Jaws 3-D

Yes, it's all pretty silly. But for those who can stand the annoyance of the cardboard glasses, there are worse ways to kill a hot afternoon. [23 July 1983, p.D6]

It's harmless but unsurprising...Without Steven Spielberg's timing or John Williams's music, the shark's periodic visits become feeding scenes rather than ferocious attacks. It's like watching someone make regular raids on a refrigerator in search of midnight snacks.

One can safely doze through the extremely bland first hour, which feels more like an advertisement for marine theme parks than a suspense movie. [1 Aug 1983, p.47]

Jaws 3-D makes a conclusive case for terminating further sequels to "Jaws," as if one were needed. It also reinforces the impression that 3-D is unlikely to make a sustained comeback until its optical inconveniences and dependence on hokey scare effects can be overcome. [23 July 1983, p.C1]

The Jaws cycle has reached its nadir with this surprisingly tepid [Arrivision] 3-D version.

A right royal turkey.

A toothless, tedious farce which deserves to sink without a trace.

This Movie is laughably bad. Its full of Wisconsin level of cheese, and very bad 3D and CGI.

Yeah... not good. I don't dislike 'Jaws 3-D' as much as most evidently do, though. Dennis Quaid and Bess Armstrong are actually pleasant in terms of the cast, none of those behind them are anything worth noting but are somewhat serviceable. I will say I didn't enjoy the plot, but only because it lacked something worth watching - it's poor, not terrible. More of the shark was wanted, but I would personally say that about the preceding two films as well. Parts of this 1983 flick that are terrible, though, are the special effects, especially right at the end. There is also some poorly done green screen and it, clearly, has a dire cover. There's no doubting this being made was a cash grab, that's basically the only reason to ever go 3-D, but a cash grab doesn't necessarily mean it's an awful film; which this isn't, in my opinion. It's simply bad. The cover is hilariously awful though, granted.

Jaws 3D, released during the 1980s 3D craze, suffers from awkward visuals when converted to 2D, reflecting the limitations of early stereoscopic filming. The production was troubled: Roy Scheider refused to return after Jaws 2, and Dennis Quaid later admitted he was heavily using cocaine throughout filming. Upon release, the movie was widely panned, earning multiple Razzie nominations for its slow pace, weak plot, excessive characters, and the shark’s minimal presence. Yet, beneath its flaws, the film hints at ideas that would later appear in Jurassic Park, with a promoter believing he can control a dangerous animal that ultimately turns on him. Passably entertaining, it remains the most frequently aired installment on television, even as the franchise’s quality clearly declines.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This is not a good film. If I hadn’t had the cinema experience in 3D VR then I wouldn’t have enjoyed this. The characters are very forgettable, the effects (especially the underwater viewing tunnels) are weak but the biggest issue is that there isn’t much sense of scale. The shark doesn’t seem that big at all because there is not attempt, apart from a moment near the end with a person in the shark’s mouth, to really show the size of the shark in relation to anything relatable. There aren’t many deaths. The in-you-face 3D moments are not very well done. The only positive was that it wasn’t too boring, just about enough happened to hold my attention. Hated the casual drink-driving!