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As much fun as I had visiting the first Jurassic Park, let's face it, these aren't exactly movies of great depth and consequence. They're thrill park rides pure and simple, designed to deliver on the bottom line - you want great dino action, you got it. Fair enough. But if you're at all like me, even if you're in the mood for some brainless summer fun, it better be well made schlock, because I expect to get my $9 bucks worth. So I was pleasantly surprised that Jurassic Park III improves notably upon the inferior first sequel, and delivers the goods despite some of the most ludicrous exposition and insipid dialogue of the year.

Yes, there is a meager story here, but judging by the last minute rewrites and the total removal of a key subplot at the 11th hour, it seems as it was all just an excuse to get everyone back on the island as fast as possible anyway. This time, Alan Grant (Sam Neill) makes a welcome return, along with a treat cameo by another major player from the first film (but I won't spoil the surprise.) Then, after about 8 minutes of lousy exposition and a jaw-droppingly bad talking velociraptor dream sequence, Grant somehow is flying high over Isla Sorna as tour guide for would-be thrill-seekers Tea Leoni and William H. Macy. Of course, all is not what it seems, and faster than you can say "Holy shit, that be one big spinosaurus!" Grant and company are stuck on the island with lots and lots of hungry CGI effects...

But why bore you with plot details? The only point of a Jurassic Park film now is to watch the big bad dinos eat all the obnoxious wafer-thin characters, and I must admit that with its frenzied pace and nonstop action, the third time is still a charm. Director Joe Johnston, subbing for the missing Spielberg, seems to be having fun with the admittedly thin material, and even if the dialogue scenes are painful the dino action is very well staged and executed. And, thankfully, Johnston pushes the PG-13 rating to its limits, and my only hope is that whenever they get around to doing a Jurassic Park IV (which should be any day now, judging by the grosses for III) they decide to go with a hard R rating. Wouldn't it be fun to see those two bratty kids from the first movie get torn limb from limb? Now, that I'd pay to see!

So, just why is Jurassic Park III worth seeing? Well, it runs only a scant 96 minutes so therefore won't shave too much time off your life, and as far as brainless timewasters go, the effects are nifty and it's fun to watch the stupid characters get abused. But if that doesn't sound like a glowing recommendation, well, at least it's not as bad as The Lost World!

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Quite a jam-packed DVD in terms of soundtrack options and supplements, the quality of this 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is still surprisingly high despite all the content that had to be squeezed onto one dual-layer disc. Jurassic Park III has a visual look somewhere between the brighter hues of the first film and very dark first sequel, and this transfer renders it very well.

Despite some noticeable compression artifacts in a few shots and transitions, especially the opening, this is a nicely detailed image. Since this is a new film, the print is predictably pristine - there's nary a blemish or defect to distract. Colors are very vibrant if intentionally subdued at times, with perfect fleshtones. Blacks are rock solid and contrast overall excellent, though shadow delineation in some of the darker scenes is a bit weaker than I would have expected. Edge enhancement is thankfully minimal, so there is little edginess to the image for a smooth, film-like appearance. Aside from the compression artifacts, the only other drawback to the transfer may be its softness. While fairly sharp, many sequences appear a bit flat, especially interiors and the flying dinos birdcage sequence. But overall, a strong image up there with the other Jurassic Park releases.

(Universal is also releasing a separate pan & scan version with the same extras and soundtrack configurations, but I don't review pan & scan...so there!)

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

Boasting both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround tracks on the same disc, as you would expect, this mix ain't no walk in the park. This is one aggressive, noisy and hectic mix that is all about dino-mite! Everything you'd expect from a Jurassic Park mix is here - excellent dynamics and fidelity, with an attention to detail that is impressive. Front soundstage separation is super with dialogue firmly anchored in the center channel, and surround use is aggressive in the big action scenes. The score is also nicely spread out among the fronts, though I would have liked a bit more surround presence.

However, like most big-budget action mixes these days, I felt the track lacked subtlety, especially in the quieter scenes. The surrounds are often too subdued when there isn't a dino rampaging across the screen, but at least dialogue, music and the effects are well-balanced and I didn't have to constantly reach for my volume knob like with many other mixes these days. Some of the discrete effects on the rampaging dinos were also too obvious at times, such as the T-Rex versus Spinosaurus fight, which sometimes distracted with the attempts at a 360-panning effect. Still, crank this puppy up for a good time.

Using three scenes to compare the Dolby Digital and DTS tracks - the opening hang glider sequence, the T-Rex versus the Spinosaurus fight, and the climatic water duel - the DTS came out slightly ahead, but the differences weren't incredibly noticeable. Oddly enough, the improvements in the DTS track weren't in the bombast. If anything, the Dolby and DTS mixes were pretty comparable in terms of fidelity and low end impact. But the DTS rendered details better, especially with discrete ambient effects. Imaging was also improved on the DTS track, and bass just a tad bit stronger. Dialogue also sounded a bit warmer and more pronounced as well. But either track will give you good bang for your buck.

Also included is an alternate French 5.1 Dolby Digital surround track, and English Captions and Spanish subtitles. No true Closed Captions are included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Just like the other Jurassic Park DVDs, Universal has loaded this one up with extra goodies. A special Jurassic Park Trilogy box set is also being released, which includes the three widescreen, Dolby Digital versions of each Jurassic flick, plus a bonus fourth disc full of extras exclusive to the collection. Note that if you own the first two Jurassic DVD adventures, you don't have to rebuy the whole box to get the fourth disc. Pick up Jurassic Park III, and send in the nominal $6.95 fee, and Universal will send you the extra disc. Very nice.

Anyway, onto the extras. Let's start with a real first for a Jurassic Park release, a screen-specific audio commentary. While not with director or producer, we do get the key visual effects team, including Stan Winston, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor, Michael Lanteri. What's cool about this track, which appears to be edited together from separate recording sessions (though it is screen-specific), is that all of the participants except Taylor worked on all three Jurassic pictures, so while they concentrate on III, we get a nice overview of the entire series. Despite the occasional gaps here and there, and the somewhat dry tone, the quartet is quite humorous and surprisingly modest. Obviously, this is all about the dinosaurs so don't expect to learn anything about the story or characters, but then Jurassic Park III doesn't really have any, so that's hardly a drawback!

Next up are a variety of montages and making-off featurettes. Unlike the first two Jurassic discs, which had full-length documentaries, for some reason they decided to break up what could have been a mighty fine full-length doc down into little pieces, which is quite the cost- cutting trend these days. Anyway, all these features were produced and directed by Laurent Bouzereau, who also did The Lost World doc, so the quality remains more or less consistent. My only real gripe is that all the video material is presented in full frame, and I can only hope all the studios and producers like Mr. Bouzereau start producing their supplements in anamorphic widescreen to make the film and the extras consistent in terms of presentation.

The leadoff piece is the 24-minute The Making Of Jurassic Park, which suffers in comparison to the docs on the other Jurassic discs, if only because Jurassic Park III has no real story and no Spielberg. Producer Kathleen Kennedy gets the most screen time, but as she has spearheaded the entire series, that's not a bad thing, and also appearing are director Joe Johnston, the effects crew including Winston and Lanteri, and actors Sam Neill, Tea Leoni, William H. Macy and Trevor Howard. For a piece obviously created before the film was even released, this is pretty informative. We get a bit on the development of the (non) story, the majority of the fun deals with the new dinos and the rigors of such a physical production. Fairly enjoyable.

Repeating a bit of the same info is The New Dinosaurs Of Jurassic Park III, which runs a pithy 6 minutes. and is all about the improvements made to the bad-ass dinos, including newbies the Spinosaurus and the Pteredons. More of the same interview footage is presented, as well as more with paleontologist Jack Horner and cool behind-the-scenes peaks at the CGI rendering process and some of the research required in coming up with yet more varieties of dinos to impress audiences. Last but not least was my favorite featurette, Montana: Finding New Dinosaurs, a 5-minute feature with Paleontologist Jack Horner out in the wilds digging up dinosaurs. This is the only video feature that really provides some nice context for the world of dinosaurs, and Horner and his team have already dug up 30-plus dino skeletons in 2000 alone. The dig footage and actual dino bones are really cool, and even after only 4 minutes I almost wanted to rush off to Montana and sign up myself...

Also included are two montages, the 3-minute A Visit To Stan Winston Studios and the 9-minute repository Behind-The-Scenes, which is broken into three sequences - "Spinosaurs Attacks The Plane," "Raptors Attack Udesky," and "The Lake." Each montage is a mix of neat- o behind the scenes footage on the set, intercut with the finished film clips. Unfortunately, no text or narration is provided, but watching dino puppets onset is always a hoot. More video vignettes include three Storyboard-To-Final Feature Comparisons for "The Lab," "The Aviary," and "The Boat Attack." Each vignette runs about 3 minutes and simply presents a vertical split screen with the storyboards on top and the final scene on the bottom. Too bad the multi-angle feature wasn't utilized for the comparisons, as it would have probably worked a bit better.

More interactive are two more dino-video features, Dinosaur Turntables and A Visit To ILM. The dino turntables are just that, 1-minute spinning dinosaurs that give you a 360-degree look at 8 species, along with some basic bio info (feet, height, etc.) A Visit To ILM is actually quite extensive and divided into four segments - "Concepts," "The Process," "Muscle Simulation," and "Compositing" - broken-down into little sections, including interviews with ILM crew, a look at early concept art for the new dino species, the CGI building process, rendering, and final compositing. All told, The Visit To ILM runs 15 minutes, though really lacking is a "Play All" function, as all the clicking through various sections gets a bit tedious. Also included are The Jurassic Park Archives, which are two still galleries with "Production Photographs," and a "Poster Gallery." The latter is kinda cool, with various never-before- seen poster concepts complete with some unused alternate titles. Both galleries are fully automated and run 12 minutes total, so get that pause button ready.

Rounding out the extras are the usual array of Universal promos and links. We've got some onscreen production notes, basic cast and crew filmographies, and rather lame theatrical trailers for all three Jurassic Park flicks, though no teasers. Other promo ads include spots for Universal Studios Theme Parks, the Jurassic Park III soundtrack, and the ScanCommand: Jurassic Park III video game, as well as weblinks to various Jurassic Park and Universal websites.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

Now it is on to the DVD-ROM features that initially seemed promising but ultimately are rather lackluster. When you pop the disc into the drive, you do get a really nifty interface complete with sound effects and nice graphics. However, the majority of the features are simply links to the actual disc content (the featurettes, production notes, cast bios, and trailers, etc.), While actual ROM- specific content includes only a trivia game, the "Research Center" with minor factoids on 8 dinosaurs, a photo gallery with publicity stills, wallpaper, and game demos. Aside from that, there are of course weblinks to Universal sites, but overall the ROM extras here are marginal.

Parting Thoughts