Lost Dinos

Rating: 7/10 (28 April 2006)

While we didn't find too many extras for Jurassic Park, its first sequel gets greater coverage. First up is another "Original Featurette on the Making of the Film". This 13-minute and 15-second program offers the usual combination of movie clips, behind the scenes material, and quick interview tidbits. We hear from Everyone, including actors and director.
Wow That's a lot of folks for a short program, so don't expect much depth. In reality, this featurette follows the usual glorified trailer format, and the sound bites don't tell us a whole lot, though they add some small bits of information. However, a few of the shots from the set are pretty cool, especially the one in which we see Spielberg lead the actors through part of the "hanging from the RV" scene. Overall, this is a perfunctory but enjoyable program.
The header called "Interviews With Michael Crichton" provides a program entitled "The Jurassic Park Phenomenon: A Discussion With Michael Crichton". Not surprisingly, this 15-minute and 20-second piece primarily offers information from the author. We also see some movie clips and a few behind the scenes images, but the emphasis remains on his input, and this makes it a very interesting program. Though it appears in the Lost World area of the DVD, most of the discussion covers his writing of Jurassic Park and other aspects of his career; only a little part of it goes over World itself. Nonetheless, it's a nicely informative and interesting chat that offers some good background and notes.
Before and After the Visual Effects" echoes the similar piece offered for Jurassic Park. However, this one is much more extensive. It lasts 20 minutes and 40 seconds and goes with a split-screen presentation; the "before" shots appear on top and the finished product runs on the bottom. This makes the piece even cooler than the earlier one, as we're more easily able to compare the stages. It's always a hoot to see the actors responding to nothing, and this is a very fun and valuable addition to the set.