Not as Amazing as The First Film, But Nowhere Near as Bad as People Make it Out to Be

Rating: 8/10 (29 March 2013)

Let me just say that I am a huge fan of the Jurassic Park trilogy. This one was the first that I saw, and even now, I enjoy watching it. Sure, it's not as mind-blowing as Jurassic Park, but The Lost World is a great movie on it's own, even if there are some noticeable flaws. True, every scene is a setup for the next dinosaur attack, sure a velociraptor being knocked out by gymnastics is beyond stupid, and yeah, Sam Neill and Laura Dern are not in this movie, but there are a lot more positives concerning this movie than there are negatives. First of all, I'm glad Jeff Goldblum's character Ian Malcolm was given the lead, because this time around we really got to know him better and he was a lot more serious, mainly because he knows the dangers of facing these dinosaur, and what they're capable of, and Richard Attenborough's cameo as John Hammond was short, but quite a scene-stealing moment, and one of the most endearing moments from the entire film. The new actors(Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard, etc) were good, and this is the only movie where I feel like Vince Vaughn showed how good of an actor he is. One complaint that is just stupid is that people complained that Jurassic Park didn't show enough dinosaurs, but when Spielberg showed more in The Lost World, they complained that it was too much. Now about the special effects, the dinosaurs look even better than they did in the first film, because it had been 4 years, and so obviously the effects would be upgraded, and I know people may disagree, but I really love the T-rex running through the streets of San Diego, and it just brings up the level of excitement. Malcolm's daughter is black, and she's kinda bratty, and I liked Lex and Tim (Hammond's grandchildren) better. They were more fun to watch, and their fear was more believable. Overall, The Lost World is a great movie for thrills and the acting is solid enough to keep you invested, but that doesn't change the fact that Jurassic Park was a better movie, told a better story, and had a much better balance in showing the Dinosaurs as creatures and monsters; while Jurassic Park took an hour to show a dinosaur attack, this movie did it almost immediately in the beginning of the film. Another disappointment is that the Velociraptors are less prominent this time around, but they're just as scary as they were in the first movie. But all in all, this movie is fun and thrilling, and the acting is really good, but it lacks the magic and inspiration that made Jurassic Park amazing. 8/10