Very underrated dino packed sequel

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2005)

You didn't have to be a member of MENSA to follow the original jurassic park but it still had more substance then this. However in a way the Lost World improves in areas over it. The attacks are a lot more elaborate and chilling. The scene where the two rexs attack the trailer (with the demise of the hapless driver particularly harrowing), the raptors stalking the men through the long grass, the rex chase at the waterfall etc. All adrenaline pumping set pieces. The overrall theme seems a bit darker then the first film.
Thats not to say the Lost World is perfect. Far from it. Malcolms daughter dazzling a raptor with her parallel bars routine before kicking it through a window nearly ruins the entire ending as it is. I thought the T Rex in San Diego didn't fit at all and it certainly wasn't in the book. In fact they left out one of the coolest parts of the book. None of the dinosaurs would venture near a certain part of the island as it was inhabited by a pair of dinosaurs that could become semi invisible like chameleons : the Carnotaurus. We only briefly glimpse one in JP3. Their inclusion would have raised TLW above even JP for me and I was gutted they were left out.
Overall though the film succeeded in what it promised me : Jurassic Park only everything with the dinosaurs done bigger and better.