Plot: What’s it about?
Few things are certain in this world, but one is this: If a movie makes a billion dollars worldwide, you make a sequal. The Lost World had quite a lot to live up to, following one of the most successful movies of all time. With a novel being turned out by the same man who penned the first, Michael Crichton, a sequal was imminent…if not absolutely necessary! As they put it in the documenary, the first movie showed us what the dinosaurs looked like and the audiences responded. With the second one, it’s time to see what they can actually do. I personally feel that The Lost World was lacking in several places, but then again I saw it when it first came out (me and everyone else, right) and didn’t see it again until it’s arrival on DVD. Stephen Spielberg isn’t infallable, that’s for sure. With all the praise surrounding his films, let’s face it—some weren’t good. Most noticeably, this movie suffers from the dreaded “sequal” disease that plagues most films that try to one up their predecessors. Not that it’s a terrible movie by any means, it has a bona fide plot and enough action to get your money’s worth, but if you want an interesting movie about dinosaurs, get Jurassic Park, not it’s sequal. Gone, and not even mentioned, Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler, and even the kids, who figured so prominately in the original are reduced to only one scene. The only person who survived, besides the dinosaurs, is Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum).
Taking place in what is essentially “real-time”, the movie takes up four years after the last one has ended. Dr. Malcolm has been discredited, humiliated and isn’t too happy about it. All he did and saw has been thought to never have happened, and it’s starting to take it’s toll on him. What the movie essentially centers around, though, is Site B. Site B is an island 80 some odd miles away from the original island, Isla Nebular. On this island, there are no fences and no interference with man. Now all of this is fine, except it’s inevidable that humans will come into contact with the island…and they do. Trying once again to keep a lid on what’s going on, Dr. Hammond enlists the help of other scientists to go and “observe” the creatures in their natural habitat. The only thing that gets Malcolm involved is that his girlfriend, Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) has already accepted the offer and is on the island. So essentially the whole movie is a rescue mission as Malcolm can forsee the dangers and doesn’t want to repeat what has become the worst part of his life. Aside from the diosaurs, though, there are another group of people already on the island. Led by Roland Yemgo (Pete Poostlethwaite) who plays a big game hunter. He’s caught and killed basically everything on the planet of any danger, so a dinosaur (specifically a T-Rex) is the ultimate prize.
Unlike the first movie, we know going in that the dinosaurs are on the loose and of course, very hostile. The real trouble starts when the T-Rex is taken back to the mainland, as some sort of souviner. The T-Rex, being a mother is looking for the baby T-Rex, and isn’t happy about being drugged and taken to an even stranger place on a boat. This is where it gets a bit odd, I was kind of hoping that the whole “Dinosaur takes San Diego” thing wasn’t going to happen, but it did. Had I not seen Godzilla, it would have been a bit easier to swallow, but hey…it’s a popcorn movie. Overall, The Lost World doesn’t stack up to Jurassic Park in many ways. I personally liked the cast of the first movie better, but the effects and everything that made the first movie what it was, is all present in the sequal as well. Odds are, if you’re a fan of one, you’re a fan of it’s sequal. Maybe Jurassic Park III will offer us something truly worthwhile (like the third Indy Jones).
Video: How does it look?
The Lost World is presented in it’s original apsect ratio of 1.85:1. This, like Jurassic Park, was filmed in a full-frame, open matte transfer. So the image has been cropped a bit. If you choose the Pan and Scan version, which is available on a seperate disc, you’ll likely find more information on the top and bottom, but shouldn’t be too noticeable. This movie is noticeably darker than the origianl, remember the first one had a “park” theme, whreas this is a “lost world”, so a majority of the scenes take place at night. Thankfully the image is crystal clear, no matter what it’s put through. No artifacting at all, the effects are a bit better (due to technology) and every scene looks absolutely great.
Audio: How does it sound?
Like the original, The Lost World features one of the better 5.1 tracks. Sound emits from all channels almost at any given point in the movie. Also, like the original, there is a DTS version avaiable, and when we secure a copy, we’ll review it as well. Dialogue is clean and well centered, though there’s not many points in the movie where there is just one person talking. We again hear the constant “thud” of T-Rex or a Stegasaurus, or some other species of dinosaur, all making the soundtrack more active and forcing the subwoofer to perform it’s duties! Essentially what was said about the audio in “Jurassic Park” is true here as well, as they both have the same type of soundtrack. John Williams’ score is noticeably different, though, this has more of a “native” feel to it, with more drums and beats that a classical score. Still, it’s nice to hear it sound so good. Another reference quality soundtrack, courtesty of Spielberg…
Supplements: What are the extras?
Being released as a Special Edition, there is over an hour of bonus material on this disc. While that may not comapre to movies like “Fight Club” or “Independence Day”, it’s a lot more than we would come to expect for a title that most would buy as a bare bones DVD. Like Jurassic Park, there is a 50 minute documentary entitled (aptly enough) “The Making of The Lost World”. This follows the production process from the opening stages of the movies, through storyboards, filming and post-production. Again, we have interviews with Speilberg, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn and Jeff Goldblum among others. It’s exactly like the Jurassic Park documentary, but I liked it, so you’ll hear no complaints out of me for this one. Also included are some deleted scenes, but I must say that they are also included in the documentary, and with some explanation (as close as we come to a commenatary), whereas if you select them from the menu, you’ll not see why they were deleted. A bit redundant on their part, but I guess that’s better than not including them at all. Also included are some storyboards, photographs, sketeches…just like on Jurassic Park. This being a very technical movie as well, we see how much thought and planning went into the making of it. Included is a DVD-ROM link to the Jurassic Park III website as well as some other DVD-ROM goodies (most noteably, a DVD newsletter). And of course, also included, are Production Notes, some cast bios (that do not list Vince Vaughn!) and trialers for Jurassic Park, The Lost World and Jurassic Park III. On the whole, it’s the parallel of Jurassic Park in terms of supplements. If this movie is to your liking, you’ll certainly like the supplements.
