Leaping Lizards!

Vivek Fernandes

Are humans getting dumber?
Or are dinos getting smarter?

Jurassic Park 3 would have you believe that both were distinct possibilities.

We begin with Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neil) from the original JP, who believes that dinosaurs possess intelligence.

For him, they are "smarter than dolphins, whales and primates". But Grant's funds for his bone collecting experiments and research are nearing extinction.

Grant is approached by Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H Macy and Tea Leoni) who hand him a blank cheque in return for a guided arial tour of Isla Sorna (the island from The Lost World). It's the couple's 10th anniversary gift to themselves.

Despite his close encounters with death-by-dino-bite in the past, Grant agrees tagging protege Billy (Alessandro Nivola) for the joyride too.

But things go horribly wrong when they discover that they've been duped by the couple, who are on a rescue mission. They're the divorced parents of 14-year-old Eric Kirby (Trevor Morgan) who's stranded on the island after a paragliding accident.

Grant's aircraft crash lands and the doctor and his lot return in Reptilasia, yet again.

What follows are dinosaur chases, nineteen to the dozen... through jungle, over mountains, valleys and plain, past rivers...with vile Velociraptors, Spinosauruses, T-Rexes and swooping Pteranodons hunting the humans down.

And people, that director Joe Johnston (Jumanji) didn't like, find themselves under a dino claw or trapped in a dino jaw.

The premise of JP3, is the only thing that the film has going for it. The filmmakers ought to have realised that the computer generated monsters lost their appeal eons ago. Perhaps if they concentrated on the plot, the characters or what they said, we'd have a worthy sucessor to the original.

If you're a true sci-fi film fan JP3 will disappoint.

If you're not, watch the film -- it has more than a liberal sprinkling of 'popcorn' excitement.

External links:
Jurassic Park-III
Dinosaur