Less a movie than a chance for more merchandising

Rating: Null/10 (8 February 2002)

It transpires that a second site had been created as a backup to the original island, John Hammond sends a party out including Dr Sarah Harding to visit the island. When Ian Malcolm finds his girlfriend is on the island he sets out (with his daughter in tow) to rescue her. However once on the island the group find that a second group is also on the island, however the second group doesn't seek to study but rather to hunt the dinosaurs. With the destruction of the groups' communication equipment they find themselves at the mercy of the elements and the islands inhabitants.
This cash in title is also based on a Michael Crichton novel. However it manages to have all the same problems of the original but doesn't have the same excitement in the action scenes. The plot is quite stretched in an attempt to get everyone on the island. Once there, there are some really good action scenes - the T-rex attack one the caravan and the raptor attack in long grass are pure Spielberg, but most of it falls a little flat (the final T-rex attack is lazy spectacle). However it's loud enough and big enough to be enjoyable when it's on the screen though.
I found the whole question of genetics a little hard to swallow - I can accept that dinosaurs can be recreated from amber encased blood, but no way on God's earth can Ian Malcolm's daughter be that black! She is a lot better a child than those brats that were in the first film, but racially there's no way that she's mixed race! Anyway - she is really good without being irritating. Goldblum does his scientist stuff again and counts the money. Julianne Moore is wasted - such a great actress, here she is reduced to running round in shorts! Postlewaithe at least seems to know he's in a poor money spinner and gives his role a degree of dignity before just disappearing at one point! Vince Vaughn and Peter Stomare are also good but only do the action man stuff when they are capable of so much more.
Yes the action scenes are quite good - but at the end of the day this feels very much like a package rather than a film - see the film, eat the meal, get the toy! Don't we deserve better than a 2 hour advert for a happy meal?