I've always thought the scariest shot in the franchise is somehow in the worst movie of the franchise (Jurassic Park III). This is the shot of the pteranodon appearing out of the fog while the Kirby child is on that flimsy bridge.

However...the rest of the birdcage scene isn't really that special imo. There are few good moments here or there but the scene gets very cartoonish very quickly, and I personally find it to be very flashy in a rushed/shallow way. It peaks on the bridge and then the rest of the scene is overwrought and tacky and it's all pretty much over in a blink....imo.

As for the whole movie, I disagree about the animatronics and the atmosphere of JP3 being anything special. Almost any given shot from TLW or JP is far more atmospheric, and the blend of animatronics and CGI is often more interesting/effective in those earlier films. Whereas JP3 seems like Johnston shot the movie in a hurry and kept saying "More daylight!!!!!"

Johnston also seemed confused about how to frame the dinosaurs at certain points. There's one moment where he just shoves the camera right at the beak of the Spinosaurus and has the camera do a "dun dun dun" type shake. It looks like a plastic toy. The shots of the plane rolling around just screams "we are filming a movie scene on set with our cheap looking fuselage prop!"

EDIT: Am I really being down voted for simply sharing my own opinion in a straightforward way? Is that how down votes are used on this sub generally? To down vote harmless opinions?