There’s a right way and a wrong way to go about making a piece of escapist entertainment. In case my review of the film wasn’t absolutely clear, Swordfish presents an example of the wrong way. While not sporting the most original of concepts, Jurassic Park 3 serves as an example of the right way.

This time the story revolves around a rescue mission as Dr. Alan Grant (Neill) and his protégé Billy (Nivola) are asked to accompany a wealthy married couple (Leoni and Macy) on a trip to Igen’s "B" site on the island of Isla Sorna. Of course the couple’s promise of a simple fly-by of the island turns out to be far from the truth, and Dr. Grant finds himself once again fleeing from raptors and the other resident reptilians on the island.

Kudos must go to the producers and writers (one of whom is Alexander Payne of Election fame) for coming up with some fresh new ideas for the franchise. The lizards are both smarter and more ferocious than before, while Stan Winston’s creature team gives life to a savage new predator by the name of Spinosaurus. At a scant 93 minutes Director Johnston (Jumanji, October Sky, The Rocketeer) keeps the pace quick and wastes little time with lengthy exposition or extraneous characters. This is not a movie that looks to create a sense of awe and wonder in the dinosaurs. This is a movie whose goal is to entertain and scare it’s audience -- period. And with the exception of a couple of cheap "haunted house" moments, and a rather screechy heroine, it succeeds.

Technically this DVD is close to perfect. Hyper-clear images are seamless in the way they present the first-class animatronics and CGI effects. Everything from ambient sounds to the deafening reptilian roars on the DTS sound mix is clean, crisp, and incredibly realistic. Provided your system can handle the unbridled dynamics and gut-wrenching bass, this is a great disc to show off the capabilities of your home theater -- as long as your family isn’t asleep in the next room!

Anyone having seen the first two DVDs in this series will probably experience a fair level of déjà vu watching the features on this disc. Documentaries including dinosaur design and pre-production planning could have easily come from any of the Jurassic films. However just watching the level of craftsmanship and care that goes into each frame of film is enough to make me watch again and again.