A classy and entertaining sequel worthy to follow the first

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2006)

As is always the case, the fear of making a sequel to a very successful and well made movie would be that the sequel might turn out to be a pile of metaphorical... well let us say dinosaur feces, kill the franchise and ruin everyone's perception of the first film. Thankfully enough, when a director as high caliber as Steven Spielberg, who directed the first Jurassic Park film to colossal effect returns for the sequel, this is seldom the outcome. Such is the case here, as "The Lost World" turns out to be a wonderfully made sequel, almost as entertaining a suspense ride as the first was, four years prior.
In fact, in terms of quality of work, storyline and such, The Lost World is easily on par with the original Jurassic Park (if admittably somewhat of a structural re-hash of the first). The most noticeable complaint is that the novelty of such excellent special effects and the like has worn off somewhat, since after the original Jurassic Park, audiences had grown accustomed to having their minds blown due to technological feats and creature effects. But that's not to in any way downplay the quality of the special effects on display here, which still easily equals any modern technological achievements, and in fact is even more enjoyable than most of today's dime-a-dozen CGI bloated Blockbusters. The robotic and animatronic dinosaurs actually interact with actors like real dinosaurs would, and there is never that sense of the effects looking almost real, but never QUITE real that most modern computer effects seem to provide.
It's great to see Jeff Goldblum reprise his role as Ian Malcolm, the harried mathematician, and once again he manages to seem incredibly believable as the absent minded theorist trying awkwardly to interact with his daughter (newcomer Vanessa Lee Chester, who gives a terrific and very endearing performance, much better than the average child star) while remaining a strong lead all the while. Spielberg also managed to snap up a number of emerging stars in supporting performances, including Julianne Moore (spectacular and very lovable yet classy as always as Malcolm's field researcher girlfriend Sarah Harding), an early impressive performance from Vince Vaughn as wildlife photographer Nick Van Owen, character actors like the always enjoyable Pete Postlethwaite as hard edged safari hunter Roland Tembo, Peter Stormare as a sadistic enforcer who meets a righteous dirty end, and Arliss Howard as the snobby and greedy capitalist who also learns that messing with nature seldom turns out as well as predicted. Of course, it's wonderful to see Sir Richard Attenbourough also make an appearance once again as founder of the park, John Hammond, who manages to show how classy a performance one can make in only two scenes.
All in all, The Lost World is quite the solid sequel, and definitely worth watching, especially for those who enjoyed the first film. From the beginning with a young British girl making acquaintance with a few unexpected prehistoric visitors on a beach to the obvious King Kong reference finish in San Francisco, Spielberg once again manages to draw us into the story, and find ourselves caring about the characters and being enthralled by the wonderful special effects and tense, exciting storyline once again. This Lost World definitely deserves to be found by those who have yet to do so.
-8/10