Movie analysis of Jurassic Park III(2001)

"Jurassic Park III" is neither as dreadful as it might be, nor as perfectly wrought as it could be. For one thing, it moves along as jauntily as one of those horrific raptors scooting along the plain; the movie wraps itself up so quickly, and after such a relatively low-key climax, that you can barely believe it's over. It runs about 90 minutes, and that's sweet relief. You can get your fix of dino effects (most of which are starting to look pretty familiar anyway, after the original "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park"), with a few good jokes and interesting performances thrown in, and be on your way.

　　One of the best things about "Jurassic Park III" is that it brings back Sam Neill, who starred in the original, and he's a distinctly human and humane presence. As the movie opens, we see Neill's adventuresome paleontologist, Dr. Alan Grant, playing with the toddler of his former collaborator Dr. Ellie Satler (Laura Dern, in a nicely played cameo), who has settled down with an earnest, unexciting husband and is quietly raising their two kids. Neill plays the scene beautifully: He's half puzzled by the idea that anybody would want to settle down to a life like this, and half wistfully jealous that it's just not for him.

　　He has no desire to see any more live dinosaurs up close and personal. Nonetheless, he and his young assistant Billy (Alessandro Nivola) are reluctantly roped into an adventure expedition to Isla Sorna (the "Site II" from "The Lost World," where the prehistoric horrors were bred in a flagrant expression of human arrogance), by Amanda and Paul Kirby (Téa Leoni and William H. Macy), a rich couple hankering for danger.

　　 Of course, they have another motive. But the bare-bones plot, from a script written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne (writer and director of "Election" and "Citizen Ruth") and Jim Taylor (who co-wrote those pictures with Payne), is probably the last reason anybody would go to see it. What most of us want are dinosaurs, and there are just the right number of those here, from a flock of fierce pterodactyl-like pteranodons with mischievously knowing eyes, to the dreaded raptors (who always look to me as if they should be dangling old-lady pocketbooks from their disproportionately smallish, curled-over front claws). Although it's probably still too intense for very small children, "Jurassic Park III" features a blessed minimum of torso chewing. The worst part is watching one of the raptors use a giant toenail to puncture the spine of a minor character played by Michael Jeter -- he's too fine an actor to meet such a ignominious end.