Chris Ames complains: "On another note, I was surprised by how bad The Lost World was--not even up to the highly commercial standards of Jurassic Park. The Lost World seems very poorly plotted (Goldblum's character's daughter is entirely wasted, for example; Postlethwaite disappears for the final sequence where he might have been useful (great white hunter saves San Diego?); the mass of characters on the island provides an excess of victims and a shortage of developed characters; the cliffhanger scene is excruciatingly long). What a mess! And from Spielberg who generally has extraordinary narrative gifts." I found myself pleasantly surprised--given how low my expectations were. The major delights, such as they were, were simply in the suspense and fright elements--rather than the attempt at Wonder that the first film tried for. Yes, the daughter's role could have been developed more (as could the heroine's). But Postlethwaite's disappearance made sense in context--I just wish there had been more leading up to it. The most interesting thing about the film was its reversion to an old Spielberg film--the primacy of Family and especially the Responsibility of the Father. No, I don't mean Goldblum--although his character fits in her. I mean the male T. rex! Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN) ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.sa.ua.edu/screensite