Jurassic Park III

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Infobox Film

Jurassic Park III is a 2001 motion picture, and a 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. 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.

Contents

[edit]

Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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. A young boy, dinosaur enthusiast Eric Kirby (Trevor Morgan), and family friend Ben Hildebrand, decide to go parasailing. However, the boat is apparently 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 young Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola), and has made some interesting discoveries about the Velociraptor, even producing a replica voice box.

Grant is approached by Paul (William H. Macy) and Amanda Kirby (Téa Leoni), apparently 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 soon figures out something's not quite right, when the Kirbys try to land the plane. Grant becomes agitated and gets knocked out by Cooper with a blow. When the plane lands, it is quickly attacked by the Spinosaurus, a finned dinosaur, killing Cooper on the runway. The plane hits the Spinosaurus on takeoff and crashes up in some tall trees. The Dino 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. The Spinosaurus then proceeds to kill the Tyrannosaurus rex by snapping its neck. (Many fans speculate as to whether this T-Rex is one of the three 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 head back toward the shore.

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, similar to the one seen in the village at the end of The Lost World, but is not the same one. After briefly exploring the building's interior, they are quickly attacked by Velociraptors. During the resulting chase, Grant becomes separated from Billy and the Kirbys. Udesky runs into a pack of Velociraptors, he desperately tries to ward them off with a stick. But the predators cripple his legs severely and before he can get away 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. In the meantime Grant is rescued from a pack of raptors by young Eric, who has been living on the island for two months. 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.

Eventually, everybody is reunited, but they soon find themselves being chased by the Spinosaurus. Able to find shelter in another building, Grant finds out that Billy stole some Raptor 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. Billy apparently dies trying to save Eric.

Grant and the Kirbys board the boat, encountering some Parasaurs, Brachiosaurs, Stegosaurs, and Ankylosaurs grazing in a field.

At night, 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 cell phone and a Ceratosaurus attacks 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. Paul manages to distract the Spinosaurus while Grant fires a flare gun, 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 his raptor voice box 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 massive military detachment, 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 aircraft carrier, some Pteranodons fly by, looking for a new nesting ground.

[edit]

Dinosaurs and other Reptiles Featured

Image:Spinosaurus.png

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

[edit]

Discrepancies (and possible explanations)

Image:Male raptorjp3.jpg Image:Male raptortlw.jpg Image:Female raptorjp3.jpg Image:Female raptorjptlw.jpg

  • There are several cosmetic differences between the velociraptors in JP3 and the ones seen in previous JP movies, most notably colorization, the presence of feathers, a slightly longer snout, and eyes with round pupils as opposed to the "cat eye" style. From a film production point of view, the changes were made to keep the dinosaurs realistic and updated to stick to more recent scientific discoveries and theories. Within the narration across the three films however, we are not meant to think the dinosaurs have physically "changed" or that the changes are something the characters onscreen would notice. Think of the change in the same way one would think of a popular role being played by a different actor partway through a television series or movie franchise, like the "new Darin" in Bewitched or Michael Gambon taking over the role of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series following Richard Harris's death: The changes are not meant to be noticed by the characters. There is a second way to explain these differences like the Pteranodons. It is likely that InGen cloned the JP3 Velociraptor first and decided it was too dangerous to integrate into a park like setting. The reason for this is, going from film evidence, is that the JP3 Velociraptors exhibit more intelligence and organization than the original Velociraptors seen in the first and second film because of high-level of communication. The second film exhibited the sexual dimorphism of the animal and this is really not considered a different sub-species altogether. The Velociraptor specimen was then re-cloned and then possibly dumbed-down for the park setting; however, the Velociraptors were still extremely dangerous and pack hunting behavior was still present. In the commentary it states that the Velociraptor in Grant's dream was purposely "greyed" out to look like the original JP Velociraptor. Visual effects did not do a good job and although this Velociraptor was "greyed" it still had the feather quills making this change is generally considered a prop/technical goof. Another theory is that the original Velociraptors from the first film evolved into what they look like in Jurassic Park III; however, this is unlikely as Natural Selection and Evolution collectively take from hundreds, to thousands, to millions of years for a change like this to happen. However an explanation given by one of the characters in the Lost World Novel by Michael Crichton for subtle changes in the velociraptors is that the frog DNA originally used to fill in the genetic code gaps is now being spread out gradually, since the dinosaurs are now mating, making them more and more like they were 65 million years ago.
  • There are notable differences between the pteranodons seen in this movie and those that appeared in the previous movie. First of all, comparing the shape of the head one notices the pteranodon in JP3 has an elongated crest like Pteranodon longiceps, whereas Lost Worlds pteranodon has an upturned crest, more resembling that of Pteranodon sternbergi. Secondly, JP3 pteranodons have teeth (despite the fact that the word pteranodon actually means "toothless wing" and pteranodons in actuality did not have teeth), and Lost World pteranodons have no visible teeth. Third and most obvious, pterandons in Lost World are seen flying free but in JP3 they are confined to the aviary until they are released. Fourth is the coloration of the animals in the second and third films showing that they are in fact a different type of Pteranodon altogether. A likely explanation for the differences is that there are two species of pteranodon on Isla Sorna: One species (possibly P. sternbergi) that were gliders not capable of long distance flight and were virtually harmless fish eaters, so they were allowed free on the island; and the other species (possibly P. longiceps, more likely a genetic manipulation), which were more dangerous and able to fly off the island, so they needed to be caged.
  • A theory about the appearance of Spinosaurus: "Although the Spinosaurus was 'not on InGen's list' and its introduction to the JP franchise may appear sudden, the dinosaur Baryonyx is known to have been part of InGen's original plans since the first Jurassic Park took place. At that time in history (late 1980s to early/mid 1990's), it was not yet known to science that Spinosaurus and Baryonyx were closely related to each other, so when Ingen's scientists hatched baby Spinosaurs and saw the long snout and oversized hand claws -- traits that only Baryonyx was known at the time to have -- they assumed the animal was Baryonyx and labeled it as such (the defining fin, according to this theory, did not develop until later in the animals' life). The "Baryonyx," as it turns out, would have been Spinosaurus all along". It is believed that adult Baryonyx were already integrated into the Park setting on Isla Nublar, but never really confirmed as Jurassic Park's facilities were still in the construction phase. If the Spinosaurus was indeed a recently cloned project, shortly before the closure of Isla Sorna believed to be in 1994, according to a Jurassic Park III prop. InGen's own scientists would have no choice but to place the newly-hatched Spinosaurus under the same genus as the Baryonyx and would not later see the animal's full grown development. However, on a side note, true adult Baryonyx, as well as other dinosaurs not depicted so far in the films such as Deinonychus, Allosaurus and Carnotaurus, were actually featured in the Lost World PlayStation game, thought it is unclear if it can be taken as canonical. Many people also wonder why such a large and violent animal like the spinosaurus was not seen in The Lost World. It has generally been accepted that the spinosaurus's territory was situated in the northern part of Isla Sorna, while the events of The Lost World took place in the southern part of the island.
[edit]

Trivia

  • According to director Joe Johnston, he was interested in directing the sequel to The Lost World: 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 Spinosaur'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 The Lost World. This is because much of The Lost World was shot in California forests while Jurassic Park III was filmed in Hawaii, where the original film was shot. Fans make up for this by stating the events of Jurassic Park 3 transpired in a different location of Isla Sorna (a more northern position).
  • 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 fulfilment.
  • Jurassic Park III is the first Jurassic Park film not to be:
directed by Steven Spielberg.
written by David Koepp
based on a Michael Crichton novel (though certain scenes from Crichton's work were used)
adapted for comics by TOPPS Comics.
scored by composer John Williams.
  • Micheal Jeter ,who played Udesky, unfortunatly died shortly after the film was made from HIV which he had been suffering from for some time.
[edit]

Reaction

Jurassic Park III opened to mixed reviews and audience reaction. Some believed it was an improvement over the somewhat overblown The Lost World and returned to the simplicity of the first film, while others felt it started to see the series spiral into B-movie territory, something that had also happened with Universal's Jaws franchise. The film managed to do decently at the box office, making $180 million domestic and $365 million worldwide. Another sequel is currently in development, this time with more Spielberg involvement.

A lot of fans were disappointed by the very small part the Tyrannosaurus had in this film. The T-Rex appears briefly, before battling and getting quickly killed by the Spinosaurus, despite initially doing better in the fight. The T-Rex was and is a much more popular dinosaur than the Spinosaurus with many fans.

[edit]

External links

Template:Jurassic Parkfr:Jurassic Park III it:Jurassic Park III nl:Jurassic Park III ja:ジュラシック・パークIII simple:Jurassic Park III fi:Jurassic Park III

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Jurassic_Park_III"