Written by Mr. Mouseburger 9th Nov 2007

Cashing in on the massive success of the first film, the third installment of the series sees the setting change from Amity Island to an exciting new water theme park which is just about to be opened. The tenuous thread to the other films is maintained by the main zookeeper character being Michael Brody, the irritating know-it-all oik from the first 2 films.

Anyway, unbeknownst to the park owners, they have trapped a baby great white shark in their lagoon. When they discover this, the Barnum-esque owner of the park, Calvin Brouchard, sees an opportunity to make a serious amount of cash by catching the fish and being the first park to have a great white shark on public display. They manage to catch the shark but it is not long before Jaws Jr. dies.

Through some sixth sense that we can only guess at, the mother of this shark knows what has happened to her baby and enters the lagoon, hellbent on revenge! If the first two sharks in the previous films were impressive, they are nothing compared to this behemoth, which is so big it would have its own postcode were it based on land.

It swims around a bit, causes a large amount of terror, which seems ridiculous considering everyone is on dry land, before it finally spots the prize it was seeking - Calvin Brouchard, owner of the park. Like all megalomaniac types, he is in the control centre of his underwater world, which for some reason (which will become apparent in about two paragraphs) is set under the water.

We then have a funny scene when all the protagonists in the film look in awe as the massive fish, which is so badly super-imposed it makes you wonder at what point the special effects budget ran out, floats towards the glass of the control centre. Presumably to increase the run time and pacing of the film, the director decided to slow down this part of the film, which only serves to make the whole scene look hilarious.

special effects provided by the cast of Blue Peter

Unbelievably, the shark's plan is to ram the glass of the control centre with its nose. Now, considering the glass of this control centre is holding back billions of gallons of water, you would expect the glass to be reinforced and capable of withstanding all but the largest of nuclear devices. However, the moment one atom of the shark's nose comes into contact with the glass, it shatters into a million pieces. We then see the most cringeworthy special effects I have ever seen on the silver screen as the shark enters the control room, along with the water.


The shark proves to be a real pane to Underwater World executives

It is not long before everyone is submerged in water, and a token peon, who was not even worthy of a name, is devoured in the sharks great maw. Brody spots a chance to save the lives of the more established characters though, when he sees an arm sticking out of the shark's mouth. Fortunately, the last dying act of the big game hunter, Fitzroyce, was to dangle a grenade teasingly out of the shark's mouth.


Similar to the first film, sharks seem to have difficulty swallowing devices that have a tendency to explode

Brody reaches for a long pole, and attempts to pull the pin out of the grenade. After a few failed attempts, which is done to increase the dramatic tension, he manages to pull the pin out and the fish is blown to pieces.



Maybe this looks better in 3D, which is how the film was supposed to be viewed, but I seriously doubt it