I guess you could call this Jurassic Park Lite. Everything about it is reduced. It has a much shorter running time and the plot is contracted to the point that it is just about a handful of people looking for a child in a violently wild zoo. They enticed Sam Neil back into the cast, and to a lesser extent Laura Dern, but the movie seems to feel the absence of Jeff Goldblum’s Ian character. The script seems to recognize this lack as they have Alan Grant whipping out quotes and theories of Ian’s. Meanwhile I think William H. Macy’s talents might have been a bit wasted in his role. It is an entertaining little film, at least, as they threw in the obligatory sigh-inspiring shots of herds of large dinosaurs and spots of humor. I could have done without the ascension of the raptors to the status of being thinking, plotting creatures who would have been superior to humans if they only hadn’t been wiped out by that pesky asteroid. I thought that was a bit extreme. I thought the best moment came when Alan realized the the bridge they were crossing was part of an aviary for the pterodactyls.

I have to say that I found this, though still a poor relation of the first film, eminently better than the second. Sam Neill is lured to the Isla Sorna (the reserve isle) by a businessman - ostensibly as a glorified aerial tourist guide - only to discover it is a rouse to help "Kirby" (William H. Macy) & his wife "Amanda" (Téa Leoni) recover their son who went missing whilst paragliding over the island some weeks earlier. It's the usual adventure fayre with loads of great big beasties, velociraptors and dodgy sat-phones. There's plenty of fantasy gore and roar and it does it's job well enough - though I have to say I would gladly have fed Blake Michael Bryan ("Charlie") to any one of the carnivorous monsters from about 30 seconds after his fiercely irritating character hit the screen.