After a three year hiatus, and an Oscar under his belt, Stephen Spielberg returns to the director's chair. Fortunately for us, the acclaim he received for "Schindler's List" did not go to his head.
He does not see himself as only an adult filmmaker, but one who can return to the movie showmanship that made him the world's most successful filmmaker. He returns to such form in "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," but unfortunately, the material he chose is not worthy of his talents.
In the first scene we are introduced to a pack of tiny, cute dinosaurs who immediately attack a helpless little girl. It is clear that we're in for a much darker and meaner ride than in "Jurassic Park." The film even throws out the most annoying of disaster cliches when, yes, the dog gets eaten.
When Stephen Spielberg agreed to make "Jaws" some 20 years ago, he did so under the condition that he would not have to show the shark for the first hour. In "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" he wastes no such time in bringing out the dino goodies. And my, is this batch of dinosaurs impressive.
The idea behind this sequel to the mega-hit "Jurassic Park" is simple: show more dinosaurs.
The one returning main character from the first film is Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm. He has spent the past four years trying to tell his story of rampaging dinosaurs to the world only to be deemed a laughingstock. He meets up with millionaire John Hammond, once again played with genuine excitement by Richard Attenborough, who tells him of a second island where the dinosaurs have been allowed to roam freely.
Hammond has changed his tune from the first film and now wants to study the dinosaurs, not exploit them. He tries to persuade Malcolm to join his team of scientists on the island, but Malcolm refuses until he finds out his paleontologist girlfriend, Sarah (Julianne Moore), is already there. Also conveniently ending up on the island is Malcolm's unexplained black daughter.
When the team of scientists arrive on the island they find they are not alone with the dinosaurs. It seems Hammond's evil, money-grubbing nephew has sent a large team of hunters led by Pete Postlethwaite to catch the dinosaurs and bring them back to the mainland for a dino zoo. Once everyone is brought to the island the plot stops -- the rest is well choreographed mayhem.
The first half of the film is nothing more than a showcase for the special effects wizards of Industrial Light and Magic as the scientists photograph the prehistoric beasts and the hunters track them down.
The dinosaurs this time around are far more impressive than in the original. There are more of them, they are faster and they seem to have more personality. There is also a lot more human to dinosaur interactions as when the hunters get tossed about while trying to subdue the beasts. Yet for all the new technical innovations, there is still the unfortunate been there, done that feel left over from the first film.
It is when the sun goes down, the rain starts to pour and those Spielbergian blue lights beam ominously through the mist that the film begins to really move. The dinosaurs get angry and Spielberg takes us briskly from one perilous scene to the next, racking up the carnage.
A few of these sequences go well beyond horror movie tricks to be worthy of the Spielberg name. One of the best parts of the film is when a pair of Tyrannosaurus rexes knock a trailer containing the scientists around until it is dangling over a cliff. Moore's character is hurled to the end of the trailer where the only thing between her and the rocks below is a slowly cracking plane of glass.
Another great scene deals with the raptors who were featured so prominently in the first film. Once again they teach lessons about teamwork as they slowly pick off the hunters traveling across a field. The scene is reminiscent of "Jaws" as the raptors' tails pop out of the high brush much like a shark's fin.
In a later scene, however, the raptors seem to be channeling the Marx Brothers as they chase Malcolm about with almost slapstick results.
In an attempt to outdo the original, Spielberg decides to have a T. rex trample through San Diego. There are some entertaining bits in this sequence, but it ultimately plays like an aborted second sequel condensed into twenty minutes.
Due to the guaranteed success of this film, there probably will be a second sequel. But chances are Spielberg will not be in the director's chair. He was forced to use up everything in his bag of tricks to keep "The Lost World" moving, and still could not reach the thrilling highs of the original.
