Review of The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) by Rob S — 25 Jul 2015

Although I think Spielberg is an overrated director, I have to admit I really like a lot of his movies. This one is a film by Spielberg that I'm not THAT fond of.

A lot of magic of the original Jurassic Park is missing in this sequel. Spielberg filled the first one with aspects of spectatorship such as the fact that the characters were on a ride in a theme park - an attraction of sorts. Screaming from the children was also a commentary on how we should react to Jurassic Park and its effects. Lost World is also lacking great subtlety which the first provided, such as the Jaws style suspense of not showing the T-Rex at first, but showing the goat disappearing without showing how.

While Hammond was making a mistake in the first film according to the archaeologists and the Goldblum character, in this film he just seems plain stupid, putting people into danger again after the "accident" at the park, as they refer to it in this film. It was also a poor choice to make the Goldblum character the main character for this sequel. Since he was made the protagonist, he had to be more serious, and the quirkiness of his character was transferred to his girlfriend played by Julianne Moore.

I've been ripping on this movie for a while now, so I'll say that I enjoyed the effects that created the dinosaurs of this film just as I did with the first film. The dinosaurs still made the movie exciting, especially the addition of the small green ones which eat up people together in herds. The wonder is also missing in the sense that the dinosaurs in this film are portrayed more as dangerous than something to gaze in awe at - that's what the first film was for.

A decent sequel which I wouldn't re-visit too often; I'd prefer to just watch the original Jurassic Park on its own when I get in the mood for dinosaurs.