Jaws 3-D (1983) Review

After the reasonable commercial success of Jaws 2, the producers suggested that the next movie in the franchise to be a spoof picture called Jaws 3, People 0. Unfortunately the idea was put on hold, which is ironic really given that the resulting movie, Jaws 3-D, is probably a lot funnier than a direct spoof would have ever been.

Joe Alves, production designer on the first two movies, takes a stab at directing this time around. Wisely keeping the rubbery shark out of frame for the majority of the running time, it’s a shame that the script plays second fiddle to some frankly ridiculous 3-D effects, which looked bad at the time and have dated even worse.

Seen within the context of a 2-D movie on the smaller screen, the likes of floating fish heads and frogs jumping at the audience are just plain embarrassing. Obviously trying to cash in on the short lived 3-D revival that was taking place that year, (Friday the 13th Part 3-D and Spacehunter – Adventures in the Forbidden Zone) Jaws 3-D did make money. However, compared to the money made by the first two movies, a domestic gross in the US of around $42million gives an indicator as to how low the franchise had sunk with this entry.

Following on from the first two movies, we see Dennis Quaid (what was he thinking?) playing Mike Brody, who obviously hasn’t learnt from his previous experience to stay away from the water and is now working at a Sea World centre. Only his younger brother Sean (John Putch) seems to have problems with going into the open water, well, that’s until Lea Thompson’s up for it nymph entices him in with the promise of sex.

Given the family tradition appears to be tackling a Great White Shark, at some point it’s inevitable that the poorly managed Sea World centre would have one turn up eventually. As a special treat this time round, they get a baby shark and then a mad mummy shark. This sea life centre has no idea what to do with a shark in captivity and manage to kill one in front of a hundred people. Rather than play it down, the female lead squeals and hollers to an unsympathetic audience about how bad her boss is – surely not a good advert for Sea World centres. With regular abandon, workers at the centre jump into the water without a thought for the beastie that could be lurking there! In a word awful!