I was a little worried heading into this one as I had no memories of anything that happened in Jurassic Park III. I know I’ve definitely seen it, and likely more than once when it was initially released. However since then, this is probably the first revisit.

It’s the first of the films not to be based on a novel. Instead it uses sequences that weren’t used for either of the first two films. It’s also the first not to be directed by Steven Spielberg.

Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) makes his return to the franchise and brings the familiarity for the fans. After all is it really Jurassic Park if you don’t have someone from the original film?

Laura Dern also makes a brief yet ultimately important appearance returning as Dr. Ellie Sattler. It really feels like her role is to establish where Alan and her are in their personal relationship; no longer together but still close. And you can’t blame them after experiencing such a traumatizing event. It would have been easy to establish this with just some dialogue, so I’m happy they got her back.

In Jurassic Park III we return to Isla Sorna, the second island we learnt about in The Lost World. Desperate for funding but not learning from lessons of the past, Alan makes a terrible decision by agreeing to accompany some strangers on an “aerial tour” as their guide.

It’s already the shortest film in the franchise but could have been much shorter had Alan just done some basic checks! At a minimum I would have been asking for a deposit and ensuring that the money cleared before going anywhere near that island. But as I have previously stated, these films run off the back of humans making stupid decisions.

For me I would have to say that the highlight of this film would be the aviary sequence. Following the attack from the spinosaurus, the group find themselves in the island’s aviary where a family of pteranodons still reside. It’s something that we haven’t seen in either of the first two films and that fans had been wanting to see. I think it delivered.

I should also point out a couple of the cheesy bits that I quite enjoyed, one being the name of the company operating the parasailing tour at the beginning of the film; Dino-soar. Love a good pun! The other being the spinosaurus ringing as the first person it ate was carrying the satellite phone. Just the image of this massive land creature producing a hideous ringtone sound from where it stands, it’s so ridiculous it makes me laugh.

Rating:  Alright