I never found the raptor dream that stupid, considering it's just a dream.
Now, the Army sending an unarmed guy in a suit first, and then the actual guys with guns minutes later? Suit guy could've been eaten before they even got there.
Oh it's all kinds of fucking stupid and shouldn't have been there. At the same time, it doesn't bother me as much as some of the dumber shit in The Lost World, a film that should have been so amazing at Spielberg's control.
On your second point, yeah. Jurassic Park 3 has a significant amount of plot holes. The one you mentioned immediately comes to mind, as well as... Billy, when attacked by the pteranodons, is forced downstream while Grant and Kirby go the opposite direction-- which is the direction of the beach. So how is it that, even before the water vehicles arrive, that they already have Billy on board and
treating him? Billy was chased deeper into the island, yet was rescued before the boats got there. OK.
There's also a number of silly, yet harmless things like the phone ringing in the Spino's belly and so on. When I say I like JP3 more, that's not me defending JP3 to the masses or putting it on a pedestal. I think it's better than TLW because mainly I think TLW is just that fucking terrible.
Different strokes I guess. You're right that the plot of a park in San Diego is dumb, but I actually love the T Rex romp through the city. In JP3 I find the entire cast except for Sam Neil actively grating, and then there's the completely underwhelming climax. Plus the spinosaur looks dumb.
I hope this makes sense. So, I actually used to be on this mindset of thinking JP3 had an underwhelming climax. In some ways it does. There's no proper build to it and it comes out of nowhere. TLW has this big stupid but fun romp through the city as you said. I didn't like it because I thought it was too stupid and didn't have anything to say. It was just Spielberg being indulgent. You could pin this on Jurassic World's climax, but at the same time I thought that was sensible, it didn't go against any plot expectations, didn't have a giant 67 ball humorously roll by, and Trevorrow said that he found satisfaction in having these prehistoric beings slamming down product placement and whatnot. So I do think it makes some kind of statement.
But anyway. What I like the most about the Jurassic Park series... are the raptors. Yep, the raptors. The first film was all about the raptors and their intelligence. Jurassic Park 3 took this further by actually showing them working in groups in a very calculated fashion, and the climax wasn't just another big action setpiece, but rather... about furthering the raptors as intelligent, even slightly understanding animals. When they give the eggs back and Grant blows on the conch shell, they hear an alien sound from the distance, which are the choppers. Paul tells Grant to replicate the "call for help" sound and he does it pretty closely, then right after the raptors hear the sounds coming. They took this as "they just called for help just like we do" and scattered. It was showing how smart and communicative they are.
That's why I actually liked the ending to JP3. It wasn't just action, but rather a story payoff to something established in the original. Jurassic World then takes it to the next step and has someone working with the raptors. Just before the big fight, it ends with Owen successfully approaching Blue and removing her headset, which re-establishes their trust in Owen. I thought that was a fascinating moment and a huge stepping stone in a subplot that has been there since the original. Oh, I forgot to mention what The Lost World does in regards to this subplot, sorry. Oh wait, no I didn't, because it doesn't do jack shit. IMO, it's the outlier. It's the one you can actually mostly ignore because the story and motivations are stupid and it doesn't bother to do anything with the raptors.
JP3 is a pretty stupid movie, but it's fun and short, and at least continues the momentum of the raptor intelligence subplot, and Jurassic World successfully keeps that going and takes it to even more interesting places. The Lost World just doesn't do anything except suck and doesn't contribute one thing to the series as a whole.
