By Geno McGahee
There are some movies that I consider more than movies. They are events. The original JURASSIC PARK in 1993 was one of those films. It is timeless and even the CGI holds up today. It was a huge financial success and everyone went dinosaur crazy. With the success, a sequel was in order and in 1997, they followed up with LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK.
Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) returns and has earned a reputation as a nut for his account of the Jurassic Park incident. It has been denied by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) and it has led to some tension between the two. Hammond requests a meeting with Ian and that’s when it really hits the fan. There is an island where the dinosaurs are breeding and flourishing and to protect it, Hammond needs some documentation. He asks Ian to go, but he quickly refuses, but he soon finds out that there is a big reason to head there.
Ian’s girlfriend, Sarah (Julianne Moore), was sent there to research and document the dinosaurs. Ian heads off on a rescue mission to save her, but she is a free spirit and when he gets there, she plans to stay and finish her mission. Sneaking along is Ian’s young daughter, Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester), and that complicates the mission that much more.
As they explore the island, it becomes more intense. As expected, they meet up with the raptors and T-Rex, and it’s another battle for survival. Along with the group led by Sarah, there is another group on the island looking to capture a T-Rex and bring it back to the US for a Jurassic Park in the states. This leads to a battle between the two rival groups and a lot of dinosaur chases and fights.
I know that the young kid in the first one had a bunch of close calls and survived them all by the skin of his teeth, but it seems that every character goes through this in this film. It loses its impact. Kelly’s fighting off the raptors is quite annoying too. I don’t like when children become the heroes of films. It’s not realistic. These raptors are killers and had no issue killing the hunter in the first one, BUT they can’t handle a 13-year-old girl and her gymnastics? Come on.
They escape the island and they make it back to the US, and the rival group does succeed in capturing a T-Rex and bringing it back, but it somehow kills all of the people and remains on the boat until he reaches land. The T-Rex then roams the city, which is pretty cool, but all of the stupid “funny” moments reminded me of the old SUPERMAN movies where they put moments in there that were meant to be humorous and were terrible and took away from the film. I’m sure all the Asians across the globe cringed when they saw the group of Asians running away from the T-Rex screaming “Godzilla.” Yeah, that’s nice.
Ian and Sarah team up to save the day and John Hammond speaks to the public about the situation and about how life finds a way and all that stuff. It was a happy ending of a big budget blockbuster that turned out to be incredibly empty.
LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK is not a terrible film, but when you consider that it is a follow up to the original, it’s horrible by comparison. Goldblum was amusing in this and his sarcasm was worth watching, but the other characters were less than great. I usually really like Vince Vaughn, but he was forgettable in this and Julianne Moore, who I typically like, came off as very unbelievable in this.
Another note is that the CGI was not as good as the original. The dinosaurs didn’t look nearly as good as they did four years prior, which is strange considering that technology moved forward those four years. The T-Rex wasn’t nearly as imposing in this. There was this T-Rex baby and Ian and Sarah gave it to the T-Rexes and it sort of softened them up. The T-Rex in the original was a killing machine that just destroyed everything. This one, it’s just much softer. If the T-Rex can’t scare the people, the movie has a big problem.
A big idea behind this movie was the thought that Golblum could carry it, but they didn’t give him any support. Had the team been better and more developed, this may have had a shot, but most of them are unremarkable and interchangeable. The humor and sarcasm from Goldblum works well, but there is nobody he can work off of in this.
LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK is worth a watch if you like the original. I love the original and can sit through this one, but it is a disappointment. There were some great visuals, but you would think that with such a budget that they would come up with something better than this. It’s dark, dreary, and boring most of the time. I still recommend it, but it’s not impressive.
Rating: 5.5/10
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