Films and Fiction

Hollywood loves a sequel and so do fans, so it’s no surprise that when a movie does well enough at the box office, it inevitably leads to the studio making a follow up, keeping fans engaged without having to go through the trouble of starting a completely new franchise and having to build up a following for it.

In the last decade or so, studios have taken this to the next level, with the idea of the cinematic universe being pioneered by Marvel, and its success leading to multiple attempts to copy the formula. This has meant a decline in a type of movie that used to be quite common and can best be described as the standalone sequel.

Jurassic Park III is a perfect example of this type of movie. In 1993, the intelligent, slick, and near-perfect dinosaur movie Jurassic Park was released. Directed by Steven Spielberg and with some pretty good effects backing up a tight script and excellent cast, it soon became one of the biggest hits at the box office. A few years later, The Lost World: Jurassic Park came out as something of a spiritual successor to the original. Naturally, Universal weren’t going to stop there, leading to 2001 and the release of a third JP movie.

Jurassic Park III is different to other movies in the franchise, but it’s still a film I kind of like. It doesn’t have the same intelligence as the first one, or the same level of character development, but it’s still a fun watch if you don’t expect too much from it, and it’s a kind of movie you don’t see anymore.

Look at the three Jurassic World movies that followed it over a decade later. They form a trilogy with a plot involving Henry Wu, dinosaur hybrids, and humans having to learn to live with these giant animals. Owen Grady and Claire Dearing are the main characters in all three films, and it would be hard to understand what was going on if you didn’t see all three films. Not only that, but they are constantly calling back to earlier movies through nostalgia and references.

JP3 isn’t like that. In fact, if you never saw the film, it would have no effect on the rest of the series whatsoever, and aside from the inclusion of Alan Grant, it could almost be a completely unrelated movie that just happens to involve dinosaurs on a remote island. The flipside of this is the real reason why I’m willing to let Jurassic Park III have an easy ride, in that it doesn’t harm the lore of the franchise in any way. The new characters only appear in this one movie, and Dr. Grant isn’t made into an idiot just to serve the script.

It’s the kind of movie you don’t see much of now, essentially just quick cash grabs made to capitalize on a popular IP without putting in too much effort. They often had smaller budgets and weren’t part of a bigger plot, usually having derivative and standalone stories (think the three Magnificent Seven sequels), yet they could still be enjoyable enough and gave fans a chance to return to their favourite franchises. While JP3 is far from the greatness of the original, it’s fairly innocuous on its own. For that reason, I’m willing to accept it as a bit of harmless fun.

Are you a fan of Jurassic Park III? Let me know in the comments.