This film suffers terribly from the "second child" syndrome. Everyone was excited to see the first "Jurassic Park," after all, no one had ever seen dinosaurs portrayed so realistically on screen. While it wasn't a great movie, it was a wild, adventurous ride that was visually stunning. Then along comes "The Lost World," Jurassic Park's little brother. It's just as good looking as the original and has some very exciting scenes, but the main ingredient that's missing is the novelty. We've been there and seen all of this before. And like some second children, it appears that the "parent," Steven Spielberg, hasn't paid as much attention to number two as he did number one. Therefore this second film isn't as focused as the first.
While it certainly wasn't given "hand me downs" to wear in the special effects department, the new visuals aren't different enough to generate that wonderful reaction the first film caused. Sure, they look neat and there's some new dinosaurs, but they alone can't carry a film. In addition, several long scenes of exposition seemingly drag on forever until we finally get back to the dinosaurs. Sensing this, Spielberg turned up the notch on the on-screen mayhem dial, and this film consequently comes off as much more violent with many more graphic deaths occurring. Even that, however, can't sustain a movie, and without any character development and not much depth to the story, this film looks good but often flounders about.
Compounding the problems are plot inconsistencies, such as Ian's sudden loss of interest in getting his daughter off the island that moments before was his top priority. The crew of a freighter is inexplicably killed when the only dinosaur that's on the ship is a T-Rex trapped in the cargo hold. In addition, the movie liberally borrows its ending from a combination of both the Godzilla movies and the classic "King Kong" where a tropical beast is brought to the mainland. There it escapes and causes urban mayhem while searching for its loved one — in this case, its loved one, instead of Fay Wray. There are several long and very suspenseful scenes, however, that show that Spielberg hasn't lost his touch at creating tension, but it's amazing to think that this movie was directed by the same guy who helmed "Jaws," and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," let alone "Schindler's List."
Like a big roller coaster at a summer amusement park, this film is thrilling at times, and when it's done you might be a little shaky coming out of the theater. Afterwards, though, you'll realize there wasn't much to it and you'll wonder whether it was worth the wait in line. It's depressing to think that the current trend in big budget films is to forgo interesting, three-dimensional characters and/or logical and coherent plot lines while serving up stunning visual after visual. Big budget, complex films with novel characters can be made, and have been in the past ("Jaws," the first two "Alien" movies, etc...), and we can only hope that audiences will soon tire of experiencing just the big bang, and will want something more.
As the box office figures continue to skyrocket from films such as this, though, it looks like it might be some time before we return to that kind of film making. This certainly isn't a horrible movie, and many people will enjoy the visuals and the scenes that deservedly make them squirm in their seats. It's a shame, though, because this film, like its big brother, could have been so much better had more attention been focused on the soul of the movie, instead of on how pretty it is. We hate to think how the "third child" will turn out if they decide to have this family grow. Accordingly, we give Jurassic Park Jr. a 5.5 out of 10.