Buy it... if you're a casual fan of the franchise for whom the smaller technical details of the adaptation of old ideas with the new aren't a scientific affair.

Avoid it... if you're bothered by some of the liberties in tempo and structural rearrangement that Don Davis applies to John Williams' famous original ideas for the franchise.

Davis
Williams

Jurassic Park III: (Don Davis) Universal Pictures hit a new low in franchise milking with Jurassic Park III, a concept that had, by its first two scripts, already come to an end in terms of viability. The entire previous crew stepped aside, despite Steven Spielberg's continuing role as executive producer, and the haphazard script (which did not involve any new input from author Michael Chrichton) was reportedly not even finished by the time shooting began. The concept had devolved into the most basic of its monster flick roots, leaving only two-dimensional formula interactions between humans and dinosaurs as enticement for audiences. Everything about Jurassic Park III was disappointing, from the poorly chosen cast to the pointless storyline that has no sense of style. Even the special effects of the dinosaurs themselves had become substandard. It's no surprise, therefore, that composer John Williams graciously removed himself from the franchise at this juncture. Eight years after Williams' dynamic and memorably thematic score for the original Jurassic Park stunned audiences with its sweeping majesty, even this musical identity was beginning to show its age. Unfortunately, the film presented an opportunity for Universal to do what had occurred with the later Superman sequels (simply rehashing the original themes with inadequate new material thrown in for just a pinch of originality), and the same process was followed for the music for Jurassic Park III. Despite an abundance of rumors that James Horner would take the job because of his previous association with the new crew, Williams specifically recommended Don Davis for the job, and Davis received the assignment. With the Superman sequel process well in mind, it was figured that subsequent Jurassic Park productions would not function without the themes of the original film, so Williams stepped in as a consultant for Davis, providing detailed notation on how to adapt his original themes into new situations. For Davis, meanwhile, Jurassic Park III represented his second major break in three years, still riding the success of his postmodern score for The Matrix. Unlike that score, however, Davis turns to a fully harmonic and predictable orchestral mode of composition for Jurassic Park III.

If Davis were to be sure of one thing, it would be that nobody could complain about the lack of thematic integration in this sequel score. He recognized early on that his music would be very heavily scrutinized by both film and score fans who, inevitably, would compare his work to that of the beloved maestro. When Williams visited the studio to consult with Davis about how to tackle certain scenes, the younger composer took a look at Williams' original concepts and realized that he was dealing with an incredibly complex task. The first two Jurassic Park scores had included some of the most complex orchestral integration of Williams' career, and even a mere interpretation of that material would constitute an enormous challenge. In the end, though, the most impressive aspect of Davis' work is the careful interpretation of the two main Jurassic Park themes into Jurassic Park III, not to mention the statement of three or so subthemes of Williams' in addition to an entirely new wholesome theme to represent the new family of characters. The only theme left out in the cold is Williams' title identity for Jurassic Park: The Lost World, which is somewhat strange given the location connections between the sequel stories. Fans of Davis had, in the late 1990's, compared his larger, harmonic orchestral style to that of Williams, and so loyal is Davis to Williams' general concepts in Jurassic Park III that even a measure of Williams' theme for The Towering Inferno makes a brief appearance near the start of "Tiny Pecking Pteranodons." The only problem with this equation, awkwardly, is that Davis spends so much time either emulating Williams outright in this score or inserting the previous themes into his own material that he neglects the opportunity to provide the work with a personality of its own. In an age when sequels to blockbusters rarely include the classic themes of the original film (take the dissatisfaction over the Batman or Harry Potter series, for instance), it is a great blessing to hear Williams' work stated in a significant portion of Jurassic Park III. But still, like Ken Thorne's Superman sequel scores, there's a nagging feeling that there is no new life in this music with which to refresh the series. Like the other elements of the production, it sounds tired.

Davis' primary new theme for Jurassic Park III is a pleasant and optimistic string idea that flourishes in "Nash Calling" and the "The Hat Returns/End Credits." It's adequate, though when surrounded by Williams' ideas (as it often is), it seems somewhat artificially forced into the equation. The integration of this theme into the rest of the score isn't as keenly smart as the handling of the previously existing themes, a circumstance that perhaps testifies to the weakness of the new theme. Both of the two primary themes from the original film receive significant, full treatment, even more than what was heard in Williams' own The Lost World. The rousing brass fanfare most commonly associated with the franchise is heard extensively in "The Dinosaur Fly-By" and is integrated into a plethora of situations throughout the score, serving once again as a faint reminder of the glory of the original theme park concept. The romantic secondary theme for strings is less frequently heard, but compared to its short-changing in The Lost World, Davis gives it dominant air time in "Brachiosaurus on the Bank" and "The Hat Returns/End Credits." The latter theme is accompanied by a choir in these performances, a welcome nod to the format of the original film's treatment of the idea. The rising four-note theme of mystery, the churning raptor theme, and other snippets of Williams' chomping action music are littered throughout the score. Several individual moments in the Jurassic Park score are reprised for scenes of similar intent as well. The downside of these many thematic statements, however, is their seemingly poorer performances. They are often performed at far too fast a tempo, especially in "The Hat Returns/End Credits," reducing their majesty considerably and giving them a formulaic sound. The first two scores, recorded on the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, featured resounding sound quality, with a wetter mixing that enhanced the epic proportion of the scores. The tone of Jurassic Park III often sounds flat by direct comparison, which is surprising because its recording location was the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox, where Jerry Goldsmith had recorded some of the most vibrant scores of his career in the late 1990's. Ultimately, this could be only a mixing dilemma, though with inevitable comparisons to Williams' work, it remains an issue.

One interesting exception to that issue of sound quality exists in the difference between the performances of Williams' themes and Davis' own. Take, for example, the contrast between "Brachiosaurus on the Bank" and "Nash Calling;" the former includes a rather two-dimensional performances of Williams' majesty theme, while the latter features a far more vibrant performance of Davis' own theme for the film. The same could be said about several other cues of similar construct. Though it's great to hear Williams' material incorporated so faithfully, the few cues that stand out are those in which Davis plays a little with the previous concepts and merges them with harder edges of his more postmodern tendencies. Cues like "Isla Sorna Sailing Situation," with its resounding, ominous bass strings, and "Clash of Extinction," with an intelligent frenzy of battling themes, are easily the highlights of the work. In a general sense, the complexity of Davis' score is to par with those by Williams, even if Davis' music occasionally seems a bit anonymous. All three films really tax the abilities of the string section, especially during frightening chase scenes that call for an abundance of sixteenth note madness (a usual Williams tactic heard later in his career). The raptor attacks are scored very well, as Davis' intuition for writing in darker, harsher tones is clear. Still, on the other hand, the music for Jurassic Park III lacks the dynamic and exciting edge that Williams was able to inject into his scores. Davis rarely spices up the orchestra with performances of exotic instruments, with the exception of a few, short woodwind performances. Seemingly gone are the impressive percussive arrays that Williams used (especially the timpani and native drums), as well as any form of tinkling or rolling piano performances. A painfully flat snare is occasionally employed instead. The manipulation of the thematic material is often done in such a fashion as to cut short, accelerate, or combine sequences, too, causing many of Williams' themes to jar with surrounding cues. Only a finely tuned film score ear would find much fault with these few integration issues, and a regular moviegoer probably would not notice such problems. To that end, Davis has created a very effective score for the film.

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While the music for Jurassic Park III is worthy of no award (and Williams fans may seek refuge with the original score as an antidote to some of the performances heard here), it does offer a few smart thematic variations and serves the purpose of an extended franchise sequel well enough to suffice. The score, as a product on album, suffers from many more problems. The first two albums of Williams' music were both 70 minutes in length, and rarely through the years did you hear many fans complain about wanting more music from either film. The duration of the Davis score on this album is just under 50 minutes, undoubtedly opening the door for fans inevitably seeking unpressed cues at a later time (though it should be noted that Jurassic Park III was a very short film by comparison to the two Spielberg pictures). The last four and a half minutes of music on the album are an inexcusable tragedy; no Randy Newman song has any business existing on a Jurassic Park album. This is a respected horror film franchise, and Williams collectors should be appropriately horrified by the fact that a stereotypically ridiculous Randy Newman country song was included at the end of this album. What kind of nonsense is this? The album is also an "Enhanced CD," a feature that, after a flurry of such highly advertised gimmicks in the mid-90s, had been tailing off in the 2000's. The features are wonderfully presented, but the "Don Davis interview" turned out to be a short, text-based affair. The product was also programmed with an auto-run feature that was somewhat annoying at the time and had a tendency to crash older computers. On the other hand, the packaging doesn't feature pop-up dinosaurs like the silly The Lost World digipak product, and everyone should be grateful for that. Overall, the music is the kind of romp that would have been a joy to hear in the theatre, but on album, a somewhat flat performance and mixing of the recording causes Davis' hard work to lag behind that of Williams in terms of majesty and excitement. The unnecessarily accelerated tempos of the major performances of the Williams themes alone will deter some devoted fans of the previous two scores. Even so, the score is still a worthy investment for casual fans franchise so long as expectations are somewhat diminished.   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Score as Written for Film: ****
Score as Heard on Album: ***
Overall: ***

Bias Check:

For Don Davis reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.2 (in 10 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.02 (in 43,269 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.