Review of The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) by Lloyd H — 30 Jan 2013

The Lost World is a prime example of a film I've grown out of. As a child I thoroughly enjoyed it, but looking back I don't really know what all the fuss was about. As far as sequels go, this is by no means a disaster and considering the competition of its predecessor this film had to be unusually spectacular to surpass Jurassic Park. For all the trademark Spielberg moments, The Lost World isn't one of his finest moments. The set pieces are bigger and arguably better, there are more dinosaurs and overall lots of good things about this film, but ultimately it just doesn't come close to Jurassic Park.

The cast for me is one the main elements for this film being something of a disappointment. First off the main character is Jeff Goldblum's Dr. Ian Malcolm. In the first instalment he was a very funny and cool bit part character. He was dressed all black with jet black curly hair, black shades, black leather jacket and borderline black skin as its so tanned. He banged on about chaos theory and was witty and had some great humorous dialogue. But second time around he's centre stage and looks nothing like he did in the original. He's gone from cool to looking like Simon Cowell with his pants up to his chest. He's as pale as Casper, has lost the shades, his hair has gone grey and most importantly he's no longer funny. He offers none of the comic relief that he did in Jurassic Park and in the space of two films has gone from a very cool to a very boring character. In Jurassic Park I wanted more of him, in The Lost World I wanted less. The main thing wrong with this film is Sam Neill not being included. He was great in Jurassic Park and is the stand out character of the the franchise. The Lost World felt like an Indiana Jones film without Indy.

The female lead is Julianne Moore and sadly I'm not a fan of her and I'm not very fond of any of her films that I can think of. Laura Dern is great in Jurassic Park and Julianne Moore for me didn't offer the franchise anything new, enjoyable or memorable. Then there's the bizarre inclusion of Vince Vaughn. Now obviously his role in this film was before his countless amount of comedic flicks, but after seeing him in all his comedy roles since, watching The Lost World now, he just sticks out like a saw thumb. He is also for me poor piece of casting cause he looks very similar to Jeff Goldblum. Not facially but they're both dark and very gangly. Stood next to each other they just look too the same but miss matched at the same time. The only inclusion to the cast I enjoyed was Peter Postlethwaite. He is an exceptional actor and I really enjoyed his performance.

Another major floor with The Lost World is its plot. Apart from the actual creation of the Dinosaurs, Jurassic Park had a simple plot outline. Several experts from different backgrounds are invited to the theme park to give their professional opinions to the insurance company to then sign the park off as a safe and viable touristic attraction. And then obviously everything that could go wrong does do. In The Lost World they're turns out to be another island with Dinosaurs on that's referred to as Site B. It's said to be the breeding place of the Dinosaurs which ties in well with the opening scene of Jurassic Park where we see the Velociraptor being transported into the theme park. So I take it for granted that the Dinosaurs in the theme park have been bred and come from Site B. Although in the original it was said that all the Dinosaurs where genetically engineered at the theme park. Now because of the events in the first film, the park creator John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) steps down as CEO of In-Gen and signs everything over to his nephew. That all makes sense to me. But without much reason Jeff Goldblum's girlfriend Julianne Moore is sent to Site B for research purposes by John Hammond and Jeff Goldblum goes after her to rescue her. Once they're together on the island with other bit part characters, why they're there is never really mentioned or justified. But they're stuck on the island. It all felt very predictable, but also pointless.

In-Gen's reason for being on the island makes sense as they're there to capture Dinosaurs to put in the theme park. The scenes where the Dinosaurs are being captured are spectacular and the vehicles moving around the stampeding Dinosaurs is thoroughly entertaining. Jeff Goldblum and his crew inevitably cross paths with the In-Gen group when there's an attack by not one, but two T-Rex's. As a child this set piece was amazing and is still one of my favourites. The T-Rex's manage to tip an entire two carriage RV over a mountain and our heroes have little hope of escaping. This moment was Spielberg at his very best and visually it suspenseful and exciting to watch. The next big set piece is the Raptor pack killing everybody off as dozens of characters run through a head high field. It was scary seeing it first time as a child and still is now. As exciting as it is, the plot seems to get lost in the mayhem and film begins to feel very disjointed. We get to see more raptors as they face off against Jeff Goldblum and his crew, this scene features some ridiculous moments, acrobatics to highlight, without going into embarrassingly bad detail. Our heroes finally escape the island and as the ending approaches the film overall just seemed a like a fun but lifeless viewing experience.

But jumping the gun, we then get to see one of the most ridiculous moments in movie history, what was Steven Spielberg thinking. A T-Rex is transported to Manhattan where's there's a proposed theme park being opened by In-Gen. As the T-Rex is abut to be transferred from boat to land, a ridiculously dumb chain events take place. Inevitably, the T-Rex escapes and is let loose in Manhattan. As a child I thought this was absolutely amazing! But looking back its cringe worthy film making at its most exaggerated. I suppose its harmless fun, but personally I think Spielberg took it too far and overdid it.

The Dinosaurs and animatronics are once again sublime and the special effects are incredibly impressive. Visually I don't think this film is as colourful or attractive as Jurassic Park but technically I don't think it will date anytime soon. The soundtrack as expected is spectacular staying true to form and the set pieces are exiting and suspenseful. But ultimately the failure of The Lost World lies with the bad casting, loose plot and the ridiculous and dumb moments. The Lost World proves that trying too hard to be bigger and better doesn't always pay off. The Lost World at times doesn't feel like a sequel to Jurassic Park and just felt like a sub plot from the same world. Whereas Jurassic Park 3 for all its faults did feel like a sequel and personally I preferred it to The Lost World.

To conclude what at I think this boils down to is that The Lost World for me is the worst film in the franchise because it doesn't star Sam Neill. Now even though its obviously the Dinosaurs that make the Jurassic Park movies, for me Sam Neill is an integral part also. He is for me face of the franchise and I honestly think The Lost World would of been much better if it starred Sam Neill. I also think the reason Steven Spielberg didn't direct Jurassic Park 3 was because even he knew that The Lost World wasn't good enough. The Lost World is good fun and as a child was a film I treasured, but in every sense, compared to the first film, Jurassic Park shows less is more and remains by far the best in the franchise.