A lot has been said about The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2 being inferior to the original Jurassic Park for a lot of different reasons. Some don't like it because it didn't stick close to what the book was about (which by the way I haven't read), some don't like it because of the human element and others hate it because it was more or less a rehash of the first film. Honestly, I think it's not as bad as people have made this out to be, even if Spielberg has gone on record as saying this was a huge dissapointment for him.

I do agree that the one thing that is missing from JP2 is that wide-eye wonder and awe that the first film gave us. Now, it's more of the same, only turned up to 11. Basically, JP2 is just a remake of the first film mashed up with the concept of King Kong when a bunch of poachers decide to bag themselves a T-Rex and ship it back to....SAN DIEGO!!!! People like to point out that the reason why JP2 fails is because of the stupidity of the humans here. Everything for a quick buck and who cares about the consequences. Hey, I agree they are stupid, but I don't have a problem with their stupidity. It just makes their demise all the more sweeter when they get chomped on! Can I get a "Hell yeah"?

If there is one thing that I thought was the absolute dumbest thing to have in this movie, it was when the girl does her gymnastic kick to the face of the Raptor. That without a doubt lowered this movie in my eyes. It was a cheap way to get a laugh that no one really cared about anyway.

Other than that, I enjoy watching JP2 as it gives me what I want in a movie like this...plenty of carnage with no dead space like the first one. I'll be the first to go on record and say that I like JP2 more than I do JP1. I recommend this as a Rent, even though I own this baby as part of my Box Set. My rating for the movie reflects the cinematic experience I get from watching it and not whether or not it was faithful to the book. I wouldn't know anyway since I've never read it.

I am rather surprised you liked the 2nd a tad more than the first.

I thought the 2nd was ok. It definitely did not have the magic and it had the stupid moments. And due to some of the main characters not coming back, it was obvious the studio's did whatever they had to do to make sure this came to light including writing the story here.

Good question. I dont remember the 2nd one too well, and maybe that's why Spielberg and co. decided something else.

But...

I do recall at some point, Crichton was becoming a major presence in Hollywood, with his book deals, television and movie connections. Might be a power thing too.