Regardless of your thoughts on the Jurassic franchise’s resurgence, it’s quite clear at this point that dinosaurs make for some sweet box-office numbers. Including Fallen Kingdom, we’ve seen four films since the original Jurassic Park, and despite varying degrees of critical success, every single one of them has managed to turn a handsome profit. With more Jurassic sequels inevitably looming on the horizon, I think that maybe it’s time to take a step back and appreciate what I believe to be the most worthy successor the original film.
Naturally, I’m talking about the unfairly maligned The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
It’s hard to overstate the impact that Spielberg’s first foray into cinematic dino-mayhem had on Hollywood. Not only did Jurassic Park blow box-office expectations out of the water, it also became a pop-culture icon, making prehistory cool again and inspiring a whole new generation of future paleontologists. Hell, this was the movie that made me fall in love with movies, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. Naturally, in a move that surprised absolutely nobody, the studio demanded another one.
Michael Crichton was soon pressured into authoring a sequel to his best-selling novel that inspired the film, and Spielberg once again agreed to direct an adaptation. Things would be harder this time around, however, with the director insisting on completing three different projects (Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and The Lost World) all within the same year.
That’s not to say that the making of Jurassic Park was all fun and games, as people tend to forget how much of a miracle it was that it turned out like it did. With hurricanes delaying shooting and absurd rumors claiming that Spielberg directed portions of the film over the phone due to his commitment to Schindler’s List (he actually was absent for most of the post-production process on JP, shooting his tribute to Holocaust survivors in Europe as he received grainy satellite footage of CG dinosaurs from America), production wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.
Regardless, having already crafted an insanely entertaining blockbuster despite these hurdles, Spielberg once again dove into the fray and attempted to complete this new dinosaur movie as quickly and efficiently as possible. Sadly, the decision to rush this project out for a 1997 release date, while incredibly brave, is probably to blame for its eventual lukewarm reception.
And yet, after all these years, I still insist that The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a remarkably entertaining thrill-ride that channels some of Spielberg’s best work in the horror genre, managing to be one of those rare sequels that refuses to rehash the previous film. While the director ultimately ended up discarding most of Crichton’s material during production, Spielberg saw this movie as an opportunity to make something fresh and a hell of a lot darker (something that even the marketing campaign seemed to relish in). While many criticized The Lost World for being more mean-spirited and lacking the original’s sense of wonder, I’m fairly certain that everyone involved had the time of their lives making a bona fide monster movie.
From the very first scene, where a young girl is attacked by a breathtakingly convincing pack of tiny dinosaurs (we’ll talk about the wonderful effects soon enough), the movie establishes a very different tone. This is made abundantly clear with one of the greatest (and most ironic) scene transitions of all time, which introduces us to the film’s greatest asset: the one and only Jeff Goldblum.
Although Dr. Ian Malcom isn’t quite as seductively entertaining this time around, a condition that unfortunately extends to most of the film’s characters, he’s still the highlight of the picture. It’s hard not to smile as Goldblum lets out sarcastic, self-aware quips about the ridiculous nature of the film’s very premise, and his charisma manages to carry The Lost World through most of its blander segments.
Still, these characters are mostly to blame for the movie’s bad reputation. While the casting is just as phenomenal here as it was in the first film, there are simply too many people to keep track of due to the film’s higher body-count, and there simply isn’t enough time to go around. Couple that with some baffling decision-making by the protagonists, and it’s easy to see why moviegoers didn’t connect with this film like they did with the first.
The problematic character work actually has roots in another of the film’s issues, as it’s obvious that several scenes were cut without much thought given to the effect that their absence would have on the story. This movie is plagued by missing character information and continuity errors due to a sizable amount of deleted scenes, many of which were crucial to make sense of the film’s glorious final sequence. While this could mean that there’s a flawless three-hour cut of The Lost World hidden in a warehouse somewhere, it’s more likely that Spielberg simply realized that his reach exceeded his grasp with this project, and he decided to cut corners in order to guarantee a more streamlined and watchable experience.
While I would kill to see a restored and extended edition of the film, it seems that Spielberg prioritized making a fun movie above all else, even if it meant leaving some elements rough around the edges, and I can respect that. Even so, I find it easy to forgive many of these flaws once the film goes into full-on survival-horror mode towards the second half.
Ironically, there is a surprising amount of gruesome deaths in this rather heavy-handed parable about animal conservation. The kills aren’t even limited to the antagonists either, with severable likable characters being ripped apart in the most brutal ways that a PG-13 rating can provide. From velociraptors hiding in tall grass to pissed off T-Rex parents, Spielberg masterfully extracts every last drop of suspense from these monsters, with a few standout sequences even being comparable to some of the best parts of Jaws.
And speaking of monsters, dinosaur effects have literally never looked better. The film’s darker palette allowed for some extremely realistic-looking CG models that blended in seamlessly to their shadowy environments, putting most modern effects work to shame. While the CG did have its flaws, mostly during awkward day-time scenes, Stan Winston’s jaw-dropping practical effects are just as magical now as they were then. Even Roger Ebert praised the authenticity of the production, claiming that “It can be said that the creatures in this film transcend any visible signs of special effects and seem to walk the earth,” before proceeding to complain about the rest of the picture.
The effects during the final kaiju-inspired sequence in San Diego were also magnificent, as your brain eventually stops trying to tell CGI and puppetry apart and just accepts that these are living, breathing dinosaurs. The funny thing is that this wasn’t even in the original script! After production had already begun, Spielberg thought that it would be fun to bring the dinosaur rampage closer to home for a more memorable finale, and I couldn’t agree more with the bold decision.
Additionally, the film also boasted what was arguably the best promotional material of the franchise so far, featuring the best toys, video games and supplemental media. The marketing seems to have taken a liking to Spielberg’s darker vision for the sequel, adding bloody wounds to action figures and making posters that advertised something more akin to a horror attraction instead of the first film’s wondrous theme park.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park may not be as good as the first film, but judged on its own merits, it’s still a damned fine monster movie. It may be a darker and meaner experience, and there are a few cringe-worthy moments here and there (I still can’t believe that the first dinosaur killed by a human in these movies was murdered via gymnastics), but this is still a ride worth taking in 2018, even if you’re not a fan of the more recent JP sequels.
