Jurassic Park III

Am I the only person on this planet who didn't think Jurassic Park was a great film? Sure, it had some brilliant CG work bringing the long dead world of bloody whopping great big dinosaurs realistically to the silver screen for the first time. But other than that - and another pisser performance from Jeff Goldblum - the film lacked pretty seriously in the story and interest department. Man makes dinosaurs, dinosaurs attack man, man runs like hell. There you have it - the movie in ten words.

Then people savaged the bejesus out of the followup, The Lost World, because it had the nerve to just be a rehash of the graphics with lots more dinosaurs and no real story to support it. I mean, really, it's a film about dinosaurs made by His Royal Highness Sir Steven Spielberg. What story was there supposed to be? And the funny thing is that it still made a bucket load of dosh, just to rub it in with the critics. Were you really expecting "Schindlers Rex" instead of a CG dinosaur creating havoc in downtown USA? C'mon now people, get real. This isn't rocket science, ya know?

Now, a few more years down the track, after the first two films have made their way onto DVD and blown out subwoofer speakers all over the world, Jurassic Park III rolls up to our humble doorsteps and begs for a spin on our ever busy DVD players. What shall we do? Run screaming with arms flailing like the chickens that we are when faced with brainless entertainment demanding our attention (and our money)? Do you secretly play it in the middle of the day when everyone else is at work then pretend you really watched something by Fellini and crap on about "metaphor" and "existentialist duality"? Or do you just face the facts and admit that you like the idea of the scaly big toothed bastards screaming blue murder out of your home cinema and scaring the crap out of your 80 year old neighbours?

Yep, that last one's me.

This time, Spielberg takes the Executive Producer chair and lets Joe Johnston sit up front as the director. Frankly, I think it was a good move. For the most part, it's a competent, fast, action filled adventure. Some downsides are that there are many corners cut in the story (what little story there is) for the sake of just getting on with the next action piece. Overlooking the ever terrible Tea Leoni, you have a few good cast in Sam Neill and William H. Macy. Problem is that this film just doesn't ask you to really care about any of them in any way. But I don't think they care, to be honest.

William H. Macy and Tea Leoni are a rich couple who convince Sam Neill to accompany them on a sightseeing plane trip over one of the Jurassic Park island sites. Even though he is loathe to go anywhere near the island after his previous experiences, his fee will provide much needed funding for his research. Starting off fine, but ending in a plane crash on the island, he discovers the real reason for him being there is to help Macy and Leoni locate their son who dissappeared there while parasailing nearby eight weeks earlier. Now they have to survive the threat of many new dinosaurs that Ingen have been secretly breeding, such as the Spinosaur which makes T-rex look like an angry chicken and highly developed Raptors that can "talk" to each other just to make things worse, find the boy and get off the island alive. You just know there's going to be much screaming, running, hiding, biting, chomping and bleeding before the film's over. And that's just how we like it, isn't it?

The 1.85:1 16:9 enhanced image looks at most times wonderfully clear, it has great detail and is very film like. Colours are good, not too punchy, just a little restrained and a little muted to good effect with the middle section of the film taking place in the dark misty jungle, showing off some nice rich blacks. The combination of the shaky handheld style to many of the action scenes and the fast cuts are all handled with aplomb by this transfer. Chapter 6 has a battle between a T-rex and a Spinosaurus which utilises CG and animatronic models which looks stunning with detailed and clear foreground and backgrounds. There are some very short scenes which have a clearly visible grain, but they are minor and none too intrusive in the overall result.

Remember a short while back when every DVD dork and his dog would whinge endlessly about how region 4 gets shafted with the lack of DTS soundtracks? Boy, those guys sure have been quiet lately. This option has been popping up more and more frequently, and while the results aren't always as stupendous as these gooses thought it would be, it's still good to know that we get the option to choose. So, DTS supporters are going to be plenty pleased with this DVD, because along with the DD5.1 track, we also get a 758kbps DTS 5.1 track. Sampling both, DTS comes off brighter, louder, and with a little more detail and clarity at the top end and a bit fuller bass. Chapter 2 has a phone going off which will have you looking for your mobile and moments later a nice solid explosion to fill the room. Chapter 5 has a nice long section with a plane crash and their first encounter with a Spinosaurus which engages all the channels to fully immerse you in the mayhem. The only down note I noticed was that the dialogue level seemed a little low and needed a bump up a notch or two to enhance some of the quieter sections. But other than this minor slip, the sonics of Jurassic Park III are sure to provide for many system demos and loud nights across the country.

A pretty good and broad range of features populate the Extras section, so here's a brief rundown:

Commentary track with the Special Effects team:
This is sure to prove interesting to many people as it has input from the likes of Stan Winston, with lots of info and detail about specific shots and general background work. Also available as a subtitle track if you don't want to listen to it.

The Making of Jurassic Park III: (22 minutes)
A fairly interesting look at the creation of the film, covering lots of ground. Based mainly around the dinosaur work, with a look at the animatronics and CG of the film.

The New Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park III: (7.50)
Like the title says, this takes a gander at the new breed of dinosaurs that crop up in this latest installment.

Tour of the Stan Winston Studio: (3:12)
A far too brief look at the work of the effects guru and his crew at work.

A Visit to ILM: (15.30 total run time)
This look at the CG effects work done by ILM is broken up into four sections: Concepts (5 mins), The Process (7 mins), Muscle Simulation (1.30 mins) and Compositing (2 mins). Each of these sections is then broken up again into a number of short features you can select from. You get a brief intro to what each function ILM perform is, then samples and examples to view.

Trailers: (five)
Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, Jurassic Park III, E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial (for the theatrical re-release) and Back to the Future Trilogy.

Montana - Finding New Dinosaurs: (4 mins)
Brief interview with Jack Horner who is heading up a dinosaur dig in Montana's Hells Creek Formation, which has revealed than 30 skeletons including a 45 foot T-rex.

Behind the Scenes:
Divided into three sections: Spinosaurus attacks the plane(1 min 48 secs), Raptors attack Udesky (56 secs) and The Lake (1 min 36 secs). These mix on set footage with the finished scenes.

Storyboards to final feature comparison:
Three sections, The Lab (1 min 5 secs), The Aviary (2 mins 56 secs) and The Boat Attack (2 mins).

Photograph Gallery:
Choose from either Production Photos (2 min 45 secs) or Poster Gallery (44 images). The Production Photos are presented as a self running animated slide show.

Dinosaur Turntables:
Presents 11 dinosaurs and 1 Billy Brennan character to view as a rotating character animation.

DVDrom features

Jurassic Park III is practically the kind of film that DVD was invented for. It brings the big dumb loud fun of a good action film into your lounge room so you can settle in with a beer or ten and go deaf while watching people get bitten in half. This DVD presents all this wholesome good clean fun with great picture and sound, and when you're done and sobered up a little you can run through the extras for a while and learn a little more about how it was done. What more could you possibly ask for?