Classic Movie Review: 'The Lost World Jurassic Park'

The Lost World Jurassic Park (1997)

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Written by David Koepp

Starring Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Pete Postlethwaite

Release Date May 23rd, 1997

Published June 12th, 2023

The Lost World Jurassic Park fails to recapture the magic and wonder of the original. Why? That kind of lightning in a bottle is simply hard to catch a second time. With no Sam Neil, no Laura Dern, and only Jeff Goldblum returning, The Lost World Jurassic Park felt mercenary and obligatory. Someone at the studio backed several brinks trucks worth of cash up to Steven Spielberg's door, promised him he could make any movie he wanted, but only if he delivered another dino-blockbuster. Unlike the wide-eyed wonder of Jurassic Park, The Lost World Jurassic Park plays like a market tested blockbuster more interested in reaching four audience quadrants than satisfyingly entertaining the people who make up those quadrants.

That said, this is Steven Spielberg so the movie isn't as bad as it could be. Spielberg is far too good of a director to make a genuinely bad film. Rather, this is the rare soulless Spielberg effort. It's a Spielberg movie where you can sense his heart isn't completely in it. There is a great visual gag in the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back where the titular heroes visit the set of a Scream sequel. There, we find director Wes Craven not paying attention to directing and instead counting his money and telling his actress, Shannen Doherty, to do whatever she wants. That's how I picture Spielberg on the set of The Lost World Jurassic Park except, instead of counting his money, he's paying for a different and far better movie to start production while he occasionally tells his actors to run.

The Lost World Jurassic Park begins by telling us that billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has learned nothing from his Jurassic Park experience. He has another island full of dinosaurs and sees them as his ticket to get his dream of Jurassic Park back on track. Hammond calls upon Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to help him by going to this island and certifying that the dinosaurs are safe and accounted for on this new island. Dr. Malcolm refuses the lucrative offer until Hammond tells him that Malcolm's girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), is already on the island.

Malcolm takes the offer from Hammond but not to co-sign a new park. Malcolm is going to this new island on a rescue mission. Along for the ride are a guide, Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), and a hotshot photographer, and Greenpeace activist, Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn). Once on the island, they must try to find Sarah while also trying not to become dinner for the burgeoning new wildlife. Soon after this however, they will find themselves having to compete to save the dinosaurs from Hammond's idiot nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard), and a big game hunter played by Pete Postelthwaite.

The trailer back in 1997 carried a very big spoiler: The dinosaurs, at least one of them, the fearsome T-Rex, is coming to America. Commercials and trailers touted a dinosaur raging through city streets. This revealed further just how mercenary the whole effort was. The T-Rex doesn't arrive in America until the 3rd act and revealing that this dangerous dinosaur was going to rage through the streets of San Diego rather harms any chance of building tension and suspense as to where the movie was going to go. It's a great visual but spoiling it in the trailer made it very clear that The Lost World Jurassic Park was more of a marketing campaign than a movie.

That said, I mentioned it earlier, this is Steven Spielberg. Thus, we do have some good work here. The best sequence in The Lost World Jurassic Park finds our heroes tending to an injured baby T-Rex in their two trailer convoy/command center. Then, mommy and daddy T-Rex show up looking for their kid. The dinos menace the trailers until the trailer where our heroes are is hanging off the side of a cliff. This lengthy sequence is filled with excitement, even as the fate of at least two of the four characters involved has been spoiled by the marketing campaign. This sequence is classic Spielberg and ranks among his best action sequences. Sadly, nothing in the rest of The Lost World Jurassic Park can compete with this singular sequence.

We are watching the original Jurassic Park trilogy on the newest episode of the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast. Myself and my co-hosts, Bob and Jeff, are paying tribute to the 30th anniversary of Jurassic Park which was released on June 11th, 1993. This idea came about when both Bob and Jeff refused to watch the new Transformers movie, leaving us to improvise a show for this week. Luckily, Jurassic Park reached a milestone birthday or we'd be struggling for a show this week. Listen to the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

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