Released here exactly four years ago this weekend, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park was, to my mind, a curiously hollow experience. The computer-generated dinosaur creations, the movie's raison d'etre, were a wonder to observe and impeccably detailed in structure, movement in sound. However, the human characters were strictly cardboard and the film never achieved a convincing sense of them sharing the same space as the dinosaurs. Ultimately, Jurassic Park fell far short of Spielberg's best work, lacking the consistent sense of danger which permeated Jaws, the sense of wonder of Close Encounters, the infectious vigour and good humour of the Indiana Jones movies and, crucially, the sheer magic of E.T. Nevertheless, audiences around the world took a different point of view and made it the biggest box-office blockbuster of all time.
The prospect of a sequel seemed such a cynical exercise that I, for one, was expecting the worst of The Lost World; as sometimes happens when expectations are low, the result proved a pleasant surprise. True, the plotting of The Lost World - which is set four years on from the original - is perfunctory. There was, you see, another island off the coast of Costa Rica where dinosaurs were living and breeding. The venture capitalist, John Hammond (played again by Richard Attenborough), simply waited four years to inform us and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm about it. "Thank God for Site B," declares Hammond. "Site B?" returns Jeff Goldblum, back as Ian Malcolm and summoning up as much suprise as he can muster. "Life will find a way," Hammond tells him.
Having learned his lesson the first time round, Malcolm has no intention of booking the next flight to Costa Rica. But he just happens to have a new girlfriend, Dr Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) who just happens to be a paleonthologist and just happens to have headed out to Site B without even mentioning it to him. Joining her are a video-maker (Vince Vaughn from the imminent Swingers) and an equipment specialist (Richard Schiff).
Meanwhile, Hammond's venal nephew (Arliss Howard) has a rival scheme under way, organising a mercenary expedition motivated by greed and led by Roland Tembo (a bald Pete Postlethwaite). Travelling in extended jeeps, Tembo's team are dressed like big game hunters and their target is very big game indeed. Of course, this being an adventure movie, some baddies - and some goodies - will not listen to practical advice from anyone - when people are warned not to go into the long grass, you know for sure that they will, and will suffer for it. But, you may be wondering, how will the movie survive without the obligatory children whose sole function in Jurassic Park was to blunder into life-threatening situations at every opportunity? Well, shucks, isn't there a little stowaway on board Ian Malcolm's plane and doesn't she just turn out to be his seven-year-old daughter! That would have made her three at the time of Jurassic Park but, obviously, her dad was much to busy with the dinos to mention her existence even once.
So much for the storyline, which finally goes overboard in the protracted finale when Spielberg feels the need to deliver a King Kong homage. And so much for the humans, cardboard as ever, but at least the actors are rather more interesting and the redoubtable Postlethwaite even manages to breathe a whiff of life into his role. The good news is that there are more dinosaurs this time round - and some of them are adorably cute little baby ones which had me on their side all the way. All of them are impeccable creations, in isolation or en masse, and an ominous sight when they move through the aforementioned long grass for the movie's tour de force visual sequence. And this time the effects team have succeeded in making us believe that the humans and the dinos inhabit the same space. Then there's the movie's high point - a bravura cliffhanger sequence which Spielberg confidently elongates with precise judgment, as many of the leading players are trapped in a large trailer which is dino-pushed on to the edge of a cliff (appropriately enough) and poor old Julianne Moore finds herself literally walking on glass. Terrific stuff, and sure to get the homage treatment itself in films to come. The Lost World still falls well short of Jaws, Close Encounters and E.T., but it works much more effectively as a hi-tech, visceral entertainment than Jurassic Park did. Be advised that much of the movie may be too scary for very young children.
"Drifting Clouds" (members and guests only) IFC, Dublin
The IFC is the only exhibitor in Dublin taking the risk of opening a new movie against The Lost World; even more daringly, their alternative to the Spielberg extravaganza is a Scandanavian film about unemployment. The prolific Finnish director, Aki Kaurismaki, is at the peak of his form with the stylised realism of Drifting Clouds, which features Kati Outinen and Kari Vaananen as Ilona and Lauri, a married couple living on hired purchase.
She works as a head waiter and he's employed as a tram driver, and they lead a contented existence in the modest home they share with their big, loveable dog Pietari. Their lives are turned upside down when they are made redundant within weeks of each other. When Ilona seeks out other restaurant work, she's told that she's too old - at 38 - and when Lauri goes for a job with a bus company, he fails his medical because of a hearing impairment. Ilona and Lauri remain ever-hopeful as life deals them one hard blow after another and it seems like the eponymous clouds will never drift away in this sombre and affecting low-key slice-of-life story sparked by Kaurisamaki's trademark absurdist offbeat humour. It is made with a classical simplicity, a keen sense of detail, and unsentimental humanity. It is beautifully acted by Kati Outinen and Kari Waan anen, both of them regular performers in Kaurismaki's movies, and deicated to the memory of another of that troupe, Matti Pellonpaa, who died two years ago and is featured in Drifting Clouds in a childhood photograph.
"Lady And The Tramp" (General) Savoy, Virgin, Omniplex, UCIs, Dublin
Going on re-release this weekend is Disney's enduring 1955 charmer, Lady And The Tramp, the first animated feature to be made in CinemaScope. The incomparable Peggy Lee cowrote and performs several of the songs - and provides the voices of four of the characters - in this tale of a doggy love between Lady, a pampered pedigree spaniel, and Tramp, a mongrel from the wrong side of the tracks. They are voiced, respectively, by Barbara Luddy and Larry Roberts. Fun for all ages.
