Lost World: Jurassic Park

This is a sequel to Jurassic Park, a movie I like very much. In that first movie, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) is a noted paleontologist, and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) is a paleobotanist. Scottish multi-millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) thinks he has designed the ultimate theme-park, but needs some experts to confirm its safety for the public. He talks Grant and Sattler into flying down to Isla Nublar, near Costa Rica, along with noted mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Hammond bought Isla Nublar, built a genetic engineering laboratory there, and managed to clone dinosaurs, using DNA from amberized mosquitoes, who drank dinosaur blood. John Hammond believes that, through advanced technology and multiple safeguards, he and his staff have the dinosaurs, including two of the greatest predators ever (Tyrannosaurs rex and Velociraptor), under complete control, and the park is completely safe to open for the public. John Hammond is wrong, as a few unpredictable things occur, and the little tour for Grant, Sattler, Malcolm, and Hammond's grandchildren, turns into a game of "Can we get out of here alive?"

Now, in the sequel, almost all the main stars are gone. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has a small background part, and Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm tries to fill the gap left by no Sam Neill and no Laura Dern. The story is that John Hammond's company, InGen, did not have one island, they had two. The second island was not meant as another amusement park, but as a secluded breeding site for the dinosaurs. Four years after the disaster on Isla Nublar, the dinosaurs on the second island have been abandoned, and they have flourished. Hammond sends a team of specialists there, led by Dr. Malcolm, to see how well the dinosaurs are doing, to study them, and to figure out how they have survived and adapted. Meanwhile, an internecine battle at InGen leads to the ousting of Hammond by his usurping, money-hungry nephew, who promptly sends another team to the second island, led by big-game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite), with the goal of "harvesting the abandoned assets" or, in real-life talk, bring the dinosaurs to a zoo-like area near San Diego, so that InGen can rake in the bucks.

The result? Absolute chaos! The two teams barely get off the island alive, and are able to escape with only two dinosaurs: a baby Tyrannosaurus rex and its highly protective mother. They do get to San Diego, with even more disastrous results.

My take: The first time I saw this film, I was overwhelmingly disappointed, right from the start, to the point that I barely paid attention to much of it, after about the one-third point. I planned to never see it again, but I did want a DVD version of the first film. When I went to buy that, I found the DVD "Adventure Pack" that contains all three movies. I wanted the first one, and having forgotten there even was a third film, that I never saw, I bought the trilogy.

With my expectations low, but with the goal of watching the second film intently enough to write a good review, I ended up enjoying this film more than I expected (not a hard expectation to beat). The film does lack much of the wonder of the first film, but the action sequences are pretty good. Pete Postlethwaite's character has some interesting aspects, but is not developed well enough (see below). Jeff Goldblum tries to turn his non-stop skepticism of the first film into a more rounded, do-it-all leading man character, but he might have been better off just being the Ian Malcolm he had created. I did appreciate his moment of total honesty with his daughter, when he told her to never listen to him, as he was not a good father.

I miss the Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler characters, as Sam Neill and Laura Dern gave the first film its heart. This film tried to insert some warmth, with Ian Malcolm trying to protect his ex-girlfriend (Julianne Moore), who was very bright but often overestimated her ability to handle everything. Ian also had to keep track of his stowaway daughter, who also was quite adept at becoming a target for the dinosaurs. It was not nearly enough to balance the cold ruthlessness and/or rampant self-interest of most of the characters.

The flaws? There were many, but I will describe the ones that bothered me most. There is a scene where the T-rexes are after the people in a big RV-like control station. This scene goes on far too long, with too many near-disasters. The suspense dies after a while, and you just want a T-rex to get it over with and start munching on someone, anyone.

On the DVD I have, in the bonus features, there are two deleted scenes. They should not have deleted these scenes! One shows you the boardroom showdown wherein Hammond's nephew actually does the usurping of John Hammond, and you learn his reasons. The rest of the movie then makes more sense. The second deleted scene show us how Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) was recruited, and his character then becomes more three-dimensional and much more interesting. Again, if this scene had been left in, the rest of the film would have been better.

Conclusion: They should have shortened the T-rexes-attacking-the-RV sequence (making it more credible) and left the two above-mentioned deleted scenes in. It still would not have equalled its predecessor, but it would have come closer, and it would have been a more worthy sequel to the first film, which was, and is, a truly entertaining experience.