Jurassic Park III (2001) Remastered 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

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With the huge success from the previous two entries, a third film in the Jurassic Park series was an inevitability. But even with a four-year break, it remains a surprise that cameras rolled without a completed script, which caused Director Joe Johnston and cast and crew to pivot on a day-to-day basis just to get the film done. The scars of this decision are evident in the finished product, which launched to less than stellar reviews and a box office half that of its predecessor.

When a young boy is left marooned on the island of Isla Sorna, his parents, Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Tea Leoni), trick Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) into flying with them over the island to help find their son. But when the plane crashes and they are left stranded, it's every man for himself. This time, there are no fences, no weapons, and absolutely no protection - ensuring this won't be a normal walk through the park... pun intended.

Nearly 25 years on, Jurassic Park III's flaws are more evident than ever, including in its unsatisfying, quickly resolved ending, and truncated 80-minute run time. As the third entry to a much-loved movie series with a sizable fanbase, it deserved better. Still, the film has its fair share of fans, with many pointing to the impressive dinosaur action scenes (one of the last credits of animatronic legend Stan Winston before his untimely death) and the return of Sam Neill's Alan Grant character.

As with its predecessors, Universal is now offering a newly remastered 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray steelbook set which bundles the three films in the original Jurassic Park trilogy, which updates the initial 2018 release. Strap in, because the news isn't good.

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Video

Jurassic Park III is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.851:1 in the Rec. 2020 color space, finished with dynamic Dolby Vision and static HDR-10 high dynamic range formats and encoded with AVC H.265 compression.

For this newly remastered 4K presentation, Universal has returned to the same negative scans that were completed roughly a decade ago and bolted on a few modest visual improvements, such as color grading and gamma level tweaks, as well as Dolby Vision. Compared to Jurassic Park and The Lost World's enhancements, these are much more subtle. If you ran both side by side, I'm sure most wouldn't notice... which makes you question why Universal went to the effort of making a new disc master at all.

Released in 2001, just before digital intermediate mastering became prevalent, Jurassic Park III was finished in the analogue domain. My memory of the cinema experience (newly confirmed by a scan of an original 35mm print) was of an image that was overly dark with heavy contrast, and that often appeared quite flat with little depth of field or three dimensionality. Even the jungle sets... frequently look like sets. Naturally, this is all reflected in this transfer, which makes for an inherently unappealing image. Add on all the age-related issues that are baked into this scan, and you've unfortunately got the recipe for an underwhelming 4K experience.

Still, we've got the unavoidably frustrating truth that this is, for the time being, the best-looking version of the film, and short of a fresh scan of the elements (which, frankly, all three original Jurassic Park are sorely in need of.

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Audio

Jurassic Park III is presented in a newly remixed Dolby Atmos object-based container.

Unlike the mediocre video transfer, this freshly finished Dolby Atmos mix certainly sounds the part. Improving on the previous 7.1 mix in a material way, the refreshed height surrounds serve to envelope the listener in a convincing jungle environment (even if the visuals don't always match the same level of believability).

The surround channels are kept active throughout and really spring to life convincingly to support the environmental sequences, including the depths of the jungle. Bass activity is deep and booming, and when the Spinosaur makes himself known, you will feel it deep in your chest cavity.

Overall, this is a really stellar track and unquestionably improved over the previous 7.1 DTS: X mix.

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Extras

Whilst there's nothing new or upgraded here, Universal has again bundled together pretty much every bonus feature ever assembled from previous DVD releases. Let's jump in.

First up is the sixth and final part of Return to Jurassic Park documentary, which totals around 25 minutes. Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Laura Dern, and Joe Johnston return to recount their experiences making the film (circa 2011), with little dwelling on the film's flaws. They seem relatively proud of the final film.

This is the only film in the series to feature an Audio Commentary, including Director Joe Johnston and various members of the special effects crews. As such, the commentary is generally geared towards the visual effects. The most interesting tidbit I took from the track was the fact that there wasn't anything much in the way of deleted footage - it was almost all used, despite the film's scant runtime.

Next up, under the heading of Archival Featurettes, is The Making of Jurassic Park, which, although of lower quality compared to the previous documentaries, offers a glimpse into the production. The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park III is a fairly superfluous look at the dinosaurs featured in the film, focusing on the new threat - the Spinosaurus.

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The next few featurettes are not new per se, but will be to many fans, as they were only available on the limited edition 4-disc DVD set some years ago. The Sounds of Jurassic Park III and The Art of Jurassic Park III take a closer look at the two elements of production. It certainly was interesting to see the evolution of the sounds of dinosaurs that we've never heard. The Special Effects of Jurassic Park III is concerned with the creation of the visual and special effects, and how the wizards managed to get the Stan Winston animatronics and the Industrial Light and Magic pixels to perform together. The Industrial Light and Magic Pre-Reel features most of the film's dinosaur action condensed into 14 minutes, albeit in low-res SD quality.

Next we have a bunch of assorted short bonus featurettes, the meatiest which is The Tour of Stan Winston Studio and A Visit To ILM which contrasts the two areas of dinosaur creation, but also takes a look at specific parts of production including Spinosaurus Attacks the Plane, Raptors Attack Udesky, The Lake as well as a few Storyboards to Final Film Comparisons.

Finally, we have the original Theatrical Trailer in basic standard definition.