Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Universal Studios Home Video 05/97 DVD/VHS Feature Film
PG-13 - intense sci-fi terror and violence

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Universal) is a faster, more furious, and much scarier film than its blockbuster predecessor.

Chaos expert Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) learns that his paleontologist girlfriend (Julianne Moore) has gone off to study a second group of dinosaurs living in their natural habitat on the island where the Jurassic Park creatures were originally bred. He joins a photographer (Vince Vaughn) and a technician (Richard Schiff) on a research team going to meet her. His young daughter (Vanessa Lee Chester) secretly comes along as a stowaway in their elaborately equipped camper.

Ian, convinced that the dinosaurs are much too dangerous for humans to study, tries to convince the others to abandon the project, but there is no turning back after a nasty encounter with some fierce T-Rex parents and the arrival of a greedy corporate wheeler dealer (Arliss Howard) and his men who want to capture some of the creatures to take them to a San Diego theme park.

Besides the extraordinary special effects wizardry on display in this Steven Spielberg-directed production, the most amazing thing is the visceral impact of this up-close encounter with wild and very dangerous animals. These prehistoric creatures are untamable and unpredictable — clever, hungry, and rapacious. They are territorial beasts willing and able to protect their turf and their young ones.

Most monster movies are designed to bring to the fore our deepest fears and anxieties about the unknown. The Lost World: Jurassic Park does this so effectively that while watching these creatures we are filled with awe.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat