Last week I finished my re-watch of Jurassic Park. I hadn’t seen the movie since it hit theaters in the 90’s, and I was happy to discover that it held up in unexpected and delightful ways.
I cannot say the same of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. It was so bad, I was surprised it was based on a sequel novel by Michael Crichton, had been directed by Steven Spielberg, and that it did so well commercially.
The Lost World had some positive moments. Jeff Goldblum, who played the chaos theory expert, almost held it together with infrequent but well-delivered humor. I hadn’t minded him in the first film, and it was fun to see his return. There were also scenes with special effects just epic enough to feel like a Spielberg film.
Aside from that, everything else was a mess. Actors faced away from the camera while speaking at length. The sound, fantastic in the first movie, felt blunted. The plot consisted of implausible action scenes strung together, badly.
The Jurassic Park universe is still exciting, and I’d love to see a well-done remake. For now, at least there are YouTube cat videos.