Jurassic Park 3 (Film): Critique 1/2

Dr Alan Grant is asked to give Paul and Amanda Kirby an arial tour of the dinosaur island. But then their plane lands on the island: it was a ruse to get Grant to help them find their son Eric.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Clever

 

In the intro, the boat travels into a bay or upriver (either way, the island surrounds it on both sides).

Then we see a shot from the boat’s perspective, with the shore very close, and we hear a splash. Then there’s a shot from Eric’s perspective from the glider, looking down onto an empty boat. Clearly something on land came into the water to eat the sailors, but the audience doesn’t know what.

As the Spinosaurus is clearly the main antagonist in the film, it would be easy for the audience to guess that the Spinosaurus was the one to eat the sailors. Then later, when Grant and co are on their river boat, the audience can guess that the semi-aquatic Spinosaurus would cause issues.

Even if some audience members didn’t follow this foreshadowing, the Spinosaurus is clearly a natural in the river. So everyone could deduce that the Spinosaurus was the one to eat the sailors from the intro.

 

There were three particularly enjoyable choices relating to the senses.

The first shot of the film is of an islet that shaped like a dinosaur tooth.

When oil spills on the river and then the oil is set on water, it looks like the water is on fire. This is such an alien, contradictory situation compared to normal that it’s a powerful visual.

When the pterosaurs are chasing after Billy (who’s flying on the glider), one of the pterosaurs makes a sound like a penguin.

 

There were of course other clever decisions.

We see brachiosaurs that are green with a red crest. That’s very different to how they looked in the first two films. Perhaps this is sexual dimorphism, exactly like what’s seen in the raptors. Maybe it’s a subspecies of brachiosaur, or even a different species of sauropod. Or perhaps someone filled in the brachiosaur’s DNA blanks in a more creative manner. All these possible answers are definitely feasible within the framework that the first Jurassic Park film provides.

Grant and co hide in the boat cage to protect themselves from the Spinosaurus. But then the Spinosaurus rolls the boat over, submerging the humans who are now stuck in the cage. So the very thing they were using to protect themselves from the Spinosaurus becomes the very thing the Spinosaurus used to hurt them.

 

 

Good

 

The decisions with the t-rex were outstanding.

The t-rex being killed early was such a good move. Its presence pays homage to the first two films without its presence dominating this film.

The fight between the t-rex and the Spinosaurus was really well choreographed. The shaking of the skin, the movements of the tails… everything was animated well with great attention to detail.

 

The raptors are shown to be very intelligent.

The raptors hurt one of the security guards to lure the other humans into the open, all so that the raptors could kill them, too. This demonstrates the raptors’ ability to think, plan, and recognise sequences of events. It really brings to life their level of intelligence.

A raptor snaps the neck of the guard lying prone on the ground, just like how the Spinosaurus snapped the t-rex’s neck whilst it was lying prone on the ground.

The raptors clearly didn’t follow the scent of their eggs through the bird cage to get to the coast (with all the blocked doors, broken walk ways and loads of water, it isn’t a feasible route). Yet they predicted that the humans would go to the coast. At first, this seems farfetched. However, all humans on the island would arrive by sea then leave by sea. So the raptors clearly know that the humans would eventually go to the water.

 

In the first film, everything Grant did was self-assured. Yet in this film, he’s shown to be awkward and not self-assured in various situations. It presents a much more rounded character with more depth. Grant’s characterisation is the first film isn’t lacking, yet seeing this other side to Grant is satisfying.

Grant is really awkward whilst giving a lecture. However, when it turns to him answering questions, he’s far more natural. I’ve seen this plenty of times: a lecture is much more formal than Q&A, a difference that reflects in how these words are delivered just moments apart.

When Grant used his fake raptor voice box to make raptor noises, he couldn’t do it right the first few times. It’s refreshing to see fictional characters not mastering a skill on their first attempt!

But Grant is still clever and says eye-opening things. Billy stole some raptor eggs. Paul asks, “What if they catch us with them?” to which Grant responds, “What if they catch us without them?”