The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Review 🦖📽

“Life Finds a Way… Again”

🎥 Trailer Time
Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?

Since this is a Universal film, Y’all know what that means? Cue Universal Logo!

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⚠️ Content & Tone Warning ⚠️
This one is darker, scarier, and a lot more brutal than the first. People get stepped on, eaten alive, ripped apart, and chomped in half by dinosaurs. The movie leans heavier into action-horror — still PG-13, but let’s be honest, some of these kills are nightmare fuel.


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📖 Non-Spoiler Rundown
So here’s the deal: The Lost World is less about wonder and more about survival. The first film had that “awe of seeing dinosaurs again for the first time” vibe, but this sequel says: “Okay, now what if things go completely to hell?”

John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) summons Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) back into the chaos, revealing there’s a second island (Site B) where dinosaurs were bred before being shipped to Jurassic Park. A new expedition is being sent — one half is Malcolm’s crew (there to study and protect the dinosaurs), the other half is a corporate InGen strike team (there to capture dinosaurs and exploit them for profit).

And let’s just say… the dinosaurs don’t care which side you’re on.


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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Character Rundown

Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) – Elevated to lead this time, Malcolm is grumpier, more sarcastic, and not thrilled to be back. He’s the heart of the movie’s humor and the voice of “this is a bad idea.”

Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) – Malcolm’s girlfriend, a brilliant animal behaviorist. Fearless around dinosaurs but sometimes way too reckless.

Kelly Curtis (Vanessa Lee Chester) – Malcolm’s daughter who stows away on the expedition. She’s resourceful and gets one of the most talked-about scenes in the franchise.

Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) – The great white hunter type. Wants to bag the ultimate prize: a T. rex. Oddly, one of the most competent and likable characters, despite being on the “bad” side.

Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) – Hammond’s greedy nephew. Basically a cartoon businessman who just wants to cash in.

John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) – Frailer than before, but his role here is more like the wise old man who regrets his past mistakes.



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⏱️ Pacing & Tone
The movie splits into two halves:

1. The Island Survival Half – Dinosaurs everywhere, humans running for their lives, and some absolutely terrifying sequences (that cliff-hanging trailer scene is still intense).


2. The San Diego Finale – Yep, Spielberg goes full King Kong and unleashes a T. rex in California suburbia. It’s wild, campy, and not everyone loved it, but it’s iconic.




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✅ Pros

Jeff Goldblum gets his time to shine — sarcastic, cynical, and oddly heroic.

The movie has some of the scariest and most intense dinosaur action in the franchise.

Spielberg’s direction in sequences like the trailer over the cliff? Masterclass suspense.

Roland Tembo is a surprisingly well-written “antagonist” with depth.

The San Diego finale is pure chaotic fun.



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❌ Cons

The characters sometimes make bafflingly stupid choices (Sarah’s “blood-covered jacket” moment still frustrates).

The San Diego ending, while fun, feels tonally disconnected from the rest of the movie.

Kelly’s gymnastics raptor scene… yeah, even Spielberg admits he regrets it.

Overall lacks the awe and heart of the first film — it’s more of a survival horror than a wonder-filled adventure.



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🏁 Final Thoughts
The Lost World: Jurassic Park isn’t as perfect as the first film, but it’s still a thrilling ride. It shifts from awe to terror, from majesty to mayhem. While it stumbles in logic and tone, it still delivers some of the best dinosaur sequences ever put to screen.

⭐ Rating: 9/10


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🚨 Spoiler Territory — Enter at Your Own Risk 🚨

Sarah’s Jacket = Dumbest Mistake Ever
Sarah patches up a baby T. rex, which is fine… except she leaves the bloody jacket draped over her. Guess what? That blood scent attracts the parents. And surprise, surprise, two angry T. rexes come storming in. This moment alone causes one of the scariest and most intense set pieces — the double T. rex trailer attack — but it also highlights how careless the characters are written. Like, Sarah, you’re a scientist, not a rookie camper.

The Trailer Attack
Two rexes pushing the trailer off a cliff while the crew dangles inside on breaking glass? Absolutely terrifying. The execution is perfect, but Eddie Carr’s death hits hard. Poor guy goes above and beyond to save everyone, only to get torn in half. It’s one of the darkest deaths in the entire franchise.

The Grass Scene = Chef’s Kiss Horror
Raptors stalking hunters through tall grass, with nothing but silhouettes and screams as they vanish one by one? Pure nightmare fuel. It’s easily one of Spielberg’s most chilling sequences — and probably the closest the series ever gets to full-on horror.

Kelly’s Gymnastics Raptor Smackdown
Oh boy. This is the infamous scene. Kelly, Malcolm’s daughter, uses uneven bars in an abandoned building to swing-kick a velociraptor through a window. Sure, she’s a gymnast, but… really? It’s so absurd it yanks you right out of the tension. Even Spielberg admitted later he regrets it, and honestly, it shows.

The San Diego Detour
Just when you think the island arc is over, Spielberg goes, “What if a T. rex rampaged through suburbia?” The ship crashes, the T. rex escapes, and suddenly it’s King Kong but with a dinosaur. You’ve got the rex drinking out of a pool, eating a dog out of its backyard (sorry, dog lovers), and smashing through traffic lights. It’s chaotic and fun, but also feels like it belongs in a completely different movie.

Ludlow’s Poetic End
Corporate slimeball Ludlow finally gets what’s coming to him. Trapped inside the T. rex cargo hold, he gets fed alive to the baby rex. It’s darkly fitting — and probably the most satisfying villain death in the series.



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👉 Final Ranty Take
This movie has peaks of brilliance (the trailer, the grass, the suspense), but it also has facepalm moments that stop it from being a 10/10 like the original. Still, it’s a worthy sequel that cranks up the danger and doubles down on the action-horror side of dinosaurs.