With all the speculation in the news about the plot, cast, and director of the announced “Jurassic Park 4”, it is the pending 3-D
version of the original film which will soon be gracing theaters and IMAX screens everywhere.
We recently managed to look at some of 3-D footage of the film which we found to be an interesting mix. I want to stress that this was not the final version of the footage which may look even better by the time it hits the cinemas, but since this was footage deemed ready to show to the public, I thought it was a good starting point. As anyone who follows my reporting knows, I am not a big fan of converted 3-D movies. With the vast majority of 3-D films released in recent years being conversions, I found the quality of these to be severely lacking compared to films that are shot in 3-D. The biggest example I often cite is that when you compare a shot in 3-D film such as “Avatar” or “The Amazing Spider-man”, with converted 3-D such as “Clash of the Titans” or “The Green Hornet”, the night and a quality is evident.
While recent conversions have done much better in large part to improvements in the conversion technology, and directors setting up shots and lighting at a time knowing that the film is scheduled for conversion at a later date. Older films have at times struggled from this process because no matter how good the conversion, there are just some films and scenes that were not filmed or lit in a manner that is conducive to the modern 3-D process. Of course the demand for 3-D is huge especially in China and that boast over 4600 3-D equipped screens. It is said that this was one of the main reasons behind the delay of the pending G.I. Joe: Retaliation was that Paramount decided that a 3-D version of the film released at a less competitive time of year offer their best chance for global box office success. This is key as the US and North America no longer dominate the box office revenue for most films as the ever-growing expansion of markets in which first run movies are shown has made tremendous leaps in the past decade and often allow films that performed poorly in the United States to do exceptionally well abroad and turn very healthy profit for a studio. Getting back to “Jurassic Park”, I found the conversion to be a mixed bag. While this certainly great to see the film back on a big screen, the 3-D footage of some scenes really did not initially impress me all that much. While it was nice to see the layering of the foliage and characters the first repeal of the dinosaurs in 3-D at the watering hole was a bit disappointing at first glance Thankfully this all changed as the footage went deeper into the film especially with the T-Rex and Velociraptor scenes. Those scenes as well as the one with the sick Triceratops literally burst from screen came across with the new dimension of excitement and danger. The segment of the T-Rex chasing the jeep was amazing as was the scene of the toilet coming apart while the lawyer attempted to hide within. I wondered to myself with a couple of them had been digitally tweaked to enhance the 3-D aspect especially one where the T Rex’s jaws appear to burst right out of the screen. The color and sound of the footage we saw was certainly impressive enough and underscored what an impressive film achievement it was. While a couple minutes of footage is certainly nothing substantial enough to base review upon I found myself more intrigued with the prospect of the film. Recent 3-D conversions of “Titanic” and “Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace”, were popular enough with audiences but with the exception of “Star Wars”, there’s not much hype and anticipation often surrounding films released with the 3-D conversion. The pending release of “Top Gun” will be limited to just one week at IMAX screens, and the planned 3-D version of “Independence Day” as well as the remaining “Star Wars” films have been shelved indefinitely. While I look forward to seeing a new “Jurassic Park” film that has been shot in 3-D, I’m not so sure that I have a huge level of excitement surrounding a 3-D version of the original especially when I have the Blu-ray set which offers amazing sound and picture quality. That being said, after viewing the footage I have a larger desire to see the film than it did before even if due to a mix of curiosity and nostalgia and for fans who have never experienced it on the big screen, what a great way to start, especially in Imax.
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