Lost in the Park(ing lot)

Rating: 5/10 (23 January 2011)

Originally, when I watched Jurassic Park upon opening weekend, I wasn't too fond of it. Despite its shortcomings: an unoriginal script that relied heavy on what they could do with special effects – damn, those dinos still look real! – it has grown on me over the years, especially due to those realistic dinos and the excellent character of Ian Malcolm (Goldblum.)
Unfortunately, as the tagline goes, something has survived, but it wasn't Ian who's been reduced to "Action Figure" in the follow-up: The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
And as uneven as the movie is, boy it wants to be several different flicks, the movie is a very nice, updated and darker tale than the original. That's not saying it's better, but it's a good sequel, nonetheless.
One of the flicks it wanted to be, and heavily advertised, was a truer version of the 60-year-old Godzilla tale of a dinosaur running amok in the city. This: I could not wait to see and alas, was thoroughly disappointed that it was only the final act with roughly 15 minutes (of 129) of city terror. Too bad. In addition, one of my complaints of the first, were the wooden and boring children Spielberg so loves to shine on (E.T.) Here, I'm only guessing he was trying to make a statement of acceptance with the new "kid star" of the feature: Vanessa Lee Chester, who plays Ian's daughter, Kelly. She's black, he's white, I get it – this is more of a shove-down-the-throat statement more relevant in the Lethal Weapon franchise – but I could care less about that. What I cared most about, was not only how dull she was, but she actually made the kids in the first one more lovable. I really need to tone down my criticisms as it could always be worse (SEE: Jurassic Park III.)
The series did take a good turn with the direction the series took with an "Aliens" approach and a great new character of the hunter, Roland Tembo (Postlethwaite.) Yeah, I know, it's again (mostly) on the island, and yeah, I know, it's another rescue mission, but it's fun to watch. Even with the other (again, Lethal Weapon) subliminal message of animal cruelty – thanks mostly to Vince Vaughn in his break-through role of PETA-type photographer, Nick.
I'm not an activist, but I definitely don't condone the cruelty to animals. That said, whenever a movie "sides" with the PETA soldiers, I laugh my ass off when they get bit, themselves, from the very beings they're trying to save. SEE: 28 Days Later.
What we have here isThe return of John Hammond (Attenborough) who, by the way died at the end of Jurassic Park (the book) soI guess somethings have survived, indeed. Anyways, in a flimsy way of getting Dr. Ian Malcolm back onto an island full of giant (and small) monsters, Hammond uses Ian's girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding (Moore) as bait. She's been on the island for some time, studying the animals. Ian accepts, making this more of a rescue mission (hence, the action star who checks his chaos at the door.)
Undeniably, it quickly turns into "how do we get off the island in one piece" again, when daughter Kelly stows away and Nick's constantly trying to sabotage the other human inhabitants of the island from bringing the dinos to the mainland – San Diego. Nick's feisty efforts of saving the genetically, shouldn't-be-here-anyways, engineered dinosaurs does lead to chaos (full circle) and to people's deaths. Oh, well, at least he saved a few animal lives.
The two groups merge with the common goal of escape since Nick's animal-lovin' ways caused enough disturbance, they're all vulnerable and at the same time, lunch for the dinos.
Obviously, they're gonna get off the island, just so they can get to what the advertisements promised: a T-Rex in San Diego.
It's a satisfying conclusion to part one and contains a lot of action and great cinematography. Also, they step up what they've already accomplished in part one: two T-rexes fighting for their young, this time in my favorite scene in the movie – when the trailer goes over the edge.
It's worth a watch and like I said, it's a good conclusion: stop watching the Jurassic Park series here. Trust meyou don't want to waste your precious life on the irrelevant, franchise-killer: Jurassic Park III.