Review and some differences of The Lost World by Michael Crichton & The Lost World movie

Narrated by: Scott Brick
Series: Jurassic Park, Book 2
Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
Release date: 12-17-07 (audible)
Original release date: 8th September 1995
Movie release date: 23rd May 1997

The book is vastly different from the movie.

I actually enjoyed the movie, but I think I enjoyed the book more.  I’ve listed out some of the differences below however let’s start with the basics.

What’s the plot?

After In-gen’s successful experiment in bringing dinosaurs back to life, but failed experiment in turning it into a tourist attraction the island is deemed off limits, all records wiped and In-gen closes down, essentially leaving behind the ‘5 islands of death’ off the Costa Rica to fend for themselves without any human intervention.

Richard Levine, a wealthy businessman turned palaeontologist searches for a ‘lost world’ after weird dead animals mysteriously turn up on the beaches of Costa Rica mainland. He enlists the help of Dr Ian Malcolm (‘life will find a way’ guy) who previously has to deny that there were ever such a thing as recreated dinosaurs as well as several others to go and study these animals.

The island they land on turns out to be ‘Site-B’ – the experimentation and animal husbandry development site.

Bio-Syn, the opposition company of In-Gen, which in the 1st book/ movie was trying to use corporate espionage to steal the intellectual property from In-Gen, has been monitoring Levine and also sends a team, not to study the dinosaurs but to steal eggs to study back home.

Differences between the book and the movie?

Well, there’s quite a bit.  In fact, I would say the same as one reviewer on audible….its almost as if director and producer only used 5% of the books contents for the movie.  Not even the major plot is the same.

The ‘good guys’ characters are mostly correct.  Ian Malcom, Sarah Harding, Thorne, Eddy are all the same.  Levine is not even in the movie.
Instead the scenes where Levine goes to the island 1st is replaced by the ‘strong female character’ of Sarah Harding.

In the book, there are 2 kids – R.B. (Arby) Benton a smart, black 11 year old kid that knows about computers, & a white girl called Kelly Curtis who is 13 and not Malcolm’s daughter , but instead student helpers of Dr. Levine.

But in the movie Kelly is Malcolm’s daughter and is black.  She is the amalgamation of both kids together, and since there’s no Dr. Levine, I guess she had to be related to one of the characters.

The ‘bad guys’, in the book there is literally only 2 of them- Lewis Dodgson and Howard King, who are company men from Bio-Syn, the company trying to steal Intellectual Property from the remnants of the In-Gen project.

Whilst the ‘good guys’ (Levine’s team) DO pretty much drive around in the bendy campervan bus and 2 4wds (they also have a motorbike), the ‘bad guys’ (Dodgson’s team) just have 1 Jeep wrangler.

Levine’s team is all fully electric, including an electric motorcycle which would have been cool to see in the 1997 movie, and the cars are Ford Explorers, however in the movie they are Mercedes. (good product placement right there)

Dodgson’s team literally only has 2 people and the Jeep and not like the whole massive team bent on capturing adult dinosaurs like in the movie.

There are way more scientific conversations in the book, for example a massive debate about evolution – going into the science of biology, genes, molecules, bacteria, evolution, reproductions, proteins and enzymes etc. Also interesting conversations about dinosaurs working in packs, and the natural mothering ability etc. and about extinction.

There’s also a very interesting philosophical & historical discussions (Chapter 7 & 8) both very interesting. A particular one about extinction and

The book also goes into much more detail regarding the competing companies of In-Gen & Bio-Syn, and the corporate espionage taking place.

Don’t forget the whole reason why the power went down in the 1st movie was because Dodgson convinced Dennis Nedry to betray In-Gen and steal the embryos.

One of my favourite scenes from the movie is the

[Dodgson!, we got Dodgson here…No body cares]

That whole scene in the movie where a Tyrannosaur is roaming around San Francisco… yeah, that doesn’t happen in the book.

Anyway, the point is the book is way, way better than the movie.

Recommendation

Whoever has watched the movies and liked the concept.  I would say this book is more in keeping with the 1st movie, but not the 2nd.  So if you enjoyed the 1st movie, then I think you’d really enjoy this book.

The sense of adventure, the thrill and the suspense seem much more in this than the movies and are a pleasure to listen to.

Below there are some more differences, but these are kind of spoilers to the story, so instead…if you want to view them, highlight the text and you’ll be able to read them.

Spoilers

-Thorne is the guy who rushes to the trailer falling off the cliff, not Eddy. Comes first in a electric explorer, then when that breaks down, comes in a jeep.

-Dodgson’s team only has a jeep and its soft top at that, which is obviously pretty dangerous with so many carnivores on the island.

-Thorne winds the Jeep and winch cable around the tree

-Much discussion about how life works.

-Complex animals and systems and the comparison to how crystallisation works. That it just crystallises perfectly. 

-Eddy dies by velociraptors from the high hide.

-The Tyrannosaur egg place is the same though.

-So animals would often not care for their young because they had never seen it done for themselves. They were raised in captivity. They would ignore them, or roll over on them, or get bored and kill them. .It wasn’t necessarily evolution or genes that would pass in traits, it was education.

-The raptors are chaotic or at least not working like how they were hypothesised because they were created rather than naturally born and raised. Meaning whoever is meanest and biggest wins and survives. They have gone back in evolution in terms of a society or social contract for a group of animals.

-Chameleon dinosaurs at the laboratory.  2 dinosaurs. Carnosaurs. Carnotosaurus.

-Prions are the reason why dinosaurs don’t reach full adult maturity.  Don’t know what prions are.  Disease causing from sheep extract. Dx is the disease the animals catch. http://www.prionalliance.org/2013/11/26/what-are-prions/

-The Maiasaurs get their egg back by crushing the Jeep.

-Dodgson ends up being eaten by the Tyrannosaur.