After the events of Jurassic Park, the animals on Isla Nublar perished in a natural disaster. Unknown by most is that there was a second site, Isla Sorna, where the dinosaurs were bred before they were transferred to Isla Nublar. After the park fiasco the animals on Isla Sorna were released. For a time, the dinosaurs on the island were left to their own devices. The park owners firmly believed that the animals, which were not given a vital enzyme for life, would slip into a coma and die. Instead, the dinosaurs thrived. A wealthy couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bowman (Robin Sachs and Cyd Strittmatter) with their young daughter, Cathy (Camilla Belle), were traveling by yacht when they stopped at the island to have lunch on the beach. While lunch was being prepared, the girl wandered off to explore the island. Unfortunately, the girl was attacked by a bunch of Compys.
InGen, the company that created Jurassic Park, decides that they need to do something about the island since it is now a dangerous money pit. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) is now old and infirm, so the running of the operation has been taken over by his nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard). Peter decides to create a new Jurassic Park in San Diego, California. To accomplish this, he hires big game hunter Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite) to hunt and capture a variety of dinosaurs and transport them to the new location. Roland’s only requirement is to be allowed to hunt and kill a buck T-Rex for his rumpus room back home.
Hammond, who fully believes the dinosaurs should be studied in their island habitat, wants to gather as much research material as possible before Peter disturbs the ecosystem of the island. To that end he gathers a team to send to the island and study the animals while they can. The team consists of Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), a video documentarian, Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), a field equipment expert, and Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), a paleontologist. When Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) learns that his girlfriend Sarah is already on the island, he decides to go save her.
Soon the island is swarming with hunters and researchers. When both the hunters and researchers lose their communication links, they find themselves at the mercy of the animals of Jurassic Park. And the animals are hungry.
“The Lost World: Jurassic Park” was released in 1997 and was directed by Steven Spielberg. It is an American horror film. It is the second film in the Jurassic Park franchise and the second of three films in the Jurassic Park trilogy. The film is loosely based on the second Jurassic Park novel “The Lost World” by Michael Crichton, released in 1995. A second trilogy “Jurassic World” was done and a re-boot “Jurassic World: Rebirth” is a stand-alone film, at least so far. Altogether, as of 2025 there have been seven full-length films in the Jurassic franchise plus a ten-minute short called “Battle at Big Rock” which came after “Fallen Kingdom” but before “Dominion”.
Various sounds and combinations of sounds were used for different dinosaurs. For example: the sound for the juvenile tyrannosaurus was that of a baby camel crying for its mother. In addition: the sound made by the baby Stegosaurus was a rhinoceros. The voices of the Parasaurolophuses (the duck-billed dinosaurs) were created from cows calling through tubes.
Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello, who played Lex and Tim in the first film, had cameos in the beginning of the film.