It remains to be seen whether it's any better. A sequel, RETURN TO THE LOST WORLD, was shot back-to-back with this. The script, by Towers himself, offers no sense of excitement or danger, we're instead stuck in a pedestrian zone of family adventure, safe all the while. Other than the silly models, there are a few 'flying dinosaur' effects, but the less said about them the better. Eventually the characters head home, where the ill-advised toy plastic dinosaur makes an appearance. There's some nonsense about an evil skeleton-painted tribe and a few dodgy dinosaurs lurking in the bushes, but that's all the content we get. Once the action moves to Africa, nothing much develops. The only interesting actor is Innocent Choda, a genuinely hulking black actor stuck in a bit part as a native guide. There are women and cute kids along for the ride. The square-jawed Eric McCormack seems bland as reporter Malone, turned American here. Aside from Rhys-Davies and Warner, the cast is adequate at best. Opposite him is the reliable David Warner as Professor Summerlee, a nemesis who becomes a friend during the course of the movie. He turns out to be delightful and one of the highlights this production has to offer. First up is John Rhys-Davies as Professor Challenger along with Brian Blessed and Bob Hoskins, he's one of the few actors who you can actually see on the written page playing the role. The recreation of Victorian London is passable and Towers managed to get a couple of decent character actors in the cast. The first half an hour is actually pretty good. My guess is that plastic looking toy dinosaurs just don't age very well on film.
Incredibly, it's a film which seems even more dated than the first adaptation, a silent, black and white movie made in 1925. The ubiquitous Harry Alan Towers was a man devoted to turning a profit on ultra-low budget B-movies and THE LOST WORLD is his attempt at the classic Conan Doyle novel. Still the dialog with Rhys-Davies and Warner makes this one somewhat Park and the special effects are really cheap and not so special. Sadly this Lost World and its sequel came along around the time of Jurassic Stanford also proves useful in a part Dorothy Lamour would have done decades ago. The dinosaurs are indeed there including some suspicious natives who worship the beasts when the carnivores aren't eating them. Knows though he proves useful getting in and out of tight places. So Summerlee goes along on this secondÄ®xpedition and they are accompanied by photographer Tamara Gaski and youngÄarren Peter Mercer just about hitting puberty. Professor Challenger says he's been to a prehistoric Lost World in East Africa and Own time of Edwardian England and not updated. Starred Claude Rains and Richard Haydn this one is set in Arthur Conan Doyle's Summerlee in this remake of The Lost World. John Rhys-Davies and David Warner play our dueling professors Challenger and