Continuing my series of Jurassic Park reviews (see the review of the first film here) in preparation for the upcoming release of Jurassic World, we’re going to take a look at the film The Lost World, released in 1997.
Continuing the format of my previous review, I will not be spending time on the acting, directing, score, plot, etc. (beyond admitting my continued affinity for Malcolm’s wardrobe, the rugged vehicles, and the fact that I enjoy the adventure feel that this film offered, which the first film lacked). I will again be concentrating on the only part anyone really cares about: the dinosaurs!
Seeing as I already covered them in my Jurassic Park review, I will largely skip analyzing Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor.
Well, largely. Velociraptor is basically the same, besides a coloring update. As it concerns Tyrannosaurus rex, there is a lot more that this film has to offer that the first one. Also experiencing a slight color update, we have a lovely behavioral slant to this dinosaur species as seen in the film: a family. That’s right, I love the two adult Tyrannosaurus raising their baby. I love the emphasis on family structure, and the concept of the adults protecting and nurturing their infant. The old consensus that dinosaurs were not caring parents is just that--old, and was even at the time this film was released. However, it is nice to see it done decently well on film.
A newcomer to the film series, Stegosaurus is done remarkably well. Beautiful, graceful, and full of power. I really like the green color, but admit I’d prefer to see an addition of some bright colors on the plates as this is what I would expect. But who knows if this is accurate? Therefore, the filmmakers cannot be deducted any points for this reason.
A few other “new” dinosaurs we get to see are Pachycephalosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Compsognathus. Here, each of these dinosaurs is by and large nicely done. There is little to say here, beyond raising the question of whether or not Compsognathus really did hunt in groups, and how they could actually take down an adult human with so much ease (hint: movie "magic"). In the dinosaur chase scene, we get to see the old friend Gallimimus, and a brief glimpse of a nice sauropod that is clearly not Brachiosaurus but who’s identity still remains a secret. Later on, Triceratops pops in, and is thankfully a little more active than the sick individual in the first film. It's nice to see some ceratopsian power! Each dinosaur in The Lost World is done at least as good as the first film as it concerns scientific accuracy. The newcomer dinosaurs are all done with decent amounts of accuracy in their own right. Nothing too shabby, here. At the end of the film, we even get to see a non-dinosaurian reptile, the pterodactyloid pterosaur, Pteranodon. A nice touch!
All in all, the film brings no more inaccuracies than the first did. It does continue them for Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, but at least we didn't have to deal with Dilophosaurus, and many of the new dinosaurs are quite well done.
Stay tuned for more reviews! I'll be doing Jurassic World, as well as Jurassic Park III, and both the Jurassic Park and The Lost World novels.
Spencer Bronte
Science, to a Student
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