While none of the Jurassic Park sequels have come close to matching the brilliance of the original movie, this summer's Jurassic Park: Rebirth.

While there is a lot of excitement for the new movie, the Jurassic Park sequels have been a mixed bag, with only the first sequel really doing justice to the original. The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released in 1997. The movie was a box office hit, even if it didn't reach the heights of the original, but the reviews were mixed, with a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes. Since its release, The Lost World: Jurassic Park has been seen as an underrated follow-up and has held the title of the best Jurassic Park sequel so far.

Steven Spielberg Returned To The Director's Chair

The Lost World Is The Only Jurassic Park Sequel Spielberg Directed

It is not a coincidence that the best Jurassic Park sequel is also the only other movie in the franchise that Steven Spielberg returned to direct. The Lost World: Jurassic Park remains the only sequel that Spielberg has directed outside of the Indiana Jones movies, and given the many iconic films he has made over the years, that is a testament to how much he has loved this franchise. Spielberg has remained involved as a producer on all of the subsequent Jurassic Park movies, but The Lost World is the only one that has a bit of that Spielberg magic.

The Lost World is really a reminder that it is not easy to make a blockbuster movie that is as emotional and exciting as the ones that Spielberg makes.

Even if The Lost World is not as good as the original, the sequel captures a lot of what made the first movie so special, and that was lacking in later installments. This mainly comes down to the human characters and the emotional core of the movie, which makes the dinosaur action all the more entertaining. Spielberg has always excelled at this, with Jaws being a perfect example of a B-movie turned into a masterpiece because he cared about the characters at the center of the popcorn story.

The Lost World features rich and distinct characters, whereas the sequels felt like they were simply throwing in character archetypes so that there are more people to run from and be eaten by dinosaurs. The Lost World features layered relationships, like Ian (Jeff Goldblum) and Sarah (Julianne Moore), as well as Ian and his daughter, Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester). They may not be the highlights of the film, but they seem real and grounded. Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World attempt the Spielberg approach with storylines about broken families, but they feel like window dressing more than actual storylines.

The Lost World is certainly not one of Spielberg's best movies, but that speaks more to his incredible career than the film itself. He tries new things with the sequel, shooting the dinosaurs in a more eye-catching way and increasing the action. However, The Lost World is really a reminder that it is not easy to make a blockbuster movie that is as emotional and exciting as the ones that Spielberg makes.

The Set Pieces Are Massive In The Lost World

Spielberg Delivers Some Of The Best Action In The Franchise

Steven Spielberg delivers on the Jurassic Park characters and story more than the sequels, but he also has them beat when it comes to the action set pieces in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The first movie has some unforgettable set-piece moments, with the first T-Rex attack on the road still standing as perhaps the best and most iconic moment in the franchise. While it would have been impossible to recapture that feeling for the sequel, Spielberg instead goes bigger with some spectacular action moments.

The Lost World has its own iconic T-Rex attack scene with Ian and the other heroes in a trailer that is knocked over by the massive and angry dinosaurs so that it is hanging over the edge of the cliff, gradually slipping. The moment stands as genuinely one of the best action sequences of Spielberg's career, with incredible tension, such as when Sarah is trapped on the cracking glass, or the heroic Eddie (Richard Schiff) facing down two T-Rex as he tries to save his friends.

There is also the terrifying sequence of the T-Rex attacking the campsite, leading to the nail-biting chase to the waterfall and the subsequent massacre of the people who try to escape into a field, only to be hunted by the Velociraptors. While there are some who criticize the climactic sequence in which a T-Rex goes on a rampage in downtown San Diego, it is an undeniable fun scene that delivers on something the audience had wanted to see since the first movie, and that the other sequels never capitalized on.

The Cast Is Sneakily Great

Returning Characters Shine While New Additions Steal The Show

The Lost World: Jurassic Park delivered on the dinosaurs, but a terrific ensemble further helped to make the human characters more interesting. The sequel took a smart risk in not bringing back all the original characters. As excellent as Sam Neill and Laura Dern were in the first movie, having them all brought back to the island would have felt manufactured. It was also a risk to elevate the ing character of Ian Malcolm to the lead hero role, but Jeff Goldblum was more than up for the challenge, grounding the character while still bringing some trademark eccentricity.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park Cast

Goldblum is backed by a great ing cast, as Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn stepped out of the indie world they had been working in to create fully realized characters who add a lot to the movie. Vaughn is especially fun as a disruptive environmentalist, willing to cross boundaries to ensure the safety of these creatures. The villains are also great, with Arliss Howard bringing a slimy energy to corporate slimeball Peter Ludlow and Peter Stormare playing an effective brute who meets a memorably gruesome end after encountering a pack of tiny Compsognathus.

However, the scene-stealer of the movie is Pete Postlethwaite as Roland Tembo, a big-game hunter who comes to the island with Ludlow's team to hunt the T-Rex for one last great adventure. Roland is a gruff and blunt man, but he also has a lot of comion hidden under that exterior. He is the most capable survivor on this adventure, and it is hard not to root for him as soon as he is introduced. Given how entertaining the character is, it is surprising the franchise did not seek to include him in other movies.

At Times, It's Silly In The Best Way

Certain Infamous Sequences Are Better Than Their Reputations Suggest

One of the major criticisms leveled at The Lost World: Jurassic Park is that the movie is far sillier than the original ever was. There are inevitably two scenes that people point to in order to highlight this point. The first is the aforementioned T-Rex rampage in San Diego, and the second is the even more infamous scene in which Kelly uses her gymnastic skills to successfully battle the raptors. While these moments are certainly silly, they are also not the movie-destroying moments that they are made out to be.

As soon as the wonder of the first movie showing dinosaurs brought back to life wore off, the premise invites a little silliness.

The San Diego sequence lacks plausibility, for sure, but it is still a really fun time. The kid seeing a dinosaur in his backyard, the T-Rex biting the traffic lights, and the chaos that ensues from the public are all great stuff. It is also the only time the franchise has successfully done something like this. Jurassic World Dominion was meant to be the movie that showed what the world was like with dinosaurs on the loose. Instead, we got the lackluster black market dinosaur scene and a return to a dinosaur island.

The gymnastics fight scene is a harder one to defend, and it is a silliness that is unexpected. However, the truth is that it was inevitable that the franchise was going to head into some silly territory sooner or later. As soon as the wonder of the first movie showing dinosaurs brought back to life wore off, the premise invites a little silliness and is the better avenue to go than taking it all too seriously. The gymnastics scene at least feels like it fits the tone, even if it is a little too much.

However, Steven Spielberg is one of the best filmmakers at balancing tone, so while there are silly moments in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, that could help him deliver some of those more brutal moments that thrill audiences. In the end, it is a sequel with enough great qualities that some moments that have you rolling your eyes are not enough to ruin the entire experience.