The overall rating of a review is different from a simple average of all individual ratings.
Advantages:
Effects are still okay
Disadvantages:
but they don't show any development, story is a bit weak, especially the ending . There's only so long you can watch people get chased by raptors .
Recommendable
Yes:
Detailed rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
Soundtrack
How does it compare to similar films?Satisfactory
How does it compare to others by the same director?Satisfactory
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Following on from my watching of Jurassic Park (hereafter, JP1) on Halloween night, I decided to watch The Lost World the next night.
°°°The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)°°° After the disaster that happened in Jurassic Park, you'd think that would be it with breeding dangerous dinosaurs, but oh no. It turns out there was a Site B, a second island where the dinosaurs were allow to grow and develop for a few months before being moved to Jurassic Park. Aside from one recurring character and a two-minute visit from the kids, that is where the follow on from Jurassic Park stops. The lawyers of the owner of the island want a sort of photographic inventory drawing up, so a team of experts is sent in to document everything on the island. But it seems that wasn't enough for the lawyers as a separate team is sent in who want to actually transport the dinosaurs. While the photographic team is quiet and respectful, and leaves no trace of their being there, the second group takes a different approach - managing to piss off two t-rexes and many other breeds along the way. Of course the dinosaurs start to eat people again - and there are no fences to hide behind this time. Without giving too much away, the ending is very poor and has a very Godzilla-like feel to it.
To say that this
movie was made four years after the original, the technology doesn't seem to have improved much, but then again, I don't think it needed to in the first place. I think is possibly one of two new species in this movie, and a couple of babies, but aside from that it isn't that different dinosaur-wise.
For a sequel, I would have liked to see more continuation of the cast flowing from one movie to the other. 'Dr. Ian Malcolm' (Jeff Goldblum) is the only guy who has a long role in this movie, who also did in the first. This gave him a slightly smart-assed position, as only he knew what to expect when he got there, the rest had to go through the awe factor of seeing dinosaurs.
The cast list for this one is slightly more well known, but not excessively so. I wouldn't have said the performances were as good in The Lost World as they were in Jurassic Park, and I found myself being annoyed by quite a few of the characters because of their idiocy and poor acting - some of that was also the scripting though. Jeff Goldblum Dr. Ian Malcolm Julianne Moore Dr. Sarah Harding Pete Postlethwaite Roland Tembo Vince Vaughn Nick Van Owen Arliss Howard Peter Ludlow
°°°Special Features on disk 2°°° The extra features list for disk 2 is impressively long, until you start clicking on them and find they are kind of boring mostly.
~~~The Making of the Lost World A 55-minute presentation about the making o the movie. It's quite similar to the Making of for JP1, except rather than focusing on 'this is how we made dinosaurs' this one is more about 'what can we do with the dinos now?'.
The feature claims that my not being able to spot difference in technology in this compared to JP1 is part of their plan. They claim that it has progressed but still blended with the last movie. Again, they bring in several experts to convince you that the movie is scientifically accurate. There are parts that I'm not convinced about though. Such as recreating the vocal cords/resonating chamber of a raptor and then talking to the raptors with it - erm… no!
Again, there is footage that impressed me of the baby stegosaurus model (apparently her name is Claire!), in between takes, yet its still moving, its head looks around, it blinks, it breathes. The whole thing is just too lifelike!
There is a guy in the Making Of who claims that the weather is different in the first movie, and that this is more 'dirty' (more mud) but I disagree with that - both movies just rained the entire time! And it always seems to be night time too.
This movie used a lot of more live-action shots when the robotic dinosaurs are 'eating' the actors, and there is quite a bit of footage about them developing that, including several stunt guys getting 'bitten' on the arm and then 'dragged' out of a car by the t-rex!
After watching the first movie, then that Making Of, and now The Lost World and Making Of, I'm getting slightly bored with the dinosaurs and the documentary isn't keeping my attention anymore.
Other (rather disappointing) special features: ~~~Deleted Scenes - scenes that got cut from the movie, and mostly it is clear why because they don't add anything to the movie anyway. Its slightly confusing to know where they would have been in the movie as there is no accompanying commentary explaining like there are on other DVDs ~~~Illustrations and Conceptual Drawings - just drawings, some from JP1 ~~~Storyboards - images from the storyboard ~~~Models - photos of models from the movie ~~~The World of Jurassic Park - Just pictures of dinosaurs ~~~Industrial Light and Magic - photos of the computer guys ~~~Production Photographs - photos from the set ~~~Posters and Toys - details of stuff you can buy ~~~Trailers - just that, the trailers ~~~Dino Encyclopedia ~~~Production Notes ~~~Talent Profiles - pages of information of various members of the cast and crew, accompanied by a picture
This movie isn't as good as Jurassic Park on several levels, and doesn't seem to have taken any technological leaps during its development, therefore I'd only give it 6 out of 10. The end of the movie is quite poor, which brings down the whole feel of the movie and had I been in a theatre I think I would have left disappointed, based on the ending. Also, even by the end of this one (not even got onto the third yet!) I'm getting tired of people being chased by raptors, there are other dinosaurs that could have been used for variation!
I probably wouldn't buy this DVD, I might rent it when I'm in the mood, but not buy it.
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