In 1993 Steven Spielberg unleashed the box office behemoth that was Jurassic Park. Despite a patchy script, the spectacle of marauding dinosaurs was enough to shatter previous box-office records. A sequel was inevitable and, sure enough, The Lost World trampled over the competition in 1997. A third was essential, although Jurassic Park III wasn't nearly as successful as its predecessors. Still, that hasn't put off studio suits who recently greenlit a fourth instalment to star Keira Knightley and franchise regular Sam Neill.

A Walk In The Park

Don't expect to find any new material in this four-disc Ultimate Collection. All three films are presented with original 'making of' featurettes, which find cast and crew rattling off the plot between snippets of behind-the-scenes footage. These are cursory at best, although extras for Jurassic Park include an intriguing fly-on-the-wall look at Spielberg barking directions at Sam Neil and co: "It's not just running away from dinosaurs," Sam assures us. "There's a lot of human drama."

Naturally the special effects are a key selling point for all the films, but there's very little discussion of this regarding the first two instalments. Instead, we're offered demo reels that simply strip away the CG layers. It's only for the third movie that we get a more detailed investigation into the process of creating these effects, which begins with clay sculptures and sophisticated robotics.

"I don't think of them as puppets at all," insists Neill. "I think of them as sentient beings." That could be a sign of mild psychosis, but the effects bods remain confident that audiences will not be able to spot the seams. They're especially proud of the underwater Spinosaurus scene, but the plane crash sequence (achieved using a hydraulic gimbal) looks like much more fun. Of course a rather ashen-faced Téa Leoni might disagree...

Evolution Of A Monster

One of the highlights of the package is an interview with novelist Michael Crichton who confesses that this whole saga is, "a juvenile fantasy". (But in a good way.) Despite this admission, he spent years toiling over the problem of how to make the story credible. "I had trouble myself believing this could be true," he says, "But there was more and more research that suggested it wasn't so unlikely." We're guessing he doesn't mean Sam Neill's psychiatric evaluation.

Although it's hardly in-depth, we're given a quick tour of the art department on Jurassic Park III. Production designer Ed Verreaux talks about gathering concept art and storyboards to create a fully realised world inhabited with realistic creatures. Sadly, we're not allowed a peek at this work in progress. As for the first two movies, there's nothing on production design at all. Same goes for sound design although Christopher Boyes gives a detailed breakdown for part three. He reveals that many of the "dinosaur vocals" were combinations of exotic animal calls from "vultures in Madagascar" to "arctic seabirds".

For comic relief we're treated to The Compie Dance Number (dinos doing Fred Astaire), which may be an indication that the folks at ILM have a little too much time on their hands. There's also a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Hurricane Iniki, which briefly halted production on Jurassic Park.

Unfortunately for the makers of this DVD, the bad weather can't be blamed for this scattered selection of extras. Most of the featurettes are superficial and there are no commentaries to accompany the films. On the upside, Jurassic Park III has more angles covered and Crichton offers some engaging insights. In the end though, this Ultimate Edition is like a vegetarian dinosaur: big and heavy, but not a lot to digest.

EXTRA FEATURES