I did not write this review to tell you about The Lost World. I wrote it to prepare you for it.
When seeing The Lost World, I came prepared for a totally different movie than the book portrayed. It has always been my strategy to see the movie BEFORE reading the book, because the book is almost always better. You see the movie, the movie is good. You then read the book, it's even better than the good movie. Life is good :-) But in this case, I found myself reading before seeing and that just supported my theory.
Throughout the entire movie, I found myself pushing my memories of the book out of my head, trying to make myself believe that it was NOT actually based on the book. Missing characters, missing dinosaurs, missing or added scenes (San Diego?! Sheesh!), different vehicles, new or "undead" characters (like Hammond, who was eaten alive by the Compys in the first book), you name it, it was off. However, I DID enjoy the Tyrannosaur's "Fido Feast."
Still, I can't say I'm surprised about the movie's distant (almost nonexistent) resemblance to the book. Two weeks before The Lost World opened, I saw a bunch of toys. I only noticed ONE character that was actually in the book.
I also notice, after reading through the Jurassic Park books over and over, that the "Jurassic Park" stories are not about dinosaurs, but about Chaos Theory. Michael Crichton is an intelligent person, and these books were just another way to express his beliefs (and make some profits on the side). I don't think that Jurassic Park was originally written to become a $400 million mega-blockbuster. The first movie gave Chaos Theory a measly 5 minutes, and only for the sake of introducing Malcom's character to the audience. The Lost World book also showed much of Crichton's ideas and foresights on the world today. The movie - NONE! Not even 5 minutes!!
So, in conclusion, if you have read the book and go to your local cinema to see the book on screen, you will be VERY disappointed. Instead, think of it as a new movie, not based on a book, but written on its own for public entertainment. Don't let that little "Based on the Book by Michael Crichton" tag fool you.
-Ethan Kaplan
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5/31/97