Jurassic Park III (2001) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - July 18, 2001

I saw Jurassic Park III opening weekend and had fun with it. While it might not have been a great, or even all that good, movie, Jurassic Park III nonetheless kept me entertained during its somewhat brisk 92 minute running time.

Two memorable moments occurred during that first viewing. 

First was, after the plane had crashed on the island and the assorted characters were climbing out of the wreckage, I leaned over and whispered to my companion, "Just how long do you think the black guy is going to last here?" Only for a dinosaur to come along and eat the poor guy within seconds of my having spoken. I am ashamed to admit we giggled over that lazy (and offensive) trope being played out with such perfunctory speed. Come on, guys. We can and must do and be better than this!

Second was a funny gag involving a ringing cellphone. The sound mix made it sound as if the ringing were coming from somewhere in the auditorium, which had disgruntled audience members grumbling about some damn fool's phone ruining the movie, only for it to be revealed that the cell phone was inside the film's primary dinosaur antagonist. That gag was set-up and paid-off with plenty of b-movie elan and charm.