confronted with illogical inconsistencies and at the same time don't have to worry about using any brain power to get something out of it. JP3 has no message, has nothing important to say, except perhaps get out or get eaten.

In short, Jurassic Park 3 lacks the intelligence and tenacity of the first film, but avoids stumbling about like a drunken T-Rex in a badly subtitled Godzilla movie as did the second film. At the very least its a fun filled afternoon of dinotastic monstrosities and jump out of the bushes thrills.