Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURRASSIC PARK (1997)

From: [email-masked] (James Berardinelli)
Date: 29 May 1997 18:27:39 GMT

THE LOST WORLD: JURRASSIC PARK
                       A film review by James Berardinelli
                        Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli

RATING (0 TO 10): 7.0
Alternative Scale: *** out of ****

United States, 1997
U.S. Release Date: 5/23/97 (wide)
Running Length: 2:13
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Arliss Howard, 
      Peter Stormare, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Schiff, 
      Vanessa Lee Chester, Richard Attenborough
Director: Steven Spielberg
Producers: Jerry Molen, Colin Wilson
Screenplay: David Koepp based on the novel by Michael Crichton
Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski
Music: John Williams
U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures

     When JURASSIC PARK was released in 1993, it set a new standard for 
state-of-the-art visual and audio effects.  It was suddenly possible to 
see humans and dinosaurs interacting in a way that had never before been 
possible, and to feel the entire theater shake with the approach of a 
Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Four years later, not a whole lot has changed.  
Effects houses like Industrial Lights and Magic have tackled bigger, 
more imposing objects such as tornadoes and volcanoes, but it's still 
basically the same technology that JURASSIC PARK ushered in.  And, 
because THE LOST WORLD doesn't offer anything especially innovative, it 
seems rather familiar and almost (but not quite) disappointing.  

     Like its predecessor, THE LOST WORLD is basically a big-budget 
monster movie of the sort that has been popular ever since the dawn of 
motion pictures.  Unfortunately, like many entries into the genre, it 
falls into expected patterns.  As a result, much of this movie seems 
like a retread of JURASSIC PARK (with a little KING KONG thrown in at 
the end), not because director Steven Spielberg is intentionally copying 
himself, but because there's really not much more that he can do with 
the premise.  If there's a third movie in the series, it will probably 
follow pretty much the same storyline as the first and second 
installments.

     Still, repetitiveness notwithstanding, THE LOST WORLD boasts 
several edge-of-the-seat moments.  The dinosaurs aren't nearly as awe-
inspiring, but they remain formidable adversaries for a group of plucky, 
overmatched humans.  The standout sequence in this film features two T-
Rexs, a lot of rain, spiderweb fissures in glass, and a literal 
cliffhanger.  The ending, which takes place in San Diego rather than on 
a tropical island (where most of the film transpires), is a little 
anticlimactic.  Next year's GODZILLA will hopefully do a more impressive 
job with the "dinosaur loose in a city" concept.

     Returning from the first film is Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, 
a mathematician with an analytical mind and a wry sense of humor.  This 
time, he has an adolescent daughter, Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester), and a 
paleontologist girlfriend, Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore).  Ian gets 
pulled back into the dinosaur game when Sarah joins an expedition to the 
island of Isla Sorna, which is populated by a wide variety of 
genetically-engineered extinct species.  John Hammond (Richard 
Attenborough), older and wiser after his JURASSIC PARK experience, no 
longer intends to open an amusement park; he simply wants to study 
dinosaurs in a natural environment.  So, a reluctant Ian, along with 
Sarah, a nature photographer named Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), and a 
gadgets expert, Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), begins a "look-but-don't-
touch" foray.  Little do they know, however, that Hammond's nephew 
(Arliss Howard) is on his way to the island with far less benevolent 
intentions.  He wants to bring dinosaurs back to San Diego for a 
prehistoric zoo.  Accompanying him is big game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete 
Postlethwaite), whose goal is to bag a male T-Rex.

     The differences between JURASSIC PARK and THE LOST WORLD can be 
summed up relatively simply:  more dinosaurs, fewer legitimate thrills.  
In this case, familiarity doesn't breed contempt, but it results in a 
movie that's unlikely to keep viewers going back time-after-time the way 
they did for the original.  THE LOST WORLD is solid entertainment the 
first time; it's not something I have any great desire to sit through 
again.  

     One could argue that giving Ian a daughter and a girlfriend is an 
attempt to broaden his character.  If so, it really doesn't work.  The 
self-deprecating scientist is likable exclusively because of Jeff 
Goldblum; even after two films, he's still relatively one-dimensional.  
The rest of the characters are pretty much interchangeable from their 
counterparts in JURASSIC PARK (different names; similar functions).  
Vanessa Lee Chester is this film's child in danger; Julianne Moore 
replaces Laura Dern; and SWINGERS' Vince Vaughn takes over for Sam 
Neill.  Meanwhile, Arliss Howard represents the obligatory nasty 
corporate villain type.

     Perhaps the most disappointing thing about THE LOST WORLD is how 
perfunctory and unimaginative Steven Spielberg's direction often is.  In 
his more than two decades of film making, Spielberg has been responsible 
for a variety of innovative action/adventure movies -- JAWS, RAIDERS OF 
THE LOST ARK, and JURASSIC PARK, to name a few.  On this occasion, he 
seems content to turn things over to the gurus at ILM.  The magical 
spark that characterizes so many Spielberg films is largely absent.

     THE LOST WORLD ends up being what a British acquaintance of mine 
calls "a jolly good romp."  It is to this year what INDEPENDENCE DAY was 
to last year -- the summer's single "can't miss" motion picture (or so 
the advertisers would have us believe).  It also comes early enough in 
the season so that we're not already sick to death of this kind of 
effects-oriented action/adventure.  So, although THE LOST WORLD has its 
share of problems, chief of which is the familiarity factor, it still 
offers a couple hours of glitzy, hi-tech fun.  And that's just about all 
that anyone can reasonably expect from this kind of blockbuster.

- James Berardinelli
e-mail: [email-masked]
ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin