The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

All New Mistakes

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

On paper, this sequel looks more like a business decision than a genuine attempt at a movie. In 1993, Steven Spielberg had a giant hit with Jurassic Park, and followed it up with Schindler's List. It only makes sense that he would try to duplicate that one-two punch, and he spent four years setting it up again: a summer release of The Lost World: Jurassic Park and a winter release of Amistad. Author Michael Crichton even wrote a book, published in 1995, to base it on. The actual movie isn't quite as soulless as it could have been, however, and even if it does go through the motions, it's skillfully made and has some memorable sequences, best of all being a cliffhanger sequence in an RV with a cracking windshield. It was a clever investment, and the movie was a hit.

Jeff Goldblum returns as the hero, chaos theorist Ian Malcolm, and has the best line: "Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming." Richard Attenborough also returns as scientist John Hammond, who announces, that, of course, there's a second island full of dinosaurs. Malcolm wants nothing to do with it until he learns that his girlfriend Sarah (Julianne Moore) is already there. Additionally, dinosaur hunters are there, led by Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite). Vince Vaughn co-stars as a wisecracking cameraman with some survival skills; it was his first role after Swingers and he hadn't fully developed his persona yet. Peter Stormare, Richard Schiff, and Arliss Howard co-star, and a young Camilla Belle appears in the opening scene as a member of a wealthy, vacationing family that discovers the island.