Lost World

I'm still very undecided about this. Part of me wants to say "Whoa," because it made me jump out of my seat. The other part of me wants to say "Hmmm..."

Let me start by saying this is, without a doubt, the goriest PG-13 movie ever made, and probably always will be. The blood was flowing througout. This is to PG-13 what Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was to PG (that movie actually inspired the PG-13 rating and, not coincidentally, both were directed by Steven Spielberg. No other director could have gotten away with it). No one under 13 should see this, seriously. Little kids would have nightmares for months.

The plot? Oh, hell, I don't know. Something about going to Site B and observing the dinosaurs, taking pictures, that sort of thing. Then comes a group of InGen people there to hunt and capture some dinos for a park John Hammond began building in San Diego ten years ago before he thought of using Isla Nublar. Moving dinosaurs to the mainland? Bad, bad idea.

The characters, of course, are stick figures. Jeff Goldblum is doing his Jeff Goldblum thing, and it's really funny to see the girl that plays his daughter do a pseudo impression of him. Julianne Moore is Sara Harding, the love interest, and she's okay. Not quite as tough as Sigourney Weaver in the Alien movies, but tougher than Laura Dern in JP. If you read the book, forget it. There are maybe two or three things the movie and book have in common. And that's not completely a bad thing, but don't let the book shape your mental picture of how the movie comes out. You'll be sorely disappointed.

The two kids from the first movie make brief appearances in this. Joseph Mazello doesn't look like he's grown at all (or aged, for that matter). Ariana Richards, on the other hand, has blossomed. Though she still doesn't touch Natalie Portman... ;-) Richard Attenborough is only in this briefly, too. But long enough to cause trouble. Vince Vaughn, fresh off his star turn in Swingers, is the eco-warrior photographer. He's okay. Not bad, but not impressionable, either.

The biggest problem this movie has is the shrug factor. Even I was suffering from it. You've seen this all already. It would be the same if, God forbid, they do a sequel to Independence Day. How do you follow up? There was a guy in the row behind me that was not only sleeping, he was SNORING. That was pretty annoying.

Sure, there are some new dinosaurs (the Compys were awesome), but they won't move you like the ones in the first movie did. And some moments were downright corny. I can't believe Spielberg actually did them. In some ways, it was like watching a slasher flick, because as soon as you hear a guy say he's going to, uh, drain his lizard, and says "I'll be right back," you know, based on the official Scream rules for surviving in a horror movie, he will not be right back.

And there are other moments where you may stop breathing for two or three minutes at a time. And there are many moments where you're going to scream your head off, or at least jump out of your seat. I had fun, but I've had more fun.

It's worth seeing on the big screen, especially with a full house. but catch a matinee. On a rating scale, I'd give it somewhere between **1/2 and ***. It will deemed a disappointment, both financially and critically (I haven't read anyone else's reviews yet), but it will still make $200 million. I suppose when you make the #1 grossing movie of all time, following up is hard to do. The worst part is, there will probably be a third one. Yikes...