The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Something has survived
Have you ever wondered if there is some form of reverse nostalgia? Like, movies that everyone remember as not great, but maybe they weren’t that bad and we all just got so set in the belief they weren’t that it’s public hive-mind on quality? As a case, who do you know that hates the first Jurassic Park? Who do you remember that really loved the other ones? For example - the only thing I really remember of the second is “dino in the city” and everyone complaining about gymnastics beating the raptor. Well, I’m thinking it’s time to go back - we’ve already revisited the first of the dino-park movies a while back and enjoyed how it held up. Will the first of the sequels hold up as well as the original, or could it be as dated as a fossil in the ground? Tonight, we revisit The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
This is going to surprise you and be something you see coming at the same time. I’ve actually read the book for this - heck, I own the book to this. Where you won’t be surprised is that I haven’t read it in forever, so most of it is lost to the waves of memory. I do know that there’s some differences, but I couldn’t recall the details. I think it’s pretty heavy in difference - like yes it’s a new island, and yes Malcolm is in it (despite having died in the first book, making this really a book sequel to the movie and not the first book). There’s also the lack of the InGen competitor - despite my lack of recalling their name - that tends to just not exist in these movies for some reason. So, in short with my memory-lacking mind: you will have two different experiences watching the movie and reading the book. I imagine most would go “the book is better!” (because most will say that even when the movie is a more entertaining result), but you might find some who instead like the movie more - but you won’t find people liking the movie for being a good adaptation.
As far as the movie goes, our plot focuses on returning character Malcolm - that chaos theory scientist who spends most the first movie injured. Here, he gets drawn back into a world of dinosaurs by other returning character Hammond. See, he had another island, one in which they grew the dinosaurs before putting it in the theme park island of the first movie. That island has sat rather unattended and the dinosaurs free of the interference of man - until some rich folks and they boat decide to make a pit stop, letting a little girl get attacked. Now, Hammond has been forced out of his position at the head of his company, and he’s sending a four person outfit to document the animals, getting proof that they should be left alone and the animals and island protected. Of course, Malcolm wants nothing to do with it - until he finds out his girlfriend is on the island. The team goes, they get interrupted once again by human greed when the company arrives to catch some dinosaurs and make another attempt at a park. Things from here get steadily and progressively worse until it becomes a dedicated effort to try and escape the island alive.
Characters here aren’t as strong feeling as the first one - perhaps because a good portion of them are just expendable hunter types you don’t even get to know. One character gets to have some form of progressive arc - and oddly enough, he’s the number one hunter. The rapidity of the progression for him however, well it makes it feel almost like an about face regardless of it making sense from an emotional standpoint. The greedy corporate type stays the same the entire way through, and the good guys really don’t progress at all along any real development either. That said, they are all quirky enough or acted well enough that it is entertaining to watch - they just really aren’t that great from a story development standpoint. Sometimes, really smart characters make really stupid choices - particularly relevant to lines they mention only scenes earlier, making for great scenes when the irony swings in but also making the characters feel a bit dumber on the intelligence scale - but hey, who am I to speak of how easy it is to make smart choices when being attacked by giant prehistoric monstrosities out for a snack?
Yah see that dino there? Yeah, he made for bashing!
Characters being good or not, likeability aside, is one thing but we all know what we really came here for. Dinosaurs. When you watched the first one, you were blown out of your seats at the time - the Dinos looked that darn good. A nice blend of CG and animatronics was used to achieve this, and in turn it really holds up. Yes, you can argue the CG doesn’t hold up as well, but at times the CG is actually blended incredibly well into the real shots. The T-Rex of course steals most the spotlight, being a much larger focus (in fact being the only one in the final section of the movie), but we do still get a wide berth of things that don’t want to eat you while still getting a handful that do. There is a few moments - especially if you were to pause the movie or look at a still - where things will look off or a bit fake, but a degradation of the effects department isn’t one of the things going against this movie in the slightest.
And outside of the dinosaurs, we do have plenty of other effects of various scales. The city rampage at the end comes with all sorts of bashing buses and panicked drivers, and earlier scenes bring out plenty of nifty contraptions. I remember having and/or seeing plenty of toys from this one - particularly when it came to the fancy vehicles used by the InGen hunters. Past that, all the equipment used on the island - big science-themed reinforced bus-RVs, Jeeps, tranq guns, lassos, extendo-seats, and even the old overgrown structures left on the island itself all look good. Mind you, sometimes like I mentioned before, logic seems to take a bit of a backseat to make scenes happen - the “ghost ship” is a great example of this, where it’s neat and would make sense with nearly anything but the T-Rex that it uses. A man getting lost in the woods and yelling to the others, and nobody hearing him when only one person (who isn’t that far away from the rest) is listening to some music on their headphones. Silly little things like that.
The audio here does a good job as well. It’s not going to stick around with you all that much outside of that main Jurassic theme, but the time it’s playing while you watch the movie it does wonders to set the mood and back up everything you are seeing. That opening theme makes for some great tensions similar to the jaws theme - but far less basically scored. It’ plays it’s part as an emotional hint but is also enjoyable as classical scoring goes. The balance is also good, and although there might not be as many great lines people quote from this one, you’ll also never really forget that Tyrannosaurus roar. Heck, it’s probably one of the more iconic sounds to come out of this thing, and it just sounds so good! They do a good job with the plethora of other animal noises they needed to come up with in this as well.
Perhaps we should go home.
The movie isn’t that bad. Yeah, it has it’s silly moments, and at times it’s characters or story elements could be considered weak or thin - but as far as an something to consume for entertainment it holds pretty well. Effects still look pretty good in most regards, the audio is solid and balanced well. It provides plenty of different set pieces, and for those that dig it carries a pretty “protect nature” environmentalist message. It also continues with the whole corporate greed thing too - so even if the characters bore you it’s still possible to come out of the movie with something to talk about besides “did you see those dinosaurs!”