Not the Best Sequel, But Still Not a Bad Sequel

Rating: 6/10 (8 November 2010)

I often find it difficult to pinpoint exactly how this movie falls short of its predecessor, Jurassic Park. I've always gotten the feeling that the movie just wasn't as good as the first, but I could never be sure how much of that feeling came from nostalgia for the first film and how much from the movie's own fault. But after some careful re-watching I believe I've found the main culprits.
For one, the timing and dinosaur reveals aren't as masterfully pulled off. In the first movie, director Steven Spielberg did an amazing job building up to the dinosaur money shots, I didn't feel like I was kept waiting too long or for too short a time. And said money shots were incredible, beautiful, and chilling. In The Lost World I wasn't as anxious to see the dinosaurs by the time they were shown, and even when the dinosaurs were revealed the shots weren't as visually appealing or exciting and the build up lacked the subtle touches of the first movie. To be fair, it's nearly impossible to recreate that first time charm to begin with.
The next issue is that the set pieces aren't as suspenseful. There are some creepy and tense moments (one especially eerie one involving a tent) but overall it's more geared towards action than suspense. Sequels like Aliens have taken similar routes, but the results don't pay off as well in The Lost World. The raptor scene is a great example: in the first film the raptors were cunning and sinister, and their portion of the movie was like a demented game of hide and seek. In The Lost World the raptors are used in a great action romp type scene, but it comes at the cost the monsters lethality and mystique. When raptors caught up to the characters in the first film it seemed like curtains for the heroes, but here the humans are able to run circles around the beasts. And I guess I should mention the infamous final act of the movie where a t-rex goes on a rampage in San Diego. It's a fun scene, and personally I can't help but love every minute of it. But it feels like overkill, like something tacked on at the last moment rather than part of the flow of the movie. But I find it to be a nice change in scenery and it always makes me smile ear-to-ear.
As for the cast, Jeff Goldblum is likable as always, although his returning character, Ian Malcolm isn't as entertaining or lively as he was in the first film. He's more reserved and more sour in temperament which I guess is what happens to you after too many near death experiences with dinosaurs. Malcolm's daughter, Kelly, unfortunately yet another irritating seemly unnecessary child costar. Vince Vaughn seems miscast and his character comes across as dis likable at times, and Julianne Moore occasionally drops the ball acting wise. Can't say too much about the rest of the cast good or bad except for Pete Postlethwaite's Roland Tembo who is earnest and transparent in the best meaning of the word: he just wants to kill something worth killing, that's all he wants period. It makes him a real standout in a crowd of characters motivated by fortune, glory, rescue, and activism.
More on the up side, the story is darker both thematically and literally. Gone is the lush jungle, instead replaced by dark nightmarish forest. Gone is the band of cynical experts, replaced by an assortment of activist who are willing to go to extreme lengths to keep the dinosaurs on the island. And forget kindly old man-child John Hammond, in his place is his money lusting nephew backed up by an army of grizzled hunters. And this isn't a dinosaur break out, it's a land dominated by them. The dinosaurs run the place, and humans are the intruders. Aside from the fact that it isn't explained why the hunters go through the trouble of catching adult wild dinosaurs rather than just steal eggs or infants like the villains in the book the story is solid and seems like a natural progression for the franchise: Hammond's company wants to reclaim their prehistoric cash cows and start Jurassic Park anew.
The CGI and animatronics are improved, the dinosaurs seem more lively and more finely detailed and even more humanized thanks to the tyrannosaurus family. It's interesting to see the first film's lead monster as a caring parent this time around, in addition to also being the lead monster. And it's simply a pleasure watching the prehistoric cast do their thing.
I'm always a bit mystified by people who refer to this movie as one of the worst sequels ever made. I agree that it falls short of it's predecessor, but I think it's a gross exaggeration to place this movie in the ranks of Batman and Robin and AvP:R. The Lost World is a truly under-appreciated sequel.