It’s
traditional to consider Steven Spielberg’s initial sequel to his Jurassic Park a disappointment, and it’s
not hard to see why. The plot is contrived and has some notable T-Rex sized
holes. The characters are largely flat and stupid. The spectacle, while
good-looking, takes precedence over everything else to the movie’s detriment.
And the third act is flat out ridiculous, bringing the franchise firmly into
B-Movie territory. All of these are, I must concede, very valid points. That
being said, they are also a big part of the reason I really, really like this
movie.
I’m not going to lie; I frequently enjoy movies
that are really cheesy and dumb. The Lost
World: Jurassic Park is definitely both of those things. The plot, such as
it is, involves a team of experts led by Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) racing to
document the dinosaurs that have survived on a second island and return their
documentation to the ailing John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough) so that he
can convince somebody or other to turn it into a nature preserve in order to
stop his nephew (Arliss Howard), who has taken over his company, from bringing
the dinosaurs to the mainland, and…ah, forget it. It’s all very contrived, and
relies on nearly every character doing the exact opposite of what common sense
would dictate. And none of it truly matters in the end, as the whole thing is basically
an excuse for dinosaurs to chow down on humans, thereby providing audiences
with what was the highest body count in the series before Jurassic World came out.
Thank goodness for Jeff Goldblum’s
presence in this movie, because boy, are these characters stupid. His character’s
bitterly sarcastic commentary on everything borders on breaking the fourth wall
on occasion, and it is delightful. It also makes him the perfect audience
surrogate, allowing the nonsense to go down more smoothly. It helps that the
dinosaurs still look as great as they did in the first film, and that John
Williams’ music is still awesome. The presence of Pete Poslethwaite as a Great
White Hunter-esque character trying to hunt a T-Rex seems almost at odds with
the otherwise stupid nature of the movie, however, given that his performance
is much better than the screenplay deserves. And yet in its own odd way, even
the fact that he was taking the movie so seriously adds to the cornball factor;
it’s hard to know whether to feel sorry for him having to be in this thing, or
delighted at how his presence contrasts with his surroundings. Either way, he’s
really memorable here.
But despite the movie’s technical prowess
and a handful of good performances, it’s still technically a dumb movie, which
is why I prefer to watch it ironically; it’s much more enjoyable that way.
There’s at least one thing that even an
ironic appreciation for this movie can’t fix, however, and that’s Ian Malcolm’s
daughter, Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester). As a character, she’s annoying, and I
just want her to go away every time she’s on screen. So my Personal Enjoyment
rating is going to have to take a hit because of her presence. But otherwise,
it scores very well there.
Actual Quality: 3/12
Personal Enjoyment:
11/12
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