More action, more scares, and more dinosaurs.

Rating: 6/10 (4 December 2014)

This was the first Jurassic Park film I saw in theaters, I was barely an infant when the first one was released, but I was old enough, and accompanied by my teenage aunt to see this film in theaters in the summer of 1997. As a child watching it, I remember being scared a terrified, clenching my butt-hole the whole time, and holding on to my aunts arm tightly.
Because of that experience The Lost World: Jurassic Park holds a special place in my heart, as cheesy as that sounds. I know many might see this film as an inferior sequel, but for me personally, I get a kick out of it and still do, despite it being slightly mediocre.
This time around there are more dinosaurs, more action, and even more scares. I thought that in this film, Spielberg does a more effective job at creating tension and suspense. Once again Spielberg effectively uses the dinosaurs in every scene they're in, not to mention they look even better. The scenes involving the Compsognathus left me scarred in my youth and it still sends shivers down my spine every time I re-watch this film. The Stegosaurus scene involving Julianne Moore's character Dr. Sarah Harding, doesn't quite capture the magic of the Brachiosaurus scene, but still tender. The Velociraptors are again effectively used for scares and are even more vicious. There are three T-Rexes this time in the film, two being parents of an infant and they are the stars in this film. There's an awesome sequence involving a T-Rex rampaging across San Diego.
The film's weak point, as it was in the first film are the characters. This time around Dr. Ian Malcolm is a different man. Jeff Goldblum, although his performance is dry, but it works for his character. He isn't the same man he used to be since the first film so it was neat to see Malcolm become a different person. Aside from Malcolm getting most of the spotlight, the rest of the characters are flat, aside from showing off hints of their personalities. I enjoyed Vince Vaughn's Nick Van Owen, he was full of wisecracks. I also very much enjoyed Pete Postlethwaite as Roland Temdo the hunter and tracker, who was in a way similar to Bob Peck's role in the first film.
Aside from them I didn't really care much for the other characters. I was annoyed with Julianne Moore's character, as with the main villain of the film Peter Ludlow, portrayed by Arliss Howard, who now took over Ingen from his uncle John Hammond. He now wants to capture some of the dinosaurs and bring them to a park built in San Diego, something John Hammond does not want. Vanessa Lee Chester also fills in the void for Lex and Tim. It felt like a rehash of the first film, despite her pretty cool moment with a Velociraptor in the film. It feels as though, while watching this film, the characters are a lot smarter than they appear to be. I mean why would they do what they're doing when they clearly know that everything they're doing is a bad idea. You can't help but wonder these thoughts while in viewing.
Despite all this, every moment with the dinosaurs are golden. Even though we don't really care about some of the characters in the film, the stakes are higher and it's fun seeing them in peril, and it makes for an entertaining film. The action sequences are twice as exhilarating, one involving a trailer over the cliff will surely have you grip on to something. Not to mention John Williams's score this time around is more energetic and just as good as the first one. To sum it up this sequel is everything that you'd expect, more action, more dinosaurs, more thrills, and a higher body count. It's a fun ride throughout and provides more than the first film in terms of scale and stakes, but it's not completely refreshing as it's predecessor.
6/10