The best way to succinctly describe my feelings here is to quote Bill Murray from SCROOGED: “Oh my gosh, does that suck!” The first of the 1997 summer blockbusters is unfortunately a monstrous dud. (Yes, I know I said monstrous.) Even if you accept its lame premise, the movie never gets good enough to justify it. So for those of you looking for reasons why sequels shouldn’t be made, THE LOST WORLD is your answer. Nothing about this movie is even new or groundbreaking. And since the CGI dinosaurs are no longer revolutionary, Spielberg cannot rely on them to carry the film, like he did with JURASSIC PARK. In fact, every time I remembered that Steven Spielberg directed this, I shook my head in disbelief. My six-year-old nephew could have made a better movie. The script seemed rushed and so did the filming. The whole fiasco was just plain amateurish. It’s really hard not to walk out of THE LOST WORLD with the feeling that they only made it for money. Granted, the cynics will say that that’s why all sequels are made, but at least most aren’t as blatant as this.

      Any sense of the moral from the first movie is also lost (again, no pun intended). The new moral is so cheesy that you have to wonder if the script was written by some environmentalist/animal rights wacko. A long description, I know, but it’s true. This film just has too many dumb moments that leave you saying, “huh?” And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, there’s the ridiculous San Diego sequence to top it all off, which is an abysmal rip-off of the Jeff Bridges, KING KONG remake. In fact, the whole movie becomes so cheesy that you can’t take it seriously anymore. For me, I lost interest less than halfway through. This is something I never imagined would happen, but then I also didn’t think this movie would suck so badly. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t even go in with high expectations. I can honestly say that I went in very neutral.

      As much as I love Spielberg, Michael Crichton, Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Moore, this is a project that should have been avoided by all of those involved and should especially be avoided by the audience. But if all you’re looking for are some cheap thrills, then this is the movie for you.