Jurassic Park III (2001)

Look, I know what you're going to say. Jurassic Park III is the one everyone writes off, the lesser sequel, the one that dares to bump the Spinosaurus against the T-Rex in its opening act and expects you to just go along with it. And yes, I went along with it. Quite happily, actually.

Here's my honest take: this film knows exactly what it is, and it plays to that hand without apology. A family ends up stranded on a second island full of dinosaurs, and the whole thing becomes a lean, propulsive survival picture with no grand ambitions about what it all means for mankind. There's no attempt to rebuild the park, no corporate scheming stretched across two hours, no heavy-handed theme park metaphor. It's just people trying very hard not to get eaten, and for about an hour and a half, that's genuinely enough.

The second island setting gives the film a different texture from its predecessors. It feels wilder, less mapped-out, more dangerous in a scrappy sort of way. The urgency is real. When things go wrong here, there's no infrastructure to fall back on, no visitors' centre to regroup in. That stripped-back quality actually works in the film's favour. Less scaffolding means the set pieces hit harder because you're not waiting for the plot to catch up with the action.

And then there's the Spinosaurus. I loved having a new apex predator in the mix. It's a different kind of threat physically, and the film uses it well, bringing it back at just the right moments to remind you that nowhere on this island is safe. Beyond that, getting to see more species than the series had previously shown was one of the genuine pleasures here. The Pteranodon sequence in particular is the kind of thing that reminds you why these films work when they're firing properly.

Is it as good as the original? Not a chance. I don't think anything in this franchise touches Jurassic Park, which operates on a completely different level of craft and wonder. But here's the argument I'll happily make down the pub: this is the second-best film in the series. The Lost World had bigger ideas and more money thrown at it, but it also had that weird tonal lurch in the third act and a bloated middle section that dragged. This one doesn't drag. It moves, it delivers, and it gets out before it outstays its welcome.

That's not nothing. In a franchise that can tip very easily into excess, restraint is underrated. The film doesn't try to top the original on an emotional or philosophical level. It just tries to be a solid, entertaining dinosaur survival picture, and it succeeds at that more often than its reputation suggests.

Sam Neill is good value back in the lead, and there's a grounded weariness to his performance that suits the more stripped-down tone. The film around him isn't trying to be profound. It's trying to be fun. Sometimes that's the right call.

Three and a half stars. Don't sleep on this one.

Rating: ★★★½  | Year: 2001  | Watched: 2025-04-14

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Disney Plus · Sky Go · Now TV Cinema
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Hulu · YouTube TV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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Related on Movies With Macca

More with Sam Neill: Jurassic Park (1993)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
More thriller: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Angst (1983) · The Long Walk (2025) · Punishment Park (1971)