Jurassic Park III lacks wonder but still has wow factor

Jurassic Park III, animated hit Despicable Me and Billy Elliot are among the top picks on free-to-air television.

A Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Spinosaurus fight for first choice of humans in Jurassic Park III.

In truth, the two Jurassic Park sequels to date — 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park and 2001’s Jurassic Park III (Saturday, 9pm, Seven; not Vic, Tas, SA) — far from being take-the-money-and-run rip-offs, are solid entertainment. While the former was a box office success and the latter wasn’t, both suffered from an undersupply of the original’s sense of wonder: instead of the majesty of dinosaurs come to life found in the original, the two subsequent films relied on the beasts almost exclusively as antagonists, objects of terror and death.

That said, Jurassic Park III features an unusually thoughtful script co-written by Sideways director Alexander Payne and his long-time collaborator Jim Taylor, which automatically renders it more three-dimensional than its immediate predecessor. Sam Neill returns as Dr Alan Grant, trying to save the parents (Bill Macy, Tea Leoni) of a missing child from various dinosaur attacks. (The fourth film in the franchise, Jurassic World, opens on June 11.)

Just as the summer-obsessed snowman Olaf steals the show in the Disney smash Frozen, it is the Minions who have emerged as the superstars of the franchise begun by the independently created 2010 animated hit Despicable Me (Saturday, 7pm, Seven; not Vic, Tas, SA). The original film follows the adventures of professional bad guy Gru (voiced in some wildly imaginative and vaguely east European patois by Steve Carell) as a black-clad inventor intent on stealing the moon. His professional setbacks, combined with an imaginative visual palette courtesy of directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, make it one of the rare animated films targeted at children that adults can enjoy as well.

Speaking of franchises, few anticipated the international resonance of the 2000 British hit Billy Elliot (Saturday, 2pm, Seven; NSW and QLD, 3pm, only). The story of a young lad (Jamie Bell), stuck in a dismal coalmining town with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer, and the eventual, grudging support of his miner father (Gary Lewis), touched a nerve with audiences all over the world. Stage versions and touring companies followed, but as is usually the case, the original remains the most affecting.

With Woody Allen having just premiered his 45th directorial effort, Irrational Man, at the Cannes film festival, it seems a good time to once again revisit the film that put him on the map as a serious artist, Annie Hall (Sunday, 12.55am, ABC). Inevitably, the eponymous heroine (Diane Keaton) seems dated today, but Allen’s neurotic and lovelorn comedian Alvy Singer has become an iconic presence in his filmography.

Joaquin Phoenix stars in Irrational Man, but previously proved up to the task of playing country music legend Johnny Cash in the propulsive 2005 biopic Walk the Line (Saturday, 9.35pm, SBS One), with Reese Witherspoon winning the Oscar for playing his wife June.

Despicable Me (PG)

3.5 stars

Saturday, 7pm, Seven (Not Vic, Tas, SA)

Jurassic Park III (M)

3.5 stars

Saturday, 9pm, Seven (Not Vic, Tas, SA)

Annie Hall (M)

4 stars

Sunday, 12.55am, ABC