Pages

Saturday, August 19, 2006

"Jaws 3-D" review

Jaws 3-D (1983)

Directed by Joe Alves
Writing credits Carl Gottlieb

Dennis Quaid.... Michael 'Mike' Brody
Bess Armstrong.... Kathryn Morgan
Simon MacCorkindale.... Philip FitzRoyce
Louis Gossett Jr..... Calvin Bouchard
John Putch.... Sean Brody
Lea Thompson.... Kelly Ann Bukowski

Jaws invades an underwater park. The idea was great. The problem is the special effects are terrible. I missed it when it came out in theaters so I never got to experience the 3-D phenomenon. Maybe that would have made a difference but I doubt it.

A giant shark attacking a Sea World-like park was a great starting point. But it's hard to get scared of Jaws when he looks like the shark at Universal Studios. I mean, he was one plastic shark. I need to believe Jaws is a real shark inflicting terror. This time, I didn't. He was definitely a big toy floating in the water. The climax scene was the worst of all.

SPOILER ON ENDING

Jaws goes headfirst through the window of the control room. In 3-D, this might have been cool. In the tape I saw, it looked awful.

END SPOILER

Although the effects were rotten, I still find myself enjoying this flick. All of the "Jaws" sequels have a very high bar set for them. They are not going to even get close to the original "Jaws". For a B-giant shark flick, it was pretty good. Comparing it to "Jaws" is unfair but also unavoidable. Even though I know the effects were bad, I still liked it. It was the best "Jaws" sequel.

SCORE: 3 out of 4 attacking Jaws - in 3-D!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw the movie in 3D when it first came out (yes, I'm that old) and the climax scene looked just as bad in 3D as it does on TV.

Dr. Gore said...

Ahh. Then I don't have to feel bad about missing the 3-D Jaws. Thanks.

K.R. said...

I missed this one when it was first released, but saw a few other theatrical 3D films during the 70s/80s revival of the gimmick, and it can make for a fun experience. Got to take in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3, PARASITE and FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN ( under the Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein title, of course.)