Like The Phantom Menace, a misunderstood follow-up

Rating: Null/10 (14 December 2000)

"The Lost World" is actually not a horrible film, and will probably be healed by time, just like Spielberg's other follow-up to one of his blockbusters, "Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom" or his buddy George Lucas's "Phantom Menace", which people are finally starting to accept. In fact, two of the top review sites, have implied that The Lost World is actually BETTER than the original. After all, what were your expectations anyway? The film had to have a sequel-the first film made nearly a billion dollars, and the door was certainly opened for a follow-up (Unlike "Titanic"). Anyway, if you remove the gymnastics scene, The Lost World is pretty good. Heck, even the T-rex in San Diego scene is kind of entertaining, especially when you notice all the visual jokes. I mean, what were you expecting? The T-rex to start belting out showtunes? If I'm not mistaken, people were expecting Dinosaurs on the mainland, did they not? Well, you asked for it, you got it. The film features some well-crafted action scenes-particually the trailer scene. While some may argue that it's simply a redux of JP's T-rex break-out, there is enough originality in this scene to make it stand out on it's own(such as the glass cracking scene). With the addition of the scenes, the film fares much better. As for the plot, it suffers mainly from a lot of cut scenes, some of which have been restored on the DVD. Mainly, scenes mentioning exactly why Ingen needs a new park, an intoxicated Ludow accidentally crushing the infant rex's tail, the introduction of Tembo and Arjay, etc. As for the acting, I thought Jeff Goldblum did an okay job, although apart from the one-liners he barely resembles the character from Jurassic Park. Vince Vaughn and Richard Schiff are entertaining as the supporting characters, and Pete Postelwaite captures the character of Roland Tembo perfectly. Julianne Moore and Vannesa Lee Chester could have done better though...also, they could've touched on the relationship between Ian and Sarah a little, how she nursed him back to health after the JP incident etc. I'm not saying this film is flawless, but I think calling it one of the worst films ever is a little harsh. BTW Jurassic Park III will arrive soon, and for those naysayers, initial reports are that the script is well done and Sam Neill and Laura Dern will return to their roles, and also they've fired TLW's screenwriter....but with the negativity that has surrounded JP of late, it'll take a lot for it to succeed.