Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park III is a 2001 motion picture, and a sequel of Jurassic Park and the highly successful original Jurassic Park. The film was directed by Joe Johnston and stars Sam Neill, Téa Leoni and William H. Macy.

Unlike the two previous Jurassic Park movies, this film is not based on a Michael Crichton novel, nor directed by Steven Spielberg, nor written by David Koepp, nor scored by John Williams.

Plot summary

It is some four years after the second film, The Lost World. The public is aware of the existence of cloned dinosaurs on Isla Sorna. Taking advantage of this, an illegal boat-towed para-foiling operation "Dino-Soar" has been set up to give coastal tours of the island. It's run by Enrique Cardoso (Julio Oscar Mechoso) A young boy, dinosaur enthusiast Eric Kirby (Trevor Morgan), and family friend Ben Hildebrand (Mark Harelik), decide to go parasailing. However, the boat is allegedly attacked by dinosaurs or pterosaurs and left unmanned, heading toward some rocks. Eric and Ben then detach the tow rope and drift towards the island.

Meanwhile, the viewers revisit Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). Both have continued their paleontological careers but are working independently now; Ellie has married and has children; Grant is still digging, now with his young protogé Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola), and has made some interesting discoveries about the Velociraptor, even producing a replica of the animal's sounding chamber, equivalent to a voice box.

Grant is approached by Paul (William H. Macy) and Amanda Kirby (Téa Leoni), saying they are wealthy thrill-seekers, who want Grant to give them an aerial tour of Isla Sorna. Grant is reluctant at first but once again, the Kirbys' promise of funding his dig gets the better of him.

Meanwhile, two mercenaries (Cooper and Nash) apparently hired by Udesky for the Kirbys use a plane dressed like a dinosaur for target practice.

Another plane, a Raytheon King Air carrying Grant, Billy, the Kirbys and the mercenaries arrives at Isla Sorna. Grant suspects something's not quite right when the Kirbys try to land the plane. Grant becomes agitated and is knocked unconscious by Cooper. When the plane lands, it is quickly attacked by the Spinosaurus, a colossal finned dinosaur, killing Cooper on the runway. The plane hits the Spinosaurus on takeoff and crashes up in some tall trees. The dinosaur bites the front of the plane off and eats Nash, stranding the rest of the group on the island. A chase ensues which leads the party to a T. rex which chases them until it meets the Spinosaurus. A fight ensues where the Spinosaurus kills the Tyrannosaurus rex by snapping its neck. (Many fans speculate as to whether this T. rex is the "juvenile" from the previous movie.)

Grant finds out the Kirbys are in fact searching for their lost son, and that they are not as wealthy as they claim. Grant decides to lead the group toward the shore. (The general belief is that the carnivorous dinosaurs have all nested in the center of the island, while the herbivorous animals live near the coast.) Along the way, the group encounters the parafoils, as well as the remains of Ben Hildebrand. Eric, however, seems to have escaped safely. Billy salvages the parafoils. Also discovered nearby are a nest of raptor eggs.

The group approaches an old InGen laboratory. After briefly exploring the building's interior, they are attacked by a group of velociraptors. During the resulting chase, Grant becomes separated from Billy and the Kirbys. Udesky runs into a pack of velociraptors, and he desperately tries to ward them off with a stick, but the predators cripple his legs severely and before he can escape the male raptor pierces Udesky's spine with one of his claws. Billy and the Kirbys have climbed up a tree and notice Udesky's body. He moves his arm leading them to believe he's still alive. When Amanda Kirby nearly tumbles from the tree, two raptors scurry out of the bushes; the animals had used Udesky to set a trap. One of the male raptors calls for help and the two threatening Billy and the Kirbys are urged to go. Before leaving though the male Raptor snaps Udesky's neck.

In the meantime Grant is rescued from a pack of raptors by young Eric, who has been living on the island for two months in the back of a truck. Eric has salvaged supplies and food from the InGen compound and has discovered other tools for survival, such as tyrannosaur urine.

Eventually, everybody is reunited, but they soon find themselves being chased by the Spinosaurus (who they notice after they hear a satellite phone ringing from inside the dinosaur - Nash was holding it as he was eaten) . Able to find shelter in another building, Grant finds out that Billy stole some Velociraptor eggs, explaining the earlier attack. He is furious with Billy, claiming he is "no better than the people who built this place".

The group attempts to reach a boat docked in a nearby river. However, they have to pass through a massive aviary and are attacked by Pteranodons. Using the parafoil he salvaged, Billy tries to rescuse Eric from a nest of Pteranodon "chicks" and is attacked by several adults. He plunges into the river as they continue to attack him.

Grant and the Kirbys board the boat, encountering some Parasaurs, Brachiosaurs, Stegosaurs, and Ankylosaurs grazing in a field. Grant briefly marvels at the way they coexist with their environment.

While floating travelling down river they hear a familiar ring tone. They find some Spinosaurus dung containing the remains of the mercenaries. Among them is a satellite phone, swallowed by the Spinosaurus when it ate Nash. Grant washes the phone off and a Ceratosaurus approaches but is warded off by the smell of the dung. Grant attempts to contact Ellie, but only gets out "The river... Site B! The river!" as the Spinosaur attacks again, tearing the boat apart. Paul manages to distract the Spinosaurus by climbing a construction crane while Grant fires a flare gun, igniting the spilt engine oil and scaring the dinosaur away.

The group is close to the shore when suddenly the raptors reappear, wanting their eggs back. The eggs are given back to the raptors, and using Billy's raptor sounding chamber Grant fakes a signal that momentarily confuses the raptors, who then run away when they hear the approach of helicopters.

The group arrives at the beach to see a military detachment, including two aircraft carriers, no doubt sent by Ellie, awaiting them. As they board a helicopter, Grant finds Billy, still alive but badly injured. As the helicopter heads toward an amphibious assault ship, some Pteranodons fly by, looking for a new nesting ground.

Dinosaurs and other Reptiles Featured

These are dinosaurs and other reptiles confirmed to be on Isla Sorna in JP3:

Tyrannosaurus
Spinosaurus
Velociraptor
Compsognathus
Ceratosaurus
Brachiosaurus
Triceratops
Ankylosaurus
Corythosaurus
Parasaurolophus
Stegosaurus
Pteranodon
Datousaurus (Identified in the junior novelization of the film as the corpse the T. rex was feeding on, though identified by the Jurassic Park III film crew on the Jurassic Park III DVD commentary as Parasaurolophus in the film.)
Baryonyx (This is according to a Jurassic Park III prop; however, as said this may in fact be Spinosaurus)
Maiasaura (This is according to the Jurassic Park III Trading Cards Made by Inkworks)
Muttaburrasaurus(This is according to the Jurassic Park III Trading Cards Made by Inkworks)
Hadrosaurus (This is according to what would be identified as a Jurassic Park III prop)

Trivia

According to director Joe Johnston, he was interested in directing the sequel to Jurassic Park and approached friend Steven Spielberg about the project. Spielberg said that should interest come in doing the sequel, Johnston would be directing it as it happened.
Several of the action sequences, such as the Pteranodon aviary and the Spinosaurus's river attack (although the river attack featured a Tyrannosaurus rex in the novel), were featured in the original Jurassic Park novel but due to budget and story concerns, were left out of the previous films. Also, the sequence in the laboratory, with all the tiny dinosaur fetuses in the tanks of liquid, was in the Lost World novel, but not in that movie.
Isla Sorna's look in this film is somewhat different from that in Jurassic Park. This is because much of Jurassic Park was shot in California forests while Jurassic Park III was filmed in Hawaii, where the original film was shot.
Draft scripts featured Billy truly dying. He was reincarnated in late revisions to remove all tragic elements from the ending and make a complete wish fulfillment.
Jurassic Park III is the first Jurassic Park film not to be adapted for comics by Topps Comics.
Michael Jeter, who played Udesky, unfortunately died of AIDS shortly after the film was made.
The mobile phone that rings every time the Spinosaurus is close is reminescent of the crocodile that swallowed Captain Hook's hand and clock in Peter Pan.
An early script rumor that circulated around the internet, prior to the film going into production, revolved around a future where the world has been overcome by dinosaurs, and resorting it back to the beginning of time. According to this rumor, there were proposed shots of New York City having been one of the cities ravaged by the dinosaurs.

Reaction

Jurassic Park III opened to mixed reviews and audience reaction. Some believed it was an improvement over Jurassic Park, while others felt the series was spiraling into B-movie territory, something that had also happened with Universal's Jaws franchise. One thing that particularly attracted the ire of fans was the Tyrannosaurus/Spinosaurus fight, in which the Spinosaurus fights and defeats a Tyrannosaurus. Because the T-Rex, a familiar (and popular) dinosaur, had been the star of the previous Jurassic Park films, many fans were disappointed to see it so easily killed off and replaced with a new, bizarre dinosaur. (Many film reviewers, however, saw the fight as a highlight of the movie.) Also, the level of sophisticated planning and cunning displayed by the raptor pack in this film has been said to stretch credibility and is lampooned on occasion by critics and the general public.

The film did quite poorly compared to its predessors. Nevertheless, it did rather well at the box office, making $180 million domestic and $365 million worldwide. Another sequel is currently in development, this time with more Spielberg involvement.