Okay the first time, looks worse after the second viewing...

Rating: 3/10 (2 April 1999)

I saw this film twice, once at general release and later on video to appease a small child. The first time I thought it was okay, but after the second view, I realized...NOT! Spielberg and the rest of the production team have taken an interesting Crichton novel and made a terrible film with many changes, not all for the best. The special effects and the "island" are great, as is Laura Dern's bottom (to summarize an earlier review), but the rest was just...there. Too bad, too, because they waste some great actors, notably Sam Neill (who does deliver one of the most convincing lines I've ever seen, as "Karen Davis" notes). Like "Independence Day", this could have been a great film, but falls far short of expectations, and could have used a better continuity editor. The sequel is TERRIBLE. "The Lost World" is a more enjoyable alternative.