Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Drama, Science-Fiction, Thriller
Runtime: 129 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
The second installment in the Jurassic Park series isn’t as good as the original, which is expected, but it’s still a better-than competent action-adventure flick. The plot, which is nothing more than a fairly contrived premise for a sequel, is about a team of experts being sent to the original Jurassic Park’s Site B, a separate island where dinosaurs roam free, to document the creatures there. However, things are complicated by the fact that they may not be the only humans headed for the area.
This is a sillier ride than the first one, occasionally focusing more on dinosaur-related antics than storytelling. Oh, well, it’s a blockbuster sequel…what do you expect? Director Steven Spielberg’s sadistic streak shows up here, with critic Rob Gonsalves’ Rotten Tomatoes blurb on the film saying that he’s in “his ruthless cat-playing-with-a-mouse mode” here. There’s almost a slasher movie-style quality to the proceedings. Of course, the villains are truly hissable, so watching them getting their comeuppance is part of the fun.
Jeff Goldblum’s performance as Dr. Ian Malcolm was a highlight of Jurassic Park (1993), so he’s brought back here and made the main character, giving him plenty of screen time to act like himself. There aren’t as many “character moments” as there were in the first picture, with the emphasis being on mayhem and carnage. The special effects are generally convincing, and John Williams returns to do another majestic musical score.
I don’t think The Lost World: Jurassic Park is essential viewing for everybody who enjoyed the original. This one’s a bit more heavy on the action and whatnot, with the awe of seeing real, living dinosaurs being put on the back burner for much of the runtime. For some audience members, the 1993 entry will be enough to satisfy them and this one might just be overkill. Action-adventure aficionados will probably enjoy it, though.
My rating is 7 outta 10.
