THE LOST WORLD Is Not A Lost Cause

I honorably disagree with those who think that THE LOST WORLD is a vastly inferior sequel to the 1993 "monster" smash JURASSIC PARK. In truth, it is an expansion of its predecessor in that it continues the idea of technology and monetary greed making for inherently dangerous bedfellows.

The InGen corporation, once headed by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), is in bankruptcy now because of the accident in the original Jurassic Park. But Attenborough has an ace up his sleeve that he informs chaos mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) about: Site 'B'--on Isla Sorna, eighty-seven miles from Isla Nublar, where dinosaurs are allowed to mix and mingle with their own groups free from the technological constraints of the original park. Attenborough has been able to keep the place a secret for four years now, but the accident, combined with a minor incident in which a young girl was injured on Sorna, has resulted in his unscrupulous nephew (Arliss Howard) forcibly taking control of InGen and planning to rape and pillage the island.

Goldblum pretty soon finds himself, unwillingly, on Isla Sorna with his paleontologist girlfriend (Julianne Moore), his adapted daughter (Vanessa Lee Chester), and two highly motivated technicians (Richard Schiff, Vince Vaughn) as they do the photo documentation of the animals in their natural state that Attenborough needs to mount public support in his bid to retake InGen. But they are in a rush because Howard's team of exploitational poachers, whom Goldblum rightly calls "a couple dozen Marlboro men", are preparing to take these animals to the still-unopened Jurassic Park complex in San Diego.

Now, not only is there dinosaur terror on Isla Sorna; once the animals--specifically the mother T-Rex and her infant--are taken back to San Diego, all prehistoric hell is going to break loose there as well.

Given the somewhat overdone British accent honed by Howard, THE LOST WORLD has some unintentionally comic moments ("Careful", he tells Goldblum at one point, "this suit costs more than your education"). But those awkward moments are offset once again by Spielberg's imaginative and suspenseful direction. Among the most hair-raising scenes is one where the trailer in which Goldblum and his team are holed up in is threatening to be pushed off a seaside cliff by the T-Rex, a sequence made even more pulse-pounding by Moore finding herself on a pane of glass that is threatening to crack under the pressure of her weight. Although the special effects are a slight letdown during the T-Rex's San Diego rampage, they are otherwise every bit as good as they were the first time around.

As was the case in the original, there are scenes of violence and bloodshed that may not be suitable for younger viewers, which rightly justifies the 'PG-13' rating. Once beyond that and a few other little stumbles, however, THE LOST WORLD is immensely entertaining and suspenseful, well worth having in one's collection.