Greetings and salutations, my friends.

This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Jurassic Park: The Lost World".

Here's the rundown of this sequel:

Four years after the events of Isla Nublar, Dr. Ian Malcolm is invited by an ailing John Hammond for an important meeting at his mansion. Apparently, there's another island full of dinosaurs called Isla Sorna, which is where InGen's scientists first made dinosaurs before releasing them so that they could breed and lay eggs on their own.

In light of this, John requests that Ian be part of a research team that could travel to Isla Sorna and research the animals, particularly to find out how they're thriving without human interference. The other members of the research team consists of a field equipment expert named Eddie Carr, a photographer named Nick Van Owen, and a behavioral paleontologist named Sarah Harding, who is also Ian's girlfriend. Despite refusing to set foot on Isla Sorna, Ian goes to the island merely to ensure Sarah's safety.

However, Peter Ludlow, who is John Hammond's nephew and the new CEO of InGen, decides to pay Isla Sorna a visit too. The intention being to capture various dinosaurs as part of a plan to keep InGen from falling into bankruptcy. And accompanying Peter on the mission is an entire mercenary team, which is lead by big-game hunters Roland Tembo and Ajay Sidhu, second-in-command Dieter Stark, and paleontologist Robert Burke.

Following my review on the first film, I made it my mission to analyze the two "Jurassic Park" sequels afterwards. Starting with this one, of course.

And yes, I'm well aware of the mixed reception this movie received, and that Steven Spielberg himself expressed some regrets regarding it. But, I honestly couldn't find a single reason as to why it garnered such a reputation to begin with!

Coming from a guy who saw this movie again after all these years, I really must say that "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" is what I openly consider to be one of the best sequels around. In my opinion, at least.

For instance, the direction by Steven Spielberg, and the screenplay by David Koepp, were awesome!

Maybe it's just me, but as I watched the movie I didn't find anything inherently wrong with Spielberg and Koepp's work on this film. I mean, yes, the dialogue and character interactions were a little all over the place at times. I have also wondered how the crew of the cargo ship carrying the adult male T-Rex were killed, especially in regards to what creature ate them in the first place before the ship got to San Diego.

Other that that, though, the film is an openly serviceable and worthy successor of the original. "The Lost World" had tons of witty and humorous moments that were genuinely entertaining, and it wasn't without heart and emotion either. The suspenseful and thrilling moments were likewise extremely well-worked, because they helped the movie have a sense of unpredictability and surprise.

In my opinion, the filmmakers also did a great job at doing some world building. It was nice to see what's been going on with Ian after the events of the first film be given exploration, especially in regards to how much his time on Isla Nublar effected his personality. Also, it made a lot of sense that the InGen scientists would first make two of each species of dinosaur before breeding them on Isla Sorna. From what I understand, InGen field scientists would then travel to the island before hijacking eggs from the nests of certain species once the populations were stable, and they would take those eggs back to Isla Nublar. I know it sounds complicated now that I've worded it out, but it makes a lot of sense.

The special effects were spectacular, if I may add.

Having found out a while ago that the dinosaurs were mainly created through CGI and that there was minimal usage of puppetry, I thought that the effects team really outdid themselves with this film. They were clearly wanting to go bigger and deeper than ever before with making the dinosaurs realistic-looking, especially by trying new techniques. I definitely believe that they accomplished their mission flawlessly, because all the dinosaurs featured looked like real creatures even from a modern standpoint. I particularly enjoyed how emotive they made the T-Rexes featured in this movie, because it helped translate them as living creatures with personality and feelings rather than mere monsters.

Plus, the music by John Williams was as magnificent as ever.

Just like in the first film, Williams created a score that was enrapturing to a tee. His music had all the human personality and emotion required to make the melodies full of life, and they reflected the overall tone like they originated from Williams's heart. Some of my favorite melodies were the ones featured during the thrilling, suspenseful, and scary moments of the film. Whenever those sort of scenes came up, there'd be a crescendo that would genuinely cause your spine to shiver.

Finally, the acting, characters, and character development were terrific.

The one thing I will admit is that, after seeing the movie again, I found myself having mixed opinions on Sarah. The prime issues I had were that she constantly contradicted herself despite whatever word-of-warnings or advice she gave others, such as touching a baby stegosaurus despite saying that there should be no close contact with the dinosaurs. Other times, she made less-than-bright decisions that translated her as someone who's not as smart as she makes herself out to be. But, there are qualities that help Sarah be someone to love as well. Her kindness, compassion, courage, and determination are traits that I find to be deeply admirable, and she has a great sense of humor too. Plus, Julianne Moore portrayed her character with incredible authenticity, and her performance was so natural that it was like she became Sarah instead of simply play the part.

The reprisal of Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm was fun too. With his character being upgraded from a supporting role in the first movie to the main character of this sequel, Goldblum managed to retain all the charm and humor he gave Ian before while incorporating enough power, heart, and emotion to help the character be an engaging focus.

On top of all this, Ian and Sarah both had phenomenal development throughout this sequel. When it comes to being a romantic pair, Ian and Sarah honestly mix incredibly well together. Their chemistry is fun, their personalities mesh perfectly, and they can go toe-to-toe with each other too.

The supporting cast and characters were enjoyable as well.

The definite scene-stealers of this movie were Vince Vaughn as Nick Van Owen and Richard Schiff as Eddie Carr, and their characters each had great comedic-timings. Despite Nick not being the most recurring character in the film, it was also nice to see him getting exploration in terms of his background and have development. And I really can't lie, Eddie's death is quite honestly one of the most emotion-wracking in the entire Jurassic series.

Also, I can see why Pete Postlethwaite was nominated a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work as Roland Tembo. He truly hit the ball out of the park with his performance, incorporating a theatricality to help him standout and a great sense of humor to make his character be human. Roland himself was perhaps one of the franchise's most complex characters, and his development was undeniably top-notch.

Considering the fact that this sequel will likely be the only live-action film I'll see to star Peter Stormare, I really must say that his work as Dieter Stark was brilliant. While Dieter himself wasn't the most likable character, he certainly wasn't without development or personality. Next to the death of Eddie Carr, Dieter's death was also one of the franchise's most tragic. Horrific even. Especially because I actually couldn't help but feel bad for him.

In conclusion, "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" isn't without flaws. But, as a sequel to the original and an expansion of the franchise's world, it brilliantly succeeds.

So, I rate "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" 4½ out of 5 stars.