Jurassic Park III

Directed by Joe Johnston.
Universal Pictures USA 2001 Colour
Genre: Science Fiction/ Adventure/ Action

He devoted his entire life to the study of dinosaurs, but he never imagined he’d have to be face-to-face with them… again.

One of the world’s foremost paleontologists, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) was extremely skeptical eight years ago when he accepted an invitation from industrialist John Hammond. Hoping to gain Grant’s endorsement, Hammond had offered the scientist and several colleagues a preview tour of his company InGen’s latest brainchild, a unique tourist attraction located on Isla Nublar, a remote island located near Costa Rica. Unlike anything the modern world had ever seen, Jurassic Park would allow visitors to interact with genetically engineered dinosaurs.

But for everyone who accompanied Hammond on the fateful trip, the experience quickly turned into a terrifying nightmare as the cloned Velociraptors, T-rexes and other prehistoric creatures claimed the would-be amusement park as their own. Narrowly escaping death, Grant was determined to put the incident behind him. Although personally shaken, his commitment to the study of dinosaurs remained firmly intact.

Eight years later, InGen’s debacle as well as the political and economic climate have taken their toll in the area of dinosaur research, as public and private funding are becoming increasingly extinct. Desperate to fund research for his new theory of Velociraptor intelligence, Grant is particularly vulnerable when wealthy adventurer Paul Kirby (William H. Macy) and his wife Amanda (Téa Leoni) approach him with a proposition. They will open their checkbook to him if he will accompany them on an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, a second InGen site. Just adjacent to Isla Nublar, this quarantined island has become both a primordial breeding ground for John Hammond's creations and a magnet for thrill-seekers eager to encounter them. Accompanied by his protégé (Alessandro Nivola), Grant suspects that something’s not right when the pilot prepares to actually land on the island. Angry and alarmed, Grant begins to protest when out of nowhere an enormous creature appears in the path of the plane, forcing it to crash into the jungle treetops. Once again stranded on an island inhabited by genetically cloned dinosaurs, Grant finally discovers his deceptive hosts’ true reason for inviting him on this journey. This excursion was never intended to simply be an aerial tour but, in fact, a search and rescue mission. The Kirbys are actually a middle class, divorced couple reunited for the sole purpose of finding their 14-year-old son Eric (Trevor Morgan), who disappeared while vacationing with Amanda’s boyfriend. Aware of Grant’s prior trip to Jurassic Park as well as his current financial hardship, the couple desperately concocted this elaborate scheme hoping to find an experienced guide to lead them to their child. But they overlooked the fact that Grant’s prior visit was to Isla Nublar, not Isla Sorna.

Now, as they attempt to locate Eric and find a way to escape with their lives, the marooned group must encounter terrifying new creatures undisclosed by InGen, including the massive Spinosaurus, which can hunt both on land and underwater, and the flying Pteronadons. And Dr. Alan Grant is forced to learn the dreadful implications of his raptor intelligence theory firsthand.

Laura Dern
Sam Neill
Téa Leoni
Trevor Morgan
William H. Macy