Throwback Thursday Review: 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park'

After a hectic round of reviews two weeks ago, things have settled down a bit here on my blog. I recently returned from a trip and had planned to prepare this review beforehand so I could publish it while I was away, but alas, that didn't end up happening so I'm publishing it now instead. For those wondering, I saw Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom last Saturday and will have a review online relatively soon. As for content through July, you can look forward to Throwback Thursday Reviews of Mission: Impossible II, Mission: Impossible III, The Equalizer, and Mamma Mia!, Triple-R Reviews for Sicario, Ant-Man, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, and reviews of new releases Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Skyscraper, The Equalizer 2, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, and Teen Titans Go! To The Movies.

'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' Review

Nominated For: Best Visual Effects.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park accompanies Ian Malcolm as he journeys to Isla Sorna, an island neighboring Isla Nublar where the creatures inhabiting Jurassic Park were bred, on behalf of John Hammond so that he and his team may observe and document the dinosaurs before InGen can exploit them for financial gain once more.

The Lost World is a curious case in the Jurassic franchise. It's unique in being the first follow-up to Jurassic Park and the only franchise sequel which was directed by Steven Spielberg, featured a John Williams score, and based on another Michael Crichton novel like the original. After the success of the first film, Crichton felt pressured to write a second novel based on fan demand and Spielberg's willingness to adapt a sequel. The Lost World was actually the only sequel Crichton ever wrote, so additional installments were based on entirely original ideas as a result. In the case of The Lost World, screenwriter David Koepp returned to pen the second entry and loosely adapted Crichton's novel per Spielberg's instructions by preserving Spielberg's favorite concepts from the novel with a largely original story at the core. Aside from those differentiating factors, The Lost World may as well have became the template for every other Jurassic Park sequel as it prioritized spectacle over story in just about every instance. 

Even with Spielberg at the helm, The Lost World has the bearings of a blockbuster meant to make its way from one set-piece to the next. As a result, it's simply a slog because the exposition this time around is tiring and tedious while the new characters hardly have a personality and are little more than walking, talking plot devices. You're meant to be concerned about the character's safety due to their affiliation with another character rather than any goodwill they've established themselves. The characters' stupid choices only make it more difficult to invest in their actions. For instance, all the audience really learns about Malcolm's daughter Kelly is that she's a young gymnast related to Ian. She stows away to accompany Ian on his expedition because she doesn't want to be left behind, but it's not till the dinosaurs attack that she realizes what a dumb decision she's made. What then follows is an hour and a half in which she mostly whines and screams before eventually taking out a velociraptor in the film's silliest moment. Beyond bonding with her father, she doesn't have any arc of her own and is a nuisance to the other characters and audience. 

The Spielbergian sense of awe and wonder that occupied the original is present in but a scene or two, and we've already seen the dinosaurs so it's no longer impressive and awe-inspiring. In its place, Spielbergian suspense. Despite my growing indifference to the Jurassic sequels, Spielberg's influence on key sequences in The Lost World can't be ignored. The sequence where the trailer dangles over the cliff ledge is absolutely brilliant to say the least and the T-Rex attack on San Diego is quite entertaining to watch. In regards to the technical elements, Janusz Kaminski's cinematography is quite captivating, there's some clever editing from Michael Kahn, the visual effects and animatronics are on-par with the original for the most part, and John Williams' score doesn't disappoint. I won't deny that The Lost World is a well-constructed film with a few stand-out sequences, but it lacks the heart and soul of the original.

Sure, there are flashes of brilliance sprinkled throughout The Lost World. Even I'll admit that much, but these bright spots ultimately don't elevate the weak foundation of a lackluster script. I've sourced most of my complaints already, but my biggest gripe is that I didn't care about any characters aside from Ian Malcom (whom I already had a vested interest) and the film is largely a series of characters making bad ideas. David Koepp goes out of his way to address any possible gaps in logic that may accompany the introduction of Isla Sorna by explaining any and all questions away via exposition. The retcon is effective, but I wish the same care had gone into justifying character motivation. 

For instance, Ian Malcolm is the character from the original you'd expect to have absolutely no desire to ever be involved with dinosaurs again. Malcolm says as much in a conversation with John Hammond. However, Malcolm changes his mind immediately upon learning Sarah Harding is already on the island. Now, I understand that Malcolm went to Site B to rescue Harding because she's his girlfriend. That much is obvious, and I think Koepp expects that's more than enough to explain the sudden shift away, but I don't feel the film itself ever justified her importance to him beyond that connection. When they're reunited, you don't really get a sense of why Malcolm cares so much. They have chemistry, but Malcom's continuously trying to save her while she either enabling other's mistakes or making her own. 

We're also told time and time again that Sarah is an experienced animal behaviorist and paleontologist (Hammond even proclaims her to be a foremost expert in the field), but her knowledge is scarcely shown in her interactions with the creatures. Despite her awareness of the peril posed by interacting with the young stegosaurus and tyrannosaurus rex, she carries on without a care in the world only to find severe consequences in both instances. I suppose you could chalk it down to her strong will and ambition, but you'd think a behaviorist would be more careful in her study of these dangerous dinosaurs. It's just frustrating to witness because Sarah isn't particularly well-developed and Malcolm's decision to go to the island never feels fully justified because their relationship is merely an afterthought when all is said-and-done. Koepp just needed an excuse to get Malcolm on the island, so he took the shortest path possible. 

Meanwhile, the performances across the board are hit or miss. Jeff Goldblum, of course, can do no wrong imbuing Ian Malcolm with his trademark sardonic wit and levelheaded rationale. Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn,Vanessa Chester, and Richard Schiff are all equally acceptable as Sarah Harding, Nick Van Owen, Kelly Curtis, and Eddie Carr, but bring little personality to their one-note characters so they're largely static and uninteresting. Richard Attenborough, Joseph Mazzelo, and Ariana Richards also briefly reprise their respective roles from the original to great effect. 

As for a highlight, Pete Postlethwaite delights in the role of a cartoonish game hunter named Roland Tembo and stands out as an intriguing presence. Those who hired him are sadly textbook greedy, corporate types though.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park may not have completely been a lost cause, but it was still an ill-advised effort at the very least because it rarely ventured anywhere near the excellence of original. While it may not have been fossilized as the worst Jurassic sequel, it's still a significant step-down from the first and should have been a red herring to audiences and Universal Studios that Jurassic Park sequels were a very, very bad idea. 

Film Assessment: C+