Jurassic Park III

Preceded by: The Lost World: Jurassic Park _________________ Followed by: Jurassic Park IV

Jurassic Park III is a 2001 motion picture, and sequel of The Lost World: 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.

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-gliding operation "Dino-Soar" has been set up to give coastal tours of the island. A young boy, dinosaur enthusiast Eric Kirby (Trevor Morgan), and family friend Ben Hildebrand (Mark Harelik), decide to go parasailing. However, the boat is seemingly attacked by reptiles and left unmanned, heading toward some rocks. Erik 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 protégé Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola), and has made some interesting discoveries about the Velociraptor, even producing a replica of the animal's resonating 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.

The plane carrying Grant, Billy, the Kirbys and three mercenaries arrives at Isla Sorna. Piloting the plane is M. B. Nash and a self-styled "booking agent" named Michael Udesky. Grant suspects something is not quite right when the Kirbys try to land the plane. Grant becomes agitated and is knocked unconscious by the last mercenary named Cooper. When the plane lands, it is quickly attacked by a 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 the pilot, Nash (along with a satellite phone), stranding the rest of the group on the island. A chase ensues in which the party runs into a bull Tyrannosaurus which chases them until it meets the Spinosaurus. A fight ensues where the tyrannosaurus is looking bictoriousis until Spinosaurus kills the Tyrannosaurus by snapping its neck.

Grant finds out that the Kirbys are in fact searching for their lost son and not as wealthy as they claim. Grant decides to lead the group toward the shore. Along the way, the group encounters the paraglider, as well as the remains of Ben Hildebrand. Eric, however, seems to have escaped safely. Billy salvages the paraglider. Also discovered nearby are a nest of Velociraptor 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. The booking agent, Udesky, runs into a pack of Velociraptors, who cripple him severely. Billy and the Kirbys have climbed up a tree and notice the man's body. He moves his arm leading them to believe he is still alive. When Amanda Kirby nearly tumbles from the tree, two raptors scurry out of the bushes and attack. 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 Kirby, who has been living on the island for 8 weeks in the back of a truck. Eric has salvaged supplies and food from the InGen compound and has discovered other tools for survival.

Eventually, everyone is reunited, but their harmony is interrupted by Spinosaurus (who they notice after they hear the satellite phone ringing from inside the dinosaur). 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 in fog and are attacked by Pteranodons. Using the paraglider he salvaged, Billy tries to rescue Eric from a nest of Pteranodon "chicks" and is attacked by several adults. He plunges into the river as they continue to attack him, seemingly killing him.

Grant and the Kirbys board the boat, encountering some Parasaurolophus, Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Ankylosaurus grazing in a field. Grant briefly marvels at the way they coexist with their environment.

While floating down river they hear a familiar ring tone. They find some Spinosaurus dung containing the undigested bones and clothes of the mercenaries. Among them is the satellite phone, swallowed by the Spinosaurus earlier. A Ceratosaurus approaches but is warded off by the smell. As they set off down the river, Eric notes that the fish in the water seemed frightened. The Spinosaurus attacks and rips the engine open, spilling oil into the river. Grant attempts to contact Ellie, but only gets out "The river... Site B! The river!" as the Spinosaurus attacks again, tearing the boat apart. It gives Amanda a minor scratch injury with its huge claws and nearly drowns the group. 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 resonating chamber Grant fakes a signal that momentarily confuses the raptors, who retreat 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 and her husband, 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 Pteranodon fly by, looking for new nesting grounds.

Cast

Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant, a world-famous paleontologist who survived the Incident on Isla Nublar and has since developed an extensive theory about Velicoraptor intelligence
William H. Macy as Paul Kirby, the owner of a hardware store who poses as a wealthy businessman in order to lure Grant onto Isla Sorna to help the Kirbys' search for their son
Téa Leoni as Amanda Kirby, Paul's ex-wife who accompanies the group to Site B, feeling guilty for having lost Eric
Alessandro Nivola as Billy Brennan, a young and overly-enthusiastic graduate student at Grant's digsite whose impulsive actions land the entire rescue party in danger
Trevor Morgan as Eric Kirby, the 12-year-old son of Paul and Amanda who ends up stranded on Site B for eights weeks, and must fend for himself
Michael Jeter as Udesky, a meek but sardonic mercenary "booking agent" who travels with his two associates to the island, and is ultimately crippled and killed by Raptors
John Diehl as Cooper, a tough and quiet mercenary who is killed by the Spinosaur on the Site B runway
Bruce A. Young as M.B. Nash, the Kirby's mercenary pilot who abandons Cooper and is subsequently eaten by the Spinosaurus
Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Degler, a Paleobotanist who also survived Isla Nublar and is Grant's former flame, and makes good on her promise to help him when he needs it most
Taylor Nichols as Mark Degler, Ellie's husband and an expert in treaty law at the US State Department, who uses his connections to help Grant's party get rescued from Isla Sorna
Mark Harelik as Ben Hildebrand, Amanda's reckless current boyfriend who does not survive his landing on the island
Julio Oscar Mechoso as Enrique Cardoso, the owner and operator of the illegal "Dino-Tours" parasailing service, which offers to take visitors close to the dinosaur-infested Site B...a venture which eventually costs Enrique his life
Blake Michael Bryan as Charlie Degler, the young son of Ellie and Mark, who thinks of Alan Grant as "The Dinosaur Man"
Sarah Danielle Madison as Cheryl Logan, a graduate student who flirts with Billy at Grant's dig site in Montana
Linda Park as Hannah, Ellie's assistant whose duties include dealing with Ellie's editor, Tom

Featured dinosaurs and other reptiles

These are dinosaurs and other reptiles featured in JP3:

Production

Jurassic Park 3 was originally going to be called "Jurassic Park: Extinction", but then Universal decided to drop it, and reuse it for Jurassic Park IV. Jurassic Park 3 was greenlit in 1999, with the story by Steven Spielberg of Alan Grant who live in a tree of eight years on one of the islands, to study the animals. Joe Johnson rejected it because he felt it was like an episode of "Friends", and no one wanted to see six college students of the dinosaur island. Johnston never had any concrete concept for the third installment, other than stating the film would be "more stand-alone" and feature lots of flying reptiles.

New writers were brought in to scribe a story involving Pteranodons escaping from Site B and causing a rash of mysterious killings on the mainland, which was to be investigated by Alan Grant and a number of other characters including wealthy Paul Roby and his 12-year-old son Miles, Paul's love interest, Billy Brennan, a naturalist named Simone, and a tough Military Attache. Grant's group was to track the Pterosaurs back to Site B and crash on the island, while a parallel investigation was carried out on the mainland. Supposedly, the aviary sequence and laboratory set piece were much longer and more complex, including raptors stealthily entering the hatchery while the team spent the night. Sets, costumes, and props were built for this version, before Johnston threw out the completed script five weeks before filming in order to pursue the "rescue mission" plot, which was suggested by David Koepp. Also during the pre-production phase, concept artists created advertising for the film using a number of working titles including Jurassic Park: Extinction and Jurassic Park: Breakout.

Production began on August 30, 2000 without a finished script, with filming in California, Oahu, and Molokai. Although it is an original story, not based on a Michael Crichton novel, it does contain minor scenes from Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World novels that were not featured in the film versions, such as the Pteranodon aviary and the use of the boat. In a change from the first two films, Spinosaurus replaced T. rex as the main antagonist. As to why Spinosaurus was chosen for such a role, Johnston stated, "A lot of dinosaurs have a very similar silhouette to the T-rex... and we wanted the audience to instantly recognize this as something else." Baryonyx was originally considered to be the "big bad" before Spinosaurus was chosen.

The special effects used for the dinosaurs are a mixture of animatronics and CGI. The portrayal of several dinosaurs differs from that of the previous two films. Due to new discoveries and theories in the field of paleontology suggesting that Velociraptors were feathered, the Velociraptors in the film have quill-like structures on the head and neck. "We've found evidence that Velociraptors had feathers, or feather-like structures, and we've incorporated that into the new look of the raptor," said paleontologist Jack Horner, technical adviser on the film.

Trivia

Jp3-007 — T-rex and Spinosaurus battle to the death.

Jurassic Park III is the first Jurassic Park film not to be directed by Steven Spielberg, written by David Koepp, or feature original music by John Williams. It's also the first film in the series not to be directly based on a Michael Crichton novel, although it contains minor scenes from Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World novels that were not featured in the film versions.
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 a second 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, 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 The Lost World. This is because much of The Lost World was shot in California forests while Jurassic Park III was filmed in Hawaii (unless, this part of Isla Sorna gets more moisture than the other part, possibility with help from the mountains). Surprisingly, the vast majority of the jungle scenes are actually studio-based, as revealed by the Joe Johnston commentary in the 'Ultimate Edition' JP DVD set.
Draft scripts featured Billy's death. He was brought back in late revisions to remove all tragic elements from the ending in order for the film to end on a higher note.
Originally, the film included Jeff Goldblum and his character, Ian Malcolm. But a few days into filming, Goldblum injured his leg and decided to drop out, stating that his character wasn't that important to the script.
Originally, this film was going to be released in Summer 2000, but delay of production caused in to be released in Summer 2001.
There were also some other titles for this movie such as Jurassic Park The Extinction, and Jurassic Park 3 Breakout. On the DVD it shows poster artwork.

Reaction

Jurassic Park III opened to mixed reviews and audience reaction. Some believed it was an improvement over The Lost World: Jurassic Park, while others felt the series was spiraling into B-movie territory, something that had also happened with Universal's Jaws franchise. Although the film was a big success, earning $180 million domestic and $365 million worldwide, it grossed less than either of its predecessors. Many fans also didn't react favorably to the unrealistic fight scene between the Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus. The film was mainly criticised for just being a cash in on the series, as unlike the other films, it wasn't directed by Stephen Spielberg, wasn't written by David Koepp, nor was it based off a novel.