From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:51:06 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news.kth.se!nntp.uio.no!newsfeeds.sol.net!hammer.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: srenshaw@leland.stanford.edu (Scott Renshaw) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.movies.current-films Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 18:18:47 GMT Organization: Stanford University Lines: 103 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkha7$9b2@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: srenshaw@leland.stanford.edu (Scott Renshaw) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07655 Keywords: author=Renshaw Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7101 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1313 rec.arts.movies.current-films:114048 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Scott Renshaw Copyright 1997 Scott Renshaw (Universal) Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard, Vanessa Lee Chester, Vince Vaughn. Screenplay: David Koepp, based on the novel by Michael Crichton. Producers: Gerald R. Molen and Colin Wilson. Director: Steven Spielberg. MPAA Rating: PG-13 (profanity, violence) Running Time: 127 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw. Four years ago, a friend of mine explained very succinctly the reason he was looking forward to Steven Spielberg's JURASSIC PARK: "Big mechanical lizards." Sure, the lizards in question were not entirely mechanical, but I got the point. He wanted to see dinosaurs live and breathe on the big screen, as did millions of other movie-goers around the world. Four years and over a billion dollars in worldwide grosses later, everyone has seen dinosaurs live and breathe on the big screen, which begs one major question when considering a sequel: now what? As it turns out, the "now what" is more: more different kinds of dinosaurs, more scenes of the dinosaurs attacking, more people around to suffer creatively agonizing deaths. It also turns out to be, more or less, more of the same. THE LOST WORLD offers all the shallow characterization and pointless plotting of JURASSIC PARK without the sense of discovery. Only in the hands of Steven Spielberg could that recipe add up to something moderately diverting instead of a compete disaster. THE LOST WORLD is based on (so loosely as to re-define "based on" as "with the same title as") Michael Crichton's sequel novel, which introduced us to a second island where dinosaurs were being genetically engineered. Unlike Jurassic Park's Isla Nublar, however, Isla Sorna has been allowed to develop as a complete ecosystem, with dinosaurs roaming free of fences or human interference. Unfortunately, InGen Technologies is in some financial trouble, inspiring new boss Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) to consider exploiting a major corporate resource. Enter John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), now convinced of the error of his ways and determined to prevent further jurassicatastrophies. He recruits a team of researchers to collect evidence for leaving the dinosaurs alone, a team headed by a reluctant Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Once on the island, Malcolm and his crew discover that Ludlow has brought his own team, and that they are on a mission guaranteed to create more death and destruction. In many ways, THE LOST WORLD is actually an improvement over JURASSIC PARK, if for no other reason than that it is more honest. Spielberg takes exactly two minutes to show us the first dinosaur in THE LOST WORLD, clearly aware that there's no point in creating build-up any longer. He also takes a note from a clever line in David Koepp's script given to Malcolm: "Yeah, ooh ahh...that's always how it starts. Then later comes the running and screaming." JURASSIC PARK was almost obliged to provide the wide-eyed wonder of the completely new; THE LOST WORLD, appropriately, delivers a much higher ratio of "running and screaming" to "ooh ahh." It also doesn't have Laura Dern as a dumber-than-Triceratops-dung paleobotanist, giggling like a schoolgirl over Malcolm's description of chaos theory, or Ariana Richards shrieking about Unix systems. What THE LOST WORLD _does_ have is a generous helping of scenes and characters which are awfully familiar. Pete Postlethwaite plays this year's version of the Great White Hunter while Arliss Howard plays this year's version of the Corporate Scum; the gallimimus stampede of JP becomes LOST WORLD'S parasauralophus stampede. Though Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello appear only in cameos back on the mainland, there is still a youngster to be terrorized (Malcolm's daughter Kelly, played by Vanessa Lee Chester). Even the sequence of attacks feels derivative: T. rex attacks a vehicle and tries to push it over a cliff, T. rex chases people, people trek toward a distant goal, velociraptors take their turn. JURASSIC PARK was more enjoyable than it should have been because we had never seen this stuff before. LOST WORLD is the same stuff, just in greater quantities. Those greater quantities are probably going to satisfy movie-goers who like their action fast and furious, with minimal interruption for silly little things like character development. No one will argue that that THE LOST WORLD is much more than a string of set pieces; there is also little question that a few of those set pieces are directed with that indescribable Spielberg something. The first T. rex attack is brilliant, placing Julianne Moore hundreds of feet above the crashing surf, separated from certain death by nothing more than a pane of glass gradually dissolving into spiderweb cracks. When Spielberg is "on," the results can be dizzying, and he's "on" just often enough to give THE LOST WORLD a few satisfying sparks. The rest of the time, he's on auto-pilot. Like us, he's been there and done that. I believe I have seen JURASSIC PARK four times since its initial release, and I have enjoyed it less each time. If I had seen THE LOST WORLD for the first time in 1993 -- if the order of the two films had been reversed -- I suspect I would have found it positively thrilling. In 1997, it's just like watching JURASSIC PARK for the fifth time, when it's hard to get worked up over a film which has little going for it besides big mechanical lizards. On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 lizard kings: 5. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit Scott Renshaw's MoviePage http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~srenshaw Subscribe to receive reviews directly via email See details on the MoviePage --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:54:49 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news.kth.se!nntp.uio.no!news.radio.cz!europa.clark.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: null@filmcritic.com (Christopher Null) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 18:18:18 GMT Organization: Null Publishing Co. Lines: 44 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkh9a$9au@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: null@filmcritic.com (Christopher Null) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07653 Keywords: author=Null Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7103 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1314 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Christopher Null Copyright 1997 Christopher Null Well, it ain't SCHINDLER'S LIST. With his highly anticipated JURASSIC PARK sequel, Steven Spielberg grubs through the filmmaking archives for every plot device, camera trick, and cliched scene you can think of, and rolls it into one big mess. Only with dinosaurs. Lots of 'em! With the low-angle, out-of-focus, washed-out photography, it looks like Spielberg slapped this thing together on his weekends away from DreamWorks. The result is a film that's mostly painful to watch save for a few big action sequences (admittedly impressive) and a finale that other critics are certain to ruin for you. THE LOST WORLD (plot: more dinosaurs) follows the "Action! -- s-l-o-w exposition -- Action! -- s-l-o-w exposition" sequence of events, an exercise which really bogs down the beginning of the film, and combined with just plain goofy plot development (hunters on motorcycles? patching a baby T. Rex's broken leg?) robs the movie of any real terror. Not even Julianne Moore -- probably best known for being my favorite actress -- can help much. So to compensate, Spielberg calls for many, many automobiles to be toppled over. Throw in your sequel-begging ending (don't do it!) and you've got the makings of a franchise headed the way of Spielberg's first big monster movie -- Jaws. JURASSIC PARK 3-D, anyone? I didn't think so. RATING: *** |------------------------------| \ ***** Perfection \ \ **** Good, memorable film \ \ *** Average, hits and misses \ \ ** Sub-par on many levels \ \ * Unquestionably awful \ |------------------------------| -Christopher Null / null@poboxes.com / Writer-Producer -Visit the Movie Emporium at http://www.filmcritic.com -and Null Set Productions at http://www.filmcritic.com/nullset.htm From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:54:50 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news00.sunet.se!sunic!mn6.swip.net!bucklan.stupi.se!sybil.vger.com!news2.digex.net!uunet!in3.uu.net!207.22.81.9!europa.clark.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: PHLBRADY@concentric.net (Phil Brady) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 18:20:44 GMT Organization: Concentric Internet Services Lines: 59 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkhds$9bc@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: PHLBRADY@concentric.net (Phil Brady) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07660 Keywords: author=Brady Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7051 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1297 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Phil Brady Copyright 1997 Phil Brady Well, on the good news side, the dinos are back..more dinosaurs, better than ever. While Jurassic Park introduced us to "real live" dinosaurs, the FX crew has had time to become acquainted with their cutting-edge technology. They have produced much more lifelike creatures, and the action is not stingy. One corollary to this is: more killing. The body count in Lost World rivals the numbers racked up by Sly and Arnie. You can judge for yourself whether it's good or bad news that Jeff Goldblum is actually the star of this film, as opposed to just attending Jurassic Park and ID4. But the big disappointment is Steven Spielberg's backslide into mindless action/horror cliches. He, better than most understands how to do it right. How could he let this happen? The story opens with a good scene of a shore party coming upon some small dinos that are not as cute as they look. Cut to Jeff Goldblum being persuaded to go back to "Site B". It goes against all his instincts, but his palentologist girlfriend (Julianne Moore) is already there, so he must follow her to get her to safety. She's having none of that..this is an opportunity of a lifetime, and besides, it's her job to move the plot along by getting everybody into trouble! Spielberg lets her character alternate between trying to preserve natural habitats and trying to disrupt them. As soon as we meet her, she rattles off a bunch of observations about the stegosuarus family structure, then she walks up to a nest with a baby steg, and pets it! Even modern-day birds would abandon a chick with a human scent; the only reason to touch the baby is so we can see her imperiled by the angry parents. Later, she comes across a baby T-rex with a broken leg, and she decides to carry it back (200 lb, easy) to the base camp, to set a splint. What a surprise that the parents show up and trash the camp! The ensuing FX are very good, but Spielberg has gotten flabby, letting these totally impossible actions move the story. Would it have been so tough to have a baby killed by another dino, and have the vengeful parent mistake something left by the humans as a scent clue? Okay, you need the baby later in the movie, so make the T-rex brood have two babies. How tough would that have been? Later, corporate mercenaries round up some dinos for sale to zoos. Their Hatari!-inspired techniques are exciting. Our heroes sneak into the camp and break open the cages of these not-so-fuzzy creatures. A melee follows, destroying the camp..seems to me that they would be found guilty of murder, or manslaughter, at the least. Not a good lesson for the kids, but you don't want your kids to see this anyway. Way too many scenes seem to have been designed to inspire nightmares in youngsters. Spielberg tops his own lawyer-chomping scene by having two T-rex's "make a wish." Late in the film, A captured T-rex breaks loose, Kong-style, in San Diego. This lets us see some Godzilla scenes in a residential area. Spielberg punctuates his homage by having one streetful of fleeing pedestrians all Asian. There's lotsa good stuff packed into this movie. Pete Posthelwaite, always a plus, plays a Great White Hunter leading the corporate team. And the action scenes are so good, I'll probably have to see the movie at least two more times. I doubt that Spielberg could have topped the original, but sometimes it looked like he wasn't even trying. I remember adolescence, when one friend after another drifted away from the group, as they got interested in sports, girls, or whatever. The super-child Steven doesn't want to come out and play anymore..Say it ain't so, Steven. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:54:51 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news00.sunet.se!sunic!mn6.swip.net!bucklan.stupi.se!sybil.vger.com!news2.digex.net!uunet!in1.uu.net!207.172.3.52!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: pringle@cancom.net (Jonathan Pringle) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 18:21:08 GMT Organization: Cancom's ION -- Internet Outpost Network. Lines: 53 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkhek$9bh@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: pringle@cancom.net (Jonathan Pringle) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07662 Keywords: author=Pringle Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7047 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1296 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Jonathan Pringle Copyright 1997 Jonathan Pringle It is now the night after I have seen the movie, and my opinion has changed slightly. Right after the showing, I was somewhat disappointed. I went in hoping for a four star movie, but came out and gave it a 2 1/2 star rating. I thought that even that was generous. Maybe it's because I had been anticipating this film for so long that when I actually saw it, It didn't mean anything to me. My first complaints were with John William's almost non-existent score. Jurassic Park had much better music, especially the first brachiosaur scene. The second complaint would have to be the character of Kelly. She was almost useless (except for an incredibly fake gymnastic scene that really should have been taken out). To clear up the confusion, I found out that Kelly was an adopted child. Her family had just left her behind, and Dr. Malcolm took her in. Thirdly, the role of Nick Van Owen was utterly useless. His character (and many of the other's were very undeveloped). But with special effects that were this believable, WHO CARES about the plot? The sudden entrance of the hunters was also badly introduced. Their entire entrance happened in less than 3 minutes. Laslty, I was very disappointed that Laura Dern wasn't around for this one. She, in my opinion, was the best actor from the first Jurassic Park. It was nice to see Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough return. Also, It was wierd seeing how much older Lex and Tim looked in the short scene they had. Now for the good stuff. Tons of realistic dinosaurs. Especially the baby t-rex and the huge stegosaurs. The San Diego scene was also incredible. The best scene, though, had to be the trailer scene and the slowly cracking glass. I was on the edge of my seat for that part. The violence is much darker and more obvious in this movie, but that's what makes it better. We don't want a kids movie here. It definitely stretches the PG-13 rating to the max. Oh yeah and the sound effects were incredible! They did a great job with however they got the sounds. Lastly, the ending, in my opinion, wasn't all that great. I liked the ending to JP more I think. It seemed kind of cheesy to me. Now that It's the morning after I have seen the movie, my opinion has changed. I would change my 2 1/2 stars to 3 stars for this time. I don't know if I'll see it again. I don't think I could sit through the boring first 1/2 hour again. Oh well, congrats Mr. Spielberg, you did it again. ***/ out of 4 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:54:53 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!uninett.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: ben.hoffman@bcsbbs.com (Ben Hoffman) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 18:21:20 GMT Organization: The BCS BBS - Los Angeles, CA - 213-962-2902 Lines: 83 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkhf0$9bj@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: ben.hoffman@bcsbbs.com (Ben Hoffman) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07663 Keywords: author=B.Hoffman Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7084 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1308 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Ben Hoffman Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman Anyone who has seen the original JURASSIC PARK will surely want to see the sequel. As with the first, it is filled with dinosaurs, both big and little, more menacing than I recall in the one that preceded this. For this reason, it is incumbent upon me to suggest that parents of children under 9-years-old and those of sensitive 10-year-olds take their offspring to other movies. It is a bit frightening to see a couple of tyrannosaurs engaged in pulling apart a human they have captured, or to see hundreds of little dinosaurs about the size of small geese, poke out the eyes of humans, chew at their lips and cheeks. It is a kind of THE BIRDS except with dinosaurs. Then, too, the photography. like much of the story, is dark. Hardly any daylight, sunlight, penetrates the huge trees and brush of the dense forest. This, when it is in the whole movie, is in itself depressing. Nevertheless, the special effects are, as expected, spectacular though not more so than in the original. For one thing, the dinosaurs do not come across as shocking, surprising, as when first seen in JURASSIC PARK. There really is nothing here to compare with our first view in the 1993 version of the dinosaur lifting its head above the trees in a graceful movement that astonished and delighted us. While it is true that THE LOST WORLD utilizes new computer technology to make the animals move more gracefully, the improvement was not noticeable. The original Jurassic Park was spectacularly wonderful with Live Action Dinosaurs' Stan Winston in charge both then and now. As for the story: You will recall that John Hammond had discovered that embedded in amber were bits of DNA. He was able to utilize the DNA to grow full- sized prehistoric animals. It was his dream to have an amusement park on an island off Costa Rica where visitors could come to view the dinosaurs and other beasts. The park was going to be foolproof safe. Dr. Ian Malcolm, a brilliant mathematician, said there was no such thing as 100% safe. As predicted, disaster struck and everyone fled the island and all the prehistoric animals died . . . or so everyone thought. Four years have elapsed since John Hammond's dream came to a disastrous end. Just when it was believed that the dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals had all died, it now appears that there were some survivors living on the nearby island of Isla Sorna where they were free of human interference Having learned his lesson that one must not tamper with nature, Hammond (in this version played by Richard Attenborough) wants sightseers kept away and the island policed so the prehistoric animals can live in peaceful surroundings. To this end, he talks mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) into overseeing that his wishes come true. Things do not quite work out that way. Others hired by Hammond for chronicling of the island's inhabitants are paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), maker of video documentaries (Vince Vaughn) and a field equipment specialist (Richard Schiff) to enable the three to carry on their mission. The film's villain is Hammond's money-hungry nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliiss Howard), who takes control of the company and sets out to breed the creatures, bring them to the island and set it up as another Park. Ludlow hires an adventurer, Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) to be in charge on the island. Also in the cast is young Kelly, (Vanessa Lee Chester) who stowed away on the ship going to the island where deadly dinosaurs roam. Little did Kelly know what she was going to experience. Music composed by John Williams. If you loved JURASSIC PARK, as almost everyone apparently did, and you want more of the same, THE LOST WORLD will again turn you on. Based on Michael Crichton's novel, THE LOST WORLD. Directed by Steven Spielberg. 2.5 Bytes 4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to miss 2 Bytes = Average 1 Byte = Save your money Ben Hoffman From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:54:54 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news.kth.se!nntp.uio.no!news.maxwell.syr.edu!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: dml@gwis.com (David Landers) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 18:23:47 GMT Organization: Gateway to Internet Services Lines: 69 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkhjj$9bt@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: dml@gwis.com (David Landers) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07667 Keywords: author=Landers Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7104 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1315 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by David Landers Copyright 1997 David Landers RATING: ** out of **** - 5.5 out of 10.0 CAST: Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm), Julianne Moore (Dr. Sarah Harding), Vince Vaughn (Nick Van Owen), Arliss Howard (Peter Ludlow), Vanessa Lee Chester (Kelly Malcolm), Richard Attenborough (John Hammond) DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg CERTIFICATION: PG-13 (USA) for excessive violence with little blood YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 1997 THE LOST WORLD is probably one of the most disappointing sequels in recent years. Based on the novel "The Lost World" by Michael Crichton, THE LOST WORLD is the, unfortunately, much anticipated sequel to the box office smash-hit, JURASSIC PARK. In a word, this movie is bad and is lacking many things, but most especially, a good script and a good cast. If you enjoyed JURASSIC PARK, you will not enjoy its sequel. The story revolves around Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), one of the survivors of the incident on the first Jurassic Park island, Isla Nubular. He is approached by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to visit the test island for Jurassic Park, a similar island 80 miles away from Isla Nubular. In the words of the trailer, "something has survived", and Ian, along with a few others, must visit the island to document what is still there. At first, of course, he is not interested. But when he learns that his girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) is already there, he must rescue her from the certain doom she is facing. The problem with this, for me, is rather simple. Why would anyone go back to an island that is going to contain the same creatures that nearly had you for dinner four years earlier? Unfortunately, this movie is full of questionable situations like this one, and some of the later instances are even more unbelievable. Still another unbelievable situation in this movie is the main plot. After what happened to the first park on his first island, John Hammond insists on creating another one, this time in San Diego. From his standpoint, it would seem unthinkable to create the possibility of another disaster. Yet, he seems to care nothing for what happened earlier. It also is quite unbelievable that the United States government would have no problem with such a situation, either. Continuing on, many more situations like this are presented to the audience in a fashion that seems to be perfectly legitimate. Aside from the unreal and very unadmirable characters, the dinosaurs themselves, the main attraction for this movie, are hardly diverse and unique from the original film. This film concentrates again on the T-Rex especially, with second concentration on the Velociraptor. A small attempt is made to feature some other dinosaurs, but when it looks like they will be featured, the concentration shifts back to the two spotlight dinosaurs. The main reason for this is probably the intended audience: children. Although this film is not supposed to be intended for this audience, it is silently being advertised entirely towards them. The kids don't care for the plot and dialogue. All they care about and want to see is the "big" dinosaurs eating people, which this movie unfortunately capitalizes on in a large way. In a nutshell, THE LOST WORLD is a large disappointment. If you come expecting a nicely formulated plot with admirable characters, you will be disappointed. If you come looking for lots of suspenseful situations, you will not be as disappointed but you will not be extremely satisfied. Arguably, the only audience that will really enjoy this movie are children around the ages of 7 to 13. THE LOST WORLD is pretty much a lost cause. *--------------------------------------------------------------------* * David Landers - dml@gwis.com - http://www.gwis.com/~dml/ * *--------------------------------------------------------------------* From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:54:56 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news00.sunet.se!sunic!mn6.swip.net!bucklan.stupi.se!sybil.vger.com!news2.digex.net!uunet!in1.uu.net!207.172.3.52!feed1.news.erols.com!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: WFrith1680@aol.com (Walter Frith) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 18:25:56 GMT Organization: America Online Lines: 50 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkhnk$9c2@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: WFrith1680@aol.com (Walter Frith) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07669 Keywords: author=Frith Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7046 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1295 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Walter Frith Copyright 1997 Walter Frith 'LOST WORLD STILL MANAGES TO BE COMPELLING DESPITE LOST FRESHNESS IN SUBJECT MATTER' Comments on this review may also be sent to wfrith@icom.ca Technology is the saving grace that ignites 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park'. That and a commanding presence by leading man Jeff Goldblum who reprises his role as a scientist trying to bring reason to a chaotic scenario known as dinosaur reproduction. His theories were correct four years ago and while the people in charge in 1993's 'Jurassic Park' didn't listen to him, you would think they've learned their lesson, right? Wrong. Richard Attenborough also reprises his role in a cameo appearance as the developer of the original theme park in which dinosaurs ran amuck who tries to persuade Goldblum to return to a location close to the original film's sight and it seems that the first film was the exhibition sight and now they go to the island where the manufacturing is actually done. This means an increasing number of prehistoric creatures since the last time we saw them and a lot more people are involved this time around as well. Goldblum is re-united with his female companion (Julianne Moore) who was also persuaded to go along for the ride and their small team of observers is joined by a crew aiming to capture the dino beasts and take them to a newly created theme park built in San Diego, California. Steven Spielberg said he wouldn't make a sequel to the original film unless it could be better and Spielberg is indeed a man of integrity as far as his word is concerned and proof of this is in the fact that no sequel was ever made to 'E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial' (1982) and Spielberg has done it with the Jurassic story by increasing the amount of excitement in the form of dazzling technology which he was correct in assuming would look better than his original film. 'The Lost World' is also enhanced with nail biting suspense and excitement just as compelling in many areas as the first film and has a climax better than 'Jurassic Park'. Overall it is not better than the original film because the dinosaur concept was so original back in 1993 and kept our focus unparalleled to any other film in special effects history but now the original magic is gone and while 'The Lost World' is not a sensational film, only Spielberg could find ways to make it nearly as enjoyable as his first effort in this series. OUT OF 5> * * * * 1993's 'Jurassic Park' > * * * * * Visit Mr. Frith's 'Movie Reviews' section of 'The Review' at http://www.arrowweb.com/review From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:54:57 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!uninett.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: cq292@freenet.carleton.ca (Eric C. Robinette) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:19:08 GMT Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Lines: 136 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkrsc$a1v@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: cq292@freenet.carleton.ca (Eric C. Robinette) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07682 Keywords: author=Robinette Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7095 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1312 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Eric C. Robinette Copyright 1997 Eric C. Robinette A- Starring Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Arliss Howard, Pete Postlethwaite, Vanessa Lee Chester, Richard Attenborough Written by David Koepp based (loosely) on the novel by Michael Crichton Directed by Steven Spielberg Who's that? Oh, Mr. DNA! Where did you come from? You're not in the sequel to Jurassic Park! "No, but I'm everywhere evident in the picture. You see, this time around, Mr. Spielberg and company have taken up cloning to produce this sequel to their earlier thrill machine, not only of the first movie but of some of Mr. Spielberg's other products." So I noticed. You'll be delighted to know, Mr. DNA, that unlike a lot of other critic types, I thought the experiment was successful, for the most part. "Do you really think so? That's great! So many of you fellas complain that I can only create a thin story and cardboard characters." To be frank, Mr. DNA, those people are pretty much right. But unlike a lot of those other reviewers, I'm pretty forgiving of suspense movies, for better or for worse. As long as I come out of the movie taking small, stiff-legged strides to my car, I say you pulled it off. I clocked myself at taking a full minute to limp to my car, where otherwise it would have taken me 45 seconds. Not bad! "Well, thank you. You know, we're bound too make a ton of green stuff on the movie, so they'll probably be asking me to come up with another one. I'd love to hear your thoughts. What did you think of the core helix structure? You mean the basic plot? Well, your cloning didn't work too well there, I'm afraid. It's a typical case of sequilitis, and not too inspired. Dr. Ian Malcolm, is recruited to go back to a second island filled with dinos that conveniently escaped the attention of the characters in the first movie. Personally, I thought that the sequel would be based on that can of shaving cream with dinosaur embryos Wayne Knight dropped in the first movie, especially since Spielberg devoted four or five shots to it falling into a mudslide. That would have made more sense. "Geez, where off to a bad start." Don't worry about it. Spielberg gets things going at a pretty good clip, which is the right thing to do when you have a thin story thread. At any rate, against his best wishes, Malcolm goes back to the island with a stowaway daughter (Vanessa Lee Chester) to retrieve his girlfriend Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) and your typical ragtag band of cohorts, most of whom will be digested by the end of the movie. Pretty simple, but it's good at getting the characters into one dangerous situation after another, which is all that counts in this movie. "Uh-huh. What did you think of the other cloning I did, with Spielberg's other movies?" Now, that worked--you did some good gene resequencing. Basically, you were wise to eschew the mawkish attempts at human relations that tended to bog down the first movie, which was more in the Jaws mode of a close-knit unit hunted by monsters, and went straight for one chase scene after another. In that way, it's more like one of the Indiana Jones movies. Roland, the game hunter was very vividly played by Pete Postlethwaite, and even looked a bit like Indy. Spielberg continues to show that he knows just the right shot to use, and when to use it. The pacing and visuals are fantastic. The best example is a scene in which a trailer is pushed over a cliff by a couple of angry T-Rexes, and Julianne Moore lays against the glass that slowly cracks bit by bit, threatening to plunge her into the waters below. That imagery is classic Spielberg. The raptor scene is especially well done, with a lot of great "gotcha" moments. I especially liked the overhead shot of the raptors in a grassy field silently closing in on the hunters, with the dark lines of collapsing plants converging on the humans. There were many moments when I thought the characters were goners, yet they managed to escape in some novel way. Great fun. "What about the behind-the-scenes stuff, with the effects and all?" Well. of course those were well done. The dinos are more realistic, and much more mobile and fluid than before, particularly in a scene where the hunters try to rope up various species while speeding along in jeeps. It's nearly impossible to tell where Spielberg stops, and Industrial Light and Magic and Stan Winston start. Once again, their work is thrilling, and Oscar-caliber. "Well, I'm glad you liked it so much. But what about the humans I concocted? Well, you still need a little more work there, Mr. DNA. As I Mentioned, the best character is the foreboding but charismatic Roland. Arliss Howard, playing the scheming nephew of John Hammond pales by comparison. Goldblum is once again bitingly funny, but since he has to carry this picture, he tends to get overwhelmed by the reptiles. Vanessa Lee Chester gives a solid performance as the obligatory child in distress, but you underused her. You didn't get nearly as much mileage from her as the original kids, Joseph Mazello and Ariana Richards, who make a fleeting appearance. "I've got it. Work on the characters, don't change the action." Hold that thought, Mr. DNA. There is one action sequence that is disappointingly short: the much ballyhooed San Diego scene with the T-Rex. "What? I thought people would love a Godzilla reference." Well, the scene works, Mr. DNA, but it's too short. There are some wonderful moments, but not enough of them to make it pay off. It seems like you were so enthralled with the idea, you didn't try to work it out to the fullest. After all those other great set pieces, it's a bit anti-climactic. I did like the set-up for part three, though. "We're thinking about it. So how'd we stack up with the first movie?" I'd say almost as good, but not quite. The characters in the first movie were thin, but they were better developed than most of the people here, so you need to work on that. Plus there's that old problem with movie cloning: there simply isn't that sense of discovery and ingenuity that comes with a first movie. I missed some of the clever touches of the first, such as yourself, Mr. DNA. "Aw, shucks." Don't worry about it. All in all, as a thrill machine, the movie operates nearly at full speed, just like the first did, and that's the key. . It just needed a little more gas at the end. "Gotcha. Well, gotta get back to work on the other summer movies." It wouldn't be the same without you Mr. DNA. Just ease off on the volcanoes, OK? From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:54:58 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!mcevans.tip.net.!newsfeed.tip.net!uunet!in3.uu.net!207.22.81.9!europa.clark.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: carson@epix.net (Paul Miller) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:20:07 GMT Organization: None Lines: 51 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkru7$a25@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: carson@epix.net (Paul Miller) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07686 Keywords: author=Miller Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7055 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1298 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Paul Miller Copyright 1997 Paul Miller Jurassic Park was a movie that revolutionized the way that we perceived movies. We began to think....what if we could clones dinosaurs again after seeing this movie, we had to begin to think that we wouldn't really want to. The Lost World shows that not only would that be a grave mistake but that it could lead to extintion of the human race. The movie starts out with Ian Malcolm being "summoned" by John Hamond. John has a proposition...Go to Isla Sorna which is 80 miles SW of Isla Nablar. There is "Site B". The Isla Nablar mueseum is for the best of the best from Isla Sorna. Jurassic Park were only the healthy dinos that were bread at Sorna. Hammond knew that eventually someone would find it and it would be pilaged. Ian refused until he found out that his girlfriend, Sarah Harding was one of the four on the expedition. He went there, not for research, but to get his loved one out of harms way. He goes there only to find his daughter has tagged along for the ride. He finds his girlfriend. No sooner then he finds her then 10-15 helocopters land with jeeps, hummers, you name it. They are INGEN, John Hammonds corpoation. They begin to mess up the island...trapping dinosaurs, caging them, etc. The leader is Hammonds Nephew. His sidekick if you will, is a hunter that wants nothing more than a Male T-Rex. No more plot will you hear... This movie was great...however not near as good as Jurassic Park. You will hear countless people say..."This was 1000x worse than the book." Well, here's how I look at it. They are two completely different stories. The movie didn't follow the book at all except for bits and pieces. You can't compare apples and oranges, which is what the book and the movie were. Looking solely at the movie, it was solid, well acted, and amazing special effects. If you loved Jurassic Park, you will love the Lost World. *** (out of 4) **** - Top Notch *** - Very Good ** - Average * - Just plain bad mail me! carson@epix.net Visit my Movie Reviews Page http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?carson%40epix%2Enet%20%28Paul%20Miller%29 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:00 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!sn.no!uninett.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: ram@iris3.carb.nist.gov (Ram Samudrala) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:20:28 GMT Organization: The Centre for Advanced Research in Biotechnology Lines: 55 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkrus$a27@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: ram@iris3.carb.nist.gov (Ram Samudrala) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07688 Keywords: author=Samudrala Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7073 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1303 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Ram Samudrala Copyright 1997 Ram Samudrala /The Lost World: Jurassic Park/ is essentially a rehash of the original. Man messes with nature. Things go wrong. People get eaten. The major difference is in the last part which is quite sophomoric and not at all fitting of Steven Spielberg. It is four years after the horrific disaster that happened at Jurassic Park. Again, we meet the good doctor, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), no longer at the head of his company but still pulling a few strings behind the back of his son, Peter (Arliss Howard). The original base camp of operations set up by Hammond on Isla Sorna, Site B, still exists and there are living colonies of dinosaurs there. Hammond, who has gone from capitalist to naturalist, wants to observe the creatures in their natural habitat and put to rest years of speculation about the lives of the great animals. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is asked to come on board the team sent to scout the island where the dinosaurs live. He refuses until he learns that his girlfriend, paleontologist Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) is already alone on the island. He then becomes part of a rescue mission including himself, photographer Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), equipment specialist Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), and his daughter Kelly Curtis (Vanessa Lee Chester) who stowed away in the back of the van. Besides the animals who would like to have humans for din-din, Malcolm's team has to cope with Peter Hammond and Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite). Tembo's goal is to kill a Tyrannosaurus Rex to prove man is the greatest hunter. Peter wants to capture the animals and bring them to the mainland to create "Jurassic Park, San Diego". Bad idea. Spielberg and company, clearly realising they had a winning formula the last time around, don't deviate very much from it. By the time the Tyrannosaurus Rex gets to San Diego, I couldn't help but thinking I had just seen /Jurassic Park/ again. What is missing in this movie compared to the original is the intellectual aspect. There's no talk of chaos, no background about how the animals were bred and raised, no delving into evolution about how the animals could overcome their lysine deficiency, and no "this is Unix, I know this stuff!" Viewers are simply expected to have this knowledge, and this means more time for bone crunching effects. As a result, we have a movie that is darker and gorier than the original. The movie is entertaining and has some interesting messages about cruelty to animals and leaving nature alone to do as it will. See it for the matinee price but don't spend the big bucks on this one. email@urls || http://www.ram.org || http://www.twisted-helices.com/th Movie ram-blings: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:01 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news.kth.se!nntp.uio.no!newsfeeds.sol.net!europa.clark.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: TheShoooo@aol.com (Jeff Shooman) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:20:20 GMT Organization: America Online Lines: 46 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkruk$a26@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: TheShoooo@aol.com (Jeff Shooman) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07687 Keywords: author=Shooman Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7077 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1305 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Jeff Shooman Copyright 1997 Jeff Shooman --------------------------------------------- FIRST IMPRESSION: A "whip-out-the-checkbook-for-explosive-special-effects" type movie, devoid of a decent plot, whose only purpose is to make some ... oh say billions at the box office. --------------------------------------------- REVIEW: There's not much to say about Steven Spielberg's latest venture into the dinosaur world, except that its sole purpose is to make money. Now you pose the question, don't all other movies aim to make money? Yes, I agree, it is the goal of the film execs to make money. However, most of the time, with few exception, it is the goal of the filmmaker to make a good movie. Here I must speculate, with the brilliant talent of Mr. Spielberg, his sole purpose in making this "sequel" was to make money. Here, however, the filmmaker didn't concentrate on making a good movie. He concentrated on making a loud movie where digital dinosaurs eat people, providing that sporadic jolt that this movie so desperately needed. There's no plot here, unless you think that David Koepp's attempt at it, trying to entangle greed and science, consists of a plot. Still, the film passes some muster. Why? The effects. The effects here are astounding, and it is no wonder why Mr. Spielberg and others stand to make millions from it. The technological display here is absolutely second to none. And do you know what was also a plus with this film? John Williams's score. I was roused at certain moments, where the music was one note away from the Luke-Darth Vader scene in RETURN OF THE JEDI music. Williams proves again why he is such an invaulable asset to Hollywood, and why his scores leave the audience humming for hours and hours. So, this movie turned out average. Again, the effects are marvelous. The plot is non-existant. And the ending descends to that of a "B" monster movie (MOTHRA). All in all, this movie is like Spielberg's JURASSIC PARK (1993), except here, the plot has worn thin, and the concept has grown old. ** out of **** Questions? Comments? Suggestions? theshoooo@aol.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:02 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!erix.ericsson.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news-paris.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news-peer.gsl.net!europa.clark.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: boiled@earthlink.net (Steve Kong) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:21:23 GMT Organization: smart inc. Lines: 62 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mks0j$a2e@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: boiled@earthlink.net (Steve Kong) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07694 Keywords: author=Kong Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7069 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1302 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Steve Kong Copyright 1997 Steve Kong There are some movies that you go to see for the plot and character development. Then there are the movies that you go to see for the fun factor and the special effects. The Lost World is in the latter category. After seeing the first movie, Jurassic Park, I did not expect too much walking into the theatre. I was there to see dinosaurs. In The Lost World we find out that there is a Site B from the first movie. Hammond used Site B, located about 80 miles away from the original island, to breed and raise dinosaurs for the main Jurassic Park island. We find out that after the first island was dismantled and all the dinosaurs killed, no one knew about the second island. The dinosaurs thrived there and continued to live without human interruption. That is until a rich family sails to the island. A dinosaur attacks the daughter of the family and this sets off the story. InGen has now been taken over by Hammond's nephew. Hammond is still alive and wants to leave the island alone and let the dinosaurs live there. Hammond's nephew has other ideas. Hammond calls four people to go and document the dinosaurs on the island in their natural habitat before his nephew and InGen get there. Ian Malcolm is forced into going to the island because Hammond has sent his girlfriend there. Ian's daughter hitches a ride and shows up on the island too. It isn't long until InGen shows up. They, under the command of Hammond's nephew, are there to round up dinosaurs for the Jurassic Park in San Diego. After this point, there story stops and the action begins. The dinosaurs this time around have more screen time. And they look better than ever. The scenes in which the dinosaurs interact with humans are so amazing, that it would leave most people wondering how they did that. One example of this would be a scene in the beginning where the InGen team is rounding up dinosaurs. Humans are tying up dinosaurs. If you are going to see this film for the dinosaurs, you will not be disappointed. The actual look of the film is darker and grittier than the first. The first was filled with bright colors and sunlight. The costumes were as if they came out of a comic book. This time around though, most of the action takes place at night. The film itself looks grainier. There is an overall more serious feel to the film. The one that I have to mention is the sound. Jurassic Park launched DTS, Digital Theatre Sound. The Lost World also uses DTS, and the end result is wonderful. Sounds literally circle the theatre. If you have the chance be sure to see The Lost World in a DTS equipped theatre. The bottom line for The Lost World is to go into the theatre not expecting too much in the plot, character, and story department. Go to see The Lost World for the fun factor and special effects. Unlike last summer's special effects driven Independence Day, Spielberg wastes no time in between action sequences and special effects sequences. The movie is fast moving and does not stop once everyone reaches the island. As for taking the kids to see The Lost World, this movie is very intense, and I would not recommend it for younger children. -- steve kong boiled@earthlink.net personal site http://stevekong.home.ml.org my movie site http://hardboiled.home.ml.org From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:03 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news.kth.se!nntp.uio.no!newsfeeds.sol.net!europa.clark.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: nowhere@satori.ucs.indiana.edu (Geoff Cashman) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:21:16 GMT Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington Lines: 110 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mks0c$a2d@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: nowhere@satori.ucs.indiana.edu (Geoff Cashman) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07693 Keywords: author=Cashman Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7079 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1306 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Geoff Cashman Copyright 1997 Geoff Cashman In a word: Pathetic It is exceptionally rare that I ever think poorly of a movie. I tend to be very easy to sway with movies. I easily suspend disbelief, and get involved in some of the most idiotic of movies. Jurassic Park, the original, was an outstanding movie from a few different perspectives. The special effects were of course amazing, and even today people talk about them. The acting was tolerable or better, and had some excellent moments. It was easy to get involved in the movie (for me) and actually be concerned about the fate of most of the characters (though the lawyer was a dead giveaway as a deadman). I still pop this movie into the VCR occasionally, 4 years after it was released. I think that says enough. This sequel pales in comparison. First, the acting... There were some very minor moments when the acting became acceptable, but for the most part it was horrid. Jeff Goldblum is a talented individual, but working as a lead without other strong acting leaves him blowing in the breeze. His one liners added a strong dimension to the original, and ruined this movie. The rest of the actors were dismal for the most part. The would-be predator queen is fake and depthless. The second Ingen team leaders are pathetic, droll, remakes of a mishmash of characters from 1950s movies. The evil corporate nasty nephew is so awful he incited giggles in me. Casting: Tolerable for the most part. But why an African-American for Goldblum's kid? Completely shallow point to attempt to make the movie politically correct (in-movie comments about noting that she couldn't be his real kid was disgusting at best). Sprinkle in pointless environmentalist, would-be do-gooder team leader, and well it just becomes pathetic. Plot: Hi! Let's make a second island so that we can trash another forest! Totally unbelievable in fabrication. Next, let's make a theme park complete with a name and gosh nobody noticed it being built and wondered what it was for. Add in lame attempts at making t-rex seem parental (wtf for? So we sympathize with the beasts?), and setting one free in San Diego (at least the producers had the decency to make fun of themselves for their obvious Godzilla rip offs), and the plot becomes a dismal modernized version of a big evil monster with a heart goes crazy scenario overplayed in movies decades old. In the first movie, the dinosaurs had depth. The raptors were incredible, and done exceptionally well. The T-rex was left as he should be for a movie of this kind...a semi-psychotic carnivore of massive proportions. Any efforts at giving depth to the big reptillian birds in this one was like lofting a feather in a gale force breeze. Stupid scenes: o People standing on a dock watching a freighter coming at them at 26kts and *not* running until it crashes into the dock. o Getting into the high hide or whatever they called it. Ummm... can't the jeep holding the cable be broken? Umm... Can't the tree be knocked down? Ummm... is there a functional problem here? Nah, couldn't be. This is a Speilberg movie. o Dinosaur breaks leg. Let's save it while the parents are looking for it. They won't look here will they? The T-rex just has the largest olfactory cavity of any of them. He own't smell us here. Nope. Neither will momma T-rex. Not a chance. COMPLETELY manufactur scene. o Raptors attack party, picking off people at the back of the running group of about people. Nobody notices a thing until they're the next one getting jumped by a raptor. Duh, gee George, what's all that noise behind us? Shouldn't we like, duh, check it out? No Lenny, keep running, and don't use your gun. Criminy. How about a knock down drag out fire fight with the raptors for crying out loud? Action movie? Eat fest is more like it. o Let's all run down this valley while being chased by a t-rex and run into this waterfall. No, we don't know what's behind it.... probably a wall, but let's run into it anyways. Oh wow! There's a cave here! Oh my, that T-rex tongue feels amazingly like an R.O.U.S. (Princess Bride reference). o The stampede scene was ludicrous. Gizmodified jeeps and cycles chase down rampaging horde of dinosaurs. Insert Token to play game. I could rattle on here for a while. Heck, if I continued I might have a chance of boring everyone as much as this movie bored me. The *only* strong point about the movie was the special effects. This computer imaging stuff is really coming along nicely, and it's beginning to become indistinguishable from the real thing. The effects deserve a nomination if not an Oscar. Bravo! Quick summary: This movie was a complete money grab. After Speilberg did Schindler's List it seemed like he was really trying to make a go of it as an artist, rather than a capitalist with alot of movie making talent. Now, I'm not so sure. This movie is raking in big bucks (breaking every major record in its first 4 days of release, over $100 million already in the coffers) though and that will keep the studio happy. Horrible acting, totally manufactured plot in development and execution, and outstanding special effects make for a movie that is pure eye candy and nothing more. One the Dino scale: 4 unhatched compy eggs out of a possible 4 mature T-Rexs. Bleah. - Geoff From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:05 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!pumpkin.pangea.ca!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: mleeper@lucent.com (Mark R. Leeper) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:22:35 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies Lines: 83 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mks2r$a2m@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: mleeper@lucent.com (Mark R. Leeper) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07698 Keywords: author=Leeper Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7094 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1311 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1997 Mark R. Leeper Capsule: Darker in tone than JURASSIC PARK, this sequel concerns another island that Ingen has populated with dinosaurs. The film has considerably more dinosaur effects, though most take place in the dark, possibly as an economy measure. The film has more action than its predecessor but less of a sense of wonder and amazement. The last half hour is great fun. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4), 6 (0 to 10). New York Critics: Steven Spielberg has fashioned a sequel to his supremely successful JURASSIC PARK that in many ways does what a sequel should do: it continues the story rather than remaking it. The film features the same terrific dinosaur effects, but this time around Spielberg changes the tone to make a darker and more somber exercise. At the same time has removed much of the anti-science sentiment of the previous film. But perhaps the most interesting touch is that since it is based on Michael Crichton's novel which borrows the title of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel, Spielberg has played up the similarities in plot to the Doyle novel and its 1925 film adaptation. THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK also borrows from KING KONG and GORGO. On the negative side the character it builds the story around is Dr. Ian Malcolm (played again by Jeff Goldblum). This was not a very good decision since while Goldblum had some good lines in the first film, his character was never very well developed and does not have the appeal to carry the sequel. It is four years after the incidents of JURASSIC PARK. The entire experiment has been hushed up. Ian Malcolm has tried to tell his story to the world and has been made to look like a sensationalist kook. Meanwhile there has been a power struggle at John Hammond's company Ingen. Each faction wants control of an island that was a laboratory and breeding ground for the ill-fated park and where, unbeknownst to the world dinosaurs still live and breed. John Hammond has sent a team of four scientists to the laboratory island to document what is there. Ingen, now led by Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) has sent a team to secure the island. The team leader is hunter and mercenary, Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite). Tembo's team is composed of what are supposed to be crack mercenaries, but Tembo knows them to be unprepared for the situation they will be facing. The hunter cares little that his team is incompetent so long as they can provide him with an opportunity to kill a T. rex. As with the earlier film David Koepp has adapted the Crichton novel. His film is mostly dark and somber until the last half-hour when finally the film cuts loose for some fun. To make Goldblum's Ian Malcolm the tie to the previous film seems almost an act of desperation. Alan Grant or Ellie Sattler's characters had more appealing personalities. Malcolm was slickly obnoxious and remains so in this film. The worst fault of the script is its failure to create a character that that audience really cares about. In this film Pete Postlethwaite's villain is almost as appealing as the hero. Of course with dangerous dinosaurs on the loose, it is not clear the story really needed a human villain to start with. In contrast to JURASSIC PARK, Spielberg has chosen to visualize this story in muted colors, often with light sources blurred. There is intentionally no natural scene that looks as beautiful as the helicopter landing in the last film. The new island is not to be confused with a paradise. The film has more time on the screen of dinosaur effects, but in many it is harder to make out details. Also curiously some of the effects sequences are cut short, as if they were not completed to save time. There will be a stegosaurus attack and the camera will flash to Goldblum who says something like "they're leaving," rather than showing them leave. Spielberg does have some feel for suspense, and this film includes one suspenseful sequence involving a glass window that is almost sure to be borrowed by other films in the future. John Williams has scored the film, but this is sure to be considered one of his lesser scores with some standard suspense music and no really memorable new themes. The most impressive touch in THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK is how successfully it pulled together the plots of both Crichton and Doyle. It delivers a few thrills, some nice dinosaur effects, and packed theaters. I rate it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Mark R. Leeper mleeper@lucent.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:06 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!erix.ericsson.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!pumpkin.pangea.ca!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: mredman@bvoice.com (Michael Redman) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:23:10 GMT Organization: ... Lines: 85 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mks3u$a2o@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: mredman@bvoice.com (Michael Redman) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07700 Keywords: author=Redman Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7064 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1301 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Michael Redman Copyright 1997 Michael Redman ** (out of ****) Steven Spielberg's sequel to "Jurassic Park" signals the beginning of the big bang summer films. Unfortunately it also begins the season of major disappointments. It turns out that the dinosaurs n the original were breed elsewhere and shipped to the theme park. Now there is a battle for control of the island where the beasts have roamed free for the past four years. The grandfatherly corporate big wig John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), having had a change of heart, wants to let the lizards roam free. His greedy capitalist pig nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) has taken over the company and decides to bring them to San Diego for a mainland Dinoland. Hammond calls in the expert in chaos theory from the first film Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to head up a four-person team to document life on the island to sway public opinion so that the prehistoric creatures can stay where they are. Malcolm, no fool he, declines the offer, but heads for terrorville anyhow to convince his current significant other, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) that she is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once in the land of the very large predators, bad turns to worse as Malcolm discovers that his teenage daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester), who was never mentioned in the first film and just happens to be black, has stowed away. Continuing the trend towards disaster, the evil company has sent a team to round up dinosaurs in rodeo style. That's about as much of a plot as we get. There's a lot of destruction, human-eating and loud screams on the island. A T-Rex is shipped back to the mainland and then there's even more destruction, human-eating and loud screams. As you might expect, the effects are stupendous. The stegosauri and tiny piranha-raptors are awesome (in the pre-eighties meaning of the word). Everything looks even better than it did in "Jurassic Park". One of the problems with the original was that the dinosaurs were more real and interesting than the human cardboard cut-outs with the exception of Jeff Goldburg. The same is true here, but even Goldblum succumbs to the blandness. After an amusing scene where a yacht accidentally discovers the island, the first clue that we're in for trouble comes in a brief but seemingly eternal scene with Malcolm and Ludlow. Goldblum hems and haws through the conversation leaving the audience to wonder whether Malcolm had a lobotomy or Goldblum just slept late and forgot to memorize his lines. Where is the cocky Ian who was the only redeeming person in the original? The plot is full of holes and the people, remarkably stupid. Harding, who has studied dinosaurs for years, hangs out petting a baby stegosaurus while its parents are heading towards them. She is oblivious to any danger. Then she hijacks a baby T-Rex to set its broken leg, little suspecting that mom will come looking for her kid. And then she wears her dinosaur blood-soaked jacket as they try to make their way through a land of critters with the best sniffing ability in the world. She must have gotten her degree from the Institute Of Really Dumb Things To Do. Even the velociraptors are out of character. In the first movie, they were the perfect killing machines: intelligent and hunting in organized packs. Here they eat backpacks and fight with one another as their prey saunters off. If someone can explain to me exactly what happened on the ship carrying the T-Rex to San Diego, the film might make a little more sense, but I don't have much hope. If you want to catch some extraordinarily realistic dinosaurs, see this at the matinee, but be prepared to be unamazed at the rest of the film. During the first movie, the audience screams were in terror. Here they're also in terror, but aimed at the script. I suppose it should be expected since it's a sequel. I can only think of a couple of things that are better the second time. [This appeared in the 5/29/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com ] From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:07 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!sn.no!uninett.no!news-feed.inet.tele.dk!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: jestertb@tiac.net (Terri Buchman) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:24:06 GMT Organization: - Lines: 114 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mks5m$a2v@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: jestertb@tiac.net (Terri Buchman) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07706 Keywords: author=Buchman Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7075 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1304 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Terri Buchman Copyright 1997 Terri Buchman Geez, ya ever go to the movies with your kids and you just know that you ain't seeing the same flick they are? That was the case with THE LOST WORLD. I saw a fairly slow and poorly written film that had few thrills and uneven pacing. I thought it was a C+, at best. My kids saw a great movie with huge dinosaurs and great special effects and enough spills and chills to give them nightmares for a couple of days. They gave it an A and are telling all their friends about it. So, with respect to both viewpoints, a split review. Parents: Geez Louise why do I always get stuck next to the guy who has to explain every damn scene to his apparently brain-dead girlfriend? How the hell hard can it be? Scientist escaped from Dinosaur Island the last time and doesn't want to go back and play 'hide the salami' with the T-Rexes any more. Wise old former Capitalist waives money, scientific curiosity and the threat of having the guy's girlfriend eaten by giant dinos and -- poof-- scientist goes back to the island. Nasty bad old capitalist idiots decide to also go to the island and "meddle where man was not meant to go." (This is bad. They are going to get eaten. We know this 'cuz we saw the last movie and nasty people like lawyers and greedy capitalists and gun-totting morons with slack-jaws always become lunch. Law of the jungle baby. I mean geez, what are they going to do, let the dinos eat the kids or the heroes? No way. That doesn't leave anyone for the next sequel.) Everybody screws around with scientific stuff that isn't very sturdy, wind up pissing off the dinosaurs and then just barely escape with their lives. Extremely stupid capitalists decide to bring dinos back to 'civilization' (well, California, but it counts in the movie.) Nobody in this movie ever saw KING KONG and doesn't know what any pre-schoolers knows; never bring giant killer animals into the city. The animals don't like the city, they can't get good take-out in the suburbs and they get pissed off and start stomping on cars. Everything turns out allright though because the dinos get back to nature, the bad and greedy capitalists are wiped out by liability suits and the scientists get to go home and watch TV. That's about it. Ah, I've seen better. The movie is really, really slow. I liked the beginning, wherein a little kid is almost eaten by tiny dinosaurs. Hey, I'm a parent and there are times when you take your children to the movies with the expectation that something in the damn movie will scare them. If dinos only eat adults then how the hell are the kids supposed to get scared. "Hey, sit up and be good or I'll send you to Jurassic Park where you'll get eaten by giant T-Rexes with bad breath and humungo teeth." "Yeah right Ma, dinos only eat grown-ups. You're the only one who'd be in trouble." At least now we know that tiny dinosaurs do have a taste for small children. It's a start. I was bored with the first hour of LOST WORLD. It was slow, filled with dull people with dull jobs and unintelligible dialogue. I liked Jeff Goldblum, but mostly because he's Jeff Goldblum and he has an interesting and unique way of delivering a line. (He has a sort of hushed and breathless delivery filled with accents on off words that I find slightly disorienting and enjoyable.) The woman who played his girlfriend wasn't interesting enough to remember though she did scream well. The hunky guy who was a photographer for at least part of the movie before he metaphorphisized into a Rambo clone was nice to look at. (What was that all about? Was he really a photographer or just one of your standard movie-issue hunky Rambo guys who only pretend to be a photographer? I have no idea.) The guy who was in FARGO was good, although he was actually playing the same character. (Though he had more dialogue in this movie than in FARGO.) There was also an English guy playing a hunter in the picture who was evil because he wanted to hunt down a male T-Rex. (I am not sure why this guy was evil. The T-Rex wanted to hunt the English guy down and eat him, but the T-Rex wasn't considered evil, he was just doing his job as a devoted husband and father. But the hunter guy was evil. Really really evil. I mean, they even cast an English guy as the hunter, that's how evil he was.) And there was the cute kid who played Jeff Goldblum's daughter. She was, ahm, cute and read her lines well and screamed well. Unfortunately she also had to act in a scene that called for her to do a really ludicrous bit of gymnastic daring-do that was a truly dumb moment of film-making. Poor kid. The best part of the picture was when a T-Rex got loose in San Diego. I felt bad for the dino because I've been in San Diego and it's really hard to get around that city as a tourist. The dino was angry and tired and scared that his kid was hanging out with a bad element. When he wound up in the suburbs, stuck without a map and unable to see the street signs because of the poor lighting and all, well, my heart bled for him. Fortunately the T-Rex was able to rescue his kid and beat a path back home before his old lady found out and kicked him out of the nest. Phewh! I'm really glad he made it. Kids: Wow! What a great movie! The dinosaurs were like ten, no twenty, no fifty feet tall. They were so cool. And they, like, ate people and like dripped blood all over everything and it was so coo-ooo-l. I loved that movie. And, like, they only ate grown-ups which was really good because the kids didn't really want to hurt them but some of the adults did so that was good. The guy who was in ID4 was in this only he was like he was when he was in the first JURASSIC PARK and not like he was when he was like saving the world and stuff. (He was cool when he was saving the world and got to fly in a spaceship and hang out with Will Smith and stuff only he wasn't doing that in this movie cuz he was different.) This movie was just like JURASSIC PARK only it was different. In JURASSIC PARK the dinosaurs were pretty good but in this movie they are even better. And they, like, drip blood when they eat people, you know. I don't think they dripped blood before, but my friend has the tape so I could check and find out. The T-Rex didn't eat anybody like a lawyer in this movie, but he was still like, eating people and stuff, so it was the same thing, only different. Anyway, see this movie. It was GREAT! It was really scary and funny and good and it had giant dinosaurs kicking cars around and stuff and I really liked it. My Mom didn't like it, but she's old and so it wasn't really even a movie for her, so what difference does she make anyway. See it! Terrib Sigh! Maybe I am getting old. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:09 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!erix.ericsson.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!uninett.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: S687070@gcstudent.ins.gu.edu.au (Shane R. Burridge) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 21:24:40 GMT Organization: Griffith University Gold Coast Lines: 84 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mks6o$a31@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: S687070@gcstudent.ins.gu.edu.au (Shane R. Burridge) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07708 Keywords: author=Burridge Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7080 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1307 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Shane R. Burridge Copyright 1997 Shane R. Burridge 130 min A few years ago I saw a festival release of Orson Welles' 1948 MACBETH, one of a number of Welles films screening during that week. Before it was halfway through the audience began to leave, until only half were left seated for the final credits. My viewing of the film was distracted twofold: firstly by the slow exodus of patrons, and secondly by the question that kept going through my mind: What Were They Expecting? You go to see Welles playing Macbeth....surely you expect to see just that - Welles playing Macbeth. I have never responded the same to film criticism since. In the case of THE LOST WORLD, this argument would translate thusly: You go to see a movie about dinosaurs on the rampage, and what do you expect to see? Dinosaurs on the rampage. Your expectations are satisfied. If you go in expecting to see insights of any interpersonal, religious, philosophical, scientific, or religious nature; if you go in looking for subtexts , or representations of the human condition, or the growth and/or learning of individuals within group dynamics, then, my friend, it is time for you to start reassessing your critical acumen, or go see a different movie. Having attended a preview of THE LOST WORLD I was in the fortunate position of not having heard or read a single word about it (I confess this took some effort of ignorance on my part - and thank goodness I had no inkling about the final twenty minutes), yet I had a foreboding about Spielberg's new film well before I saw it. It may not be fashionable to like Spielberg this year, and the critics may sneer at his dinosaur movie. Why? That question could easily be answered with another: What Were They Expecting? Or, more simply, it could be that some people just don't like to see anybody else having a good time. As for my own reaction? As far as adventure movies go, THE LOST WORLD is a peach. It may be an even better ride than JURASSIC PARK, which it reworks unabashedly. The first forty-five minutes lack involvement, but once Spielberg hits his stride (in a boffo set-piece inside a trailer) the film never lets up. The dinosaur attacks are relentless - and the assorted dinos get far more screen time than in the original - but even though THE LOST WORLD turns out to be a wholesale human slaughter, we're never made to feel the dinosaurs are villains. Spielberg restrains sentimentality and doesn't get us feeling they are the good guys either - they're simply enormous animals, and there is no need to portray them as enraged monsters (although there is a humorous reference to GODZILLA at one point). The dinosaurs work: not because they have been meticulously and stunningly recreated by ILM, but because, as in JURASSIC PARK, their behaviors and reactions are entirely believable. Fans of Crichton's book JURASSIC PARK will be pleased to see some moments from the original story make their way into the movie sequel - notably the opening scene on a beach, and a sequence with a T-Rex at a waterfall. And it's great to see the raptors utilising one of their scarier talents in the book by really leaping about everywhere. Screenwriter David Koepp, who worked with Crichton on the first film, goes solo this time and eliminates most of the unnecessary fussing-about -between-locations of the novel in favour of a more linear narrative. Spielberg choreographs his stunts and twists with relish - his only misjudged moment involves a youngster and some unlikely acrobatics - but there is a peculiar, distancing tone to his work. JURASSIC PARK's underlying philosophy was optimistic: the dream of an enthusiast which turns out badly. THE LOST WORLD is darker, unsympathetic, and far from noble, in which the innocent as well as the guilty pay the price. This, ultimately, may be what prevents it from being enjoyable to some viewers - while others may feel it plainly isn't dark enough. Will there be a third? If so, Spielberg does not feel, at this stage, that he needs to helm it. With THE LOST WORLD he has revisited JURASSIC PARK and expanded on every set piece of that predecessor (the knockabout scene with the raptors is a highlight) as well as adding new surprises. It's about as good as any dinosaur movie could be (Oh yeah, there were human actors in it too - Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite - they're all fine) and if it winds up being wearily dismissed by the ever-growing number of critics that seem to have forgotten what it was like to go to the movies as a kid, well then, one can only wonder if Spielberg might not do it all again after all. JURASSIC PARK 3: An island, a pack of raptors, half-a-dozen Tyrannosaurs, and a hand-picked selection of film critics. I'd pay to see that. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri May 30 20:55:10 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed2.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news.kth.se!nntp.uio.no!Norway.EU.net!sn.no!uninett.no!news-feed.inet.tele.dk!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: berardin@bc.cybernex.net (James Berardinelli) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURRASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 May 1997 18:27:39 GMT Organization: - Lines: 114 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5mkhqr$9cc@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: berardin@bc.cybernex.net (James Berardinelli) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07677 Keywords: author=Berardinelli Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7107 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1317 THE LOST WORLD: JURRASSIC PARK A film review by James Berardinelli Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli RATING (0 TO 10): 7.0 Alternative Scale: *** out of **** United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: 5/23/97 (wide) Running Length: 2:13 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Arliss Howard, Peter Stormare, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Schiff, Vanessa Lee Chester, Richard Attenborough Director: Steven Spielberg Producers: Jerry Molen, Colin Wilson Screenplay: David Koepp based on the novel by Michael Crichton Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski Music: John Williams U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures When JURASSIC PARK was released in 1993, it set a new standard for state-of-the-art visual and audio effects. It was suddenly possible to see humans and dinosaurs interacting in a way that had never before been possible, and to feel the entire theater shake with the approach of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Four years later, not a whole lot has changed. Effects houses like Industrial Lights and Magic have tackled bigger, more imposing objects such as tornadoes and volcanoes, but it's still basically the same technology that JURASSIC PARK ushered in. And, because THE LOST WORLD doesn't offer anything especially innovative, it seems rather familiar and almost (but not quite) disappointing. Like its predecessor, THE LOST WORLD is basically a big-budget monster movie of the sort that has been popular ever since the dawn of motion pictures. Unfortunately, like many entries into the genre, it falls into expected patterns. As a result, much of this movie seems like a retread of JURASSIC PARK (with a little KING KONG thrown in at the end), not because director Steven Spielberg is intentionally copying himself, but because there's really not much more that he can do with the premise. If there's a third movie in the series, it will probably follow pretty much the same storyline as the first and second installments. Still, repetitiveness notwithstanding, THE LOST WORLD boasts several edge-of-the-seat moments. The dinosaurs aren't nearly as awe- inspiring, but they remain formidable adversaries for a group of plucky, overmatched humans. The standout sequence in this film features two T- Rexs, a lot of rain, spiderweb fissures in glass, and a literal cliffhanger. The ending, which takes place in San Diego rather than on a tropical island (where most of the film transpires), is a little anticlimactic. Next year's GODZILLA will hopefully do a more impressive job with the "dinosaur loose in a city" concept. Returning from the first film is Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm, a mathematician with an analytical mind and a wry sense of humor. This time, he has an adolescent daughter, Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester), and a paleontologist girlfriend, Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore). Ian gets pulled back into the dinosaur game when Sarah joins an expedition to the island of Isla Sorna, which is populated by a wide variety of genetically-engineered extinct species. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), older and wiser after his JURASSIC PARK experience, no longer intends to open an amusement park; he simply wants to study dinosaurs in a natural environment. So, a reluctant Ian, along with Sarah, a nature photographer named Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), and a gadgets expert, Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), begins a "look-but-don't- touch" foray. Little do they know, however, that Hammond's nephew (Arliss Howard) is on his way to the island with far less benevolent intentions. He wants to bring dinosaurs back to San Diego for a prehistoric zoo. Accompanying him is big game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite), whose goal is to bag a male T-Rex. The differences between JURASSIC PARK and THE LOST WORLD can be summed up relatively simply: more dinosaurs, fewer legitimate thrills. In this case, familiarity doesn't breed contempt, but it results in a movie that's unlikely to keep viewers going back time-after-time the way they did for the original. THE LOST WORLD is solid entertainment the first time; it's not something I have any great desire to sit through again. One could argue that giving Ian a daughter and a girlfriend is an attempt to broaden his character. If so, it really doesn't work. The self-deprecating scientist is likable exclusively because of Jeff Goldblum; even after two films, he's still relatively one-dimensional. The rest of the characters are pretty much interchangeable from their counterparts in JURASSIC PARK (different names; similar functions). Vanessa Lee Chester is this film's child in danger; Julianne Moore replaces Laura Dern; and SWINGERS' Vince Vaughn takes over for Sam Neill. Meanwhile, Arliss Howard represents the obligatory nasty corporate villain type. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about THE LOST WORLD is how perfunctory and unimaginative Steven Spielberg's direction often is. In his more than two decades of film making, Spielberg has been responsible for a variety of innovative action/adventure movies -- JAWS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, and JURASSIC PARK, to name a few. On this occasion, he seems content to turn things over to the gurus at ILM. The magical spark that characterizes so many Spielberg films is largely absent. THE LOST WORLD ends up being what a British acquaintance of mine calls "a jolly good romp." It is to this year what INDEPENDENCE DAY was to last year -- the summer's single "can't miss" motion picture (or so the advertisers would have us believe). It also comes early enough in the season so that we're not already sick to death of this kind of effects-oriented action/adventure. So, although THE LOST WORLD has its share of problems, chief of which is the familiarity factor, it still offers a couple hours of glitzy, hi-tech fun. And that's just about all that anyone can reasonably expect from this kind of blockbuster. - James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 4 15:03:39 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news-west.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: chuckd21@southeast.net (Chuck Dowling) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 3 Jun 1997 12:17:27 GMT Organization: Southeast Network Services, Inc. Lines: 85 Sender: evelynleeper@geocities.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: evelynleeper@geocities.com Message-ID: <5n120n$3fe@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: chuckd21@southeast.net (Chuck Dowling) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07734 Keywords: author=Dowling Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:7120 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1324 THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK A film review by Chuck Dowling Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling The Lost World:Jurassic Park (1997) **** out of ***** - Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Arliss Howard, Richard Attenborough. Written by: David Koepp. Directed by: Steven Spielberg. Running Time: 130 minutes. "The Lost World" perfectly embodies the qualities of a "summer movie". It's immensely entertaining, yet it's hardly intelligent in a creative sense. It is one great ride of a movie though. "The Lost World" (and really guys, either call it "The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2" or lose the subtitle altogether) is the sequel to the biggest movie of all time, "Jurassic Park". Taking place four years after the events of the first film, Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) finds himself to be an outcast both publically and professionally for trying to expose the events which occurred four years earlier. One day he is called to the home of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough, briefly reprising his role from the first film) who informs him that Jurassic Park was not the only place where the dinosaurs existed. The dinosaurs were created and allowed to thrive on a seperate island before being shipped to the park. Now he wants to send a team of researchers and photographers to the lost world (get it?) in order to document the life which lives there. And he wants Malcolm to go along as well. Malcolm of course wants no part of it, until he learns that his current girlfriend (Moore) is one of the scientists on the expedition. He reluctantly agrees to go, but only to convince the team to return with him as soon as possible. Once arriving on the island, they are soon joined by "the bad guys", a group from Hammond's company who still believe that the Jurassic Park concept is a good one. Of course, the two groups clash. "The Lost World" is a hit and miss effort. It had much more potential than it capitalized on, but luckily when it does hit, it hits big. It takes forever to get the film going, and the biggest flaw against the film is the introduction of Ian Malcolm's daughter, who sneaks her way onto the island. "The Lost World" could have succeeded where "Jurassic Park" almost went astray by leaving out the kids. Her character being in the film produces a scene late in the film which, for lack of a better phrase, is nothing short of being retarded. When you see it you'll know exactly which scene I mean. Also, I didn't buy that there was a relationship between Goldblum and Moore's characters. I don't believe they ever touched each other romantically. Knowing how Spielberg really likes to develop his characters makes that even more puzzling. Now once the film gets going, it REALLY goes. About an hour into the film is when it starts. At that point there's a 20 minute sequence where the T. Rex makes it's first appearance, which is just about one of the greatest action/suspense sequences ever put to film. Those 20 minutes alone rank right up there with the best work Speilberg has ever done. After the sequence was over, I felt that it was so good that I seriously doubted that whatever could be dreamt up for the finale could be better. And for the most part, I was wrong about that. Now I'm not going to reveal what happens in the film's final scenes, even though I'm sure a week or so after the film's release there will be clips of it in every commercial for the film. But going into the theater, I had absolutely no idea that it was going to go in the direction it did. It's not as well-crafted as the sequence I mentioned earlier, but just in it's concept it's brilliant "summer movie" hijinks. So how does this one compare to the original? In actuality, I enjoyed them each about the same. While "The Lost World" does have its moments which I enjoyed much more than any scene in the original, "Jurassic Park" was paced better. "Jurassic Park" seemed to flow along, evenly paced, while "The Lost World" takes a while to flow, then crashes, then starts again, etc. Also, "The Lost World" doesn't seem like a big commercial for itself. We don't have to see the Jurassic Park logo every ten seconds as we did in the original. We hardly see it at all. "The Lost World" is just a great time at the movies. It sometimes slips too far into silliness, but makes up for it with fantastic special effects, a good score by John Williams, an entertaining performance from Goldblum, a couple of moments which will genuinely make you jump, and two outstanding sequences of action and suspense. Suspend all your critical thinking and just enjoy the perfect example of a no-brainer summer movie. The master storyteller Spielberg has done it again. [PG-13] -- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, film related links, and reader's reviews.