Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park Movie Series

Our family is working through the Jurassic Park movie series. I've previously discussed Jurassic Park I and Jurassic Park II. We recently watched Jurassic Park III and still have the two most recent Jurassic Park movies to watch to finish off the series as it currently stands.

Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park III is the first in the series not based on one of Michael Crichton's novels. The first two were based on the books. This could be one reason why Jurassic Park III does not hold its own against the first two. Overall I enjoyed the movie but there were several plot lines that didn't make sense. Thus I did not walk away thinking this was a 'good' movie.

Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus exhibit in Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Orlando, Florida. - Marco Becerra

The Problems

Here are the major problems as I saw them.

1. The movie begins with a dad and son para-gliding near the island the dinosaurs reside. Something goes wrong and they crash land. We later learn the dad is killed, but the son, a kid, survives. Not only does he survive the crash landing, but he survives for several weeks, maybe months, on the island by himself. No food. No weapons. No shelter, nothing. But he survives where others quickly die. Nope, not buying it.
2. Later in the movie there is a series of scenes in which one of the adults tries to fend off the pterodactyls. He's able to create a distraction to save the rest of the group, but we see him being repeatedly bitten in the river and the water suddenly turns red. He's a goner...but wait, he's not! At the very end of the movie he suddenly reappears as he was 'rescued'! Um? Seriously? It made much greater sense knowing he met his end. Given how savagely he was being attacked, it makes no sense for him to suddenly re-appear at the end.
3. I'm a big fan of Tea Leoni in her leading role on Madame Secretary. I did not, however, like her character in this movie. The writers built her up as the stereotype of a woman shrieking and screaming non-stop. I give her credit for pulling off that role, but this is a classic example of male writers and producers creating a weak female character. There was no need for that. 

If I think hard enough I can probably come up with more, but those are the three main problems I had with this movie. Hopefully the next two movies are better!