Lost World: Jurassic Park, The MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 1/2 Content: -1

While 1993's JURASSIC PARK had a sense of wonder before the excitement began, this sequel is pretty terrifying almost from start to finish. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) learns from Jurassic Park founder John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) that dinosaurs were cloned on a separate island. That laboratory was abandoned, so the creatures are flourishing without man's interference. Hammond wants Malcolm to join a team observing these dinosaurs in their natural state. Malcolm refuses until he's told that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), is part of the expedition. He makes his way to the island with two other men and a young stowaway - his daughter Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester). As Sarah delights in watching the dinosaurs and Malcolm tries to convince everyone to leave the island, more visitors arrive. Hammond's unscrupulous nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) and a team of hunters want to capture some dinosaurs for a new Jurassic Park in San Diego. Lead hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) wants to hunt a Tyrannosaurus rex, using a baby T-rex as bait. Soon the humans are running for their lives. The ground-breaking special effects are even more impressive and convincing this time, with Goldblum's character providing welcome doses of sarcastic humor.

However, audiences should be prepared for many perilous and frightening scenes that will have them jumping in their seats. Some thrills in JURASSIC PARKwere too intense for young children, and The Lost World is even more so, although most killing occurs off-screen. A man is shown being ripped in two by a pair of T-rexes, and while this scene is shot from a distance, it's still quite brutal. In two other instances humans are seen attacked and devoured by a T-rex, with another implied killing. Tiny dinosaurs called compys attack in a swarm and overwhelm a hunter, whose death is implied by blood flowing in a stream. Although the dialogue has only one s-word, there are many crude words and a few instances where God's name is used in vain. THE LOST WORLD is certainly an exciting movie, but its violent content makes it inappropriate for younger viewers, and older viewers may not appreciate the excessive gruesome violence used to shock and entertain.

Preview Reviewer: Mark Perry
Distributor: Universal Pictures, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608