The Lost World: Jurassic Park turns 20!
Everybody’s favourite sequel to Jurassic Park has turned twenty! 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released in theaters exactly twenty years ago today, four years after Jurassic Park. The sequel was directed by Steven Spielberg and penned by David Koepp, and was loosely based on Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name.
Over the years the sequel has gained some critical reviews, mainly focusing on how different it is to the book and due to the final scene, which brought the Tyrannosaurus Rex to the mainland. However, there is also a lot of love for it. For me it’s as enjoyable and thrilling as Jurassic Park; I love how distinctively different the aesthetic is to the first film, how gritty, dirty and dark the cinematography is compared to Dean Cundey’s, but how the film managed to retain the same themes and values from the first.
In a way, it’s a perfect sequel – it holds the beliefs of the original and maintains a familiar setting, but builds a darker and scarier tone.
The animatronics, the visual effects, the characters, the vehicles, the Goldblum, the lighting… everything about this movie is Jurassic Park.
What will you be doing to celebrate The Lost World’s 20th anniversary? If you’re in the UK and near to London, the Prince Charles Cinema is showing the first two films back to back in a 35mm print – this is worth checking out! There is also a screening of the first three films at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary, animation director Randal M. Dutra recently spoke with vfxblog about his work on the film, and reflected on the early days of visual effects within the film industry.
Randal worked for Tippett Studio on Jurassic Park and was heavily involved in the stop-motion technology that Phil Tippett pioneered. After the success of Jurassic Park he moved to ILM as an Animation Director, and discusses his work on the film in detail. Worth the read! Thanks to Ian for sending this our way.
Let us know if and why you love this sequel in the comments section below – just follow the screams.
