I have watched two adaptations of this marvelous novel by Arthur Conan Doyle: 1925 version still stands as the best one, 1960 version was less impressive but fairly good nonetheless. And after watching this 1992 version I have to admit that it's gotten even worse.
Should it have been a TV movie I don't know but it sure feels like one: lack of budget fills every frame, the dinosaurs are never shown in full, only their heads and legs, and their general look and some animatronics that were involved in recreation of the creatures are subpar to say the least compared even to the 1925 movie.
The whole movie is rushed and jumps from one scene to another without really bothering to dwell on the moment - which in the end results in the movie being a collection of events rather than a full-fledged motion picture. I know that there was a sequel to this which came out that same year but I won't bother myself with watching that after this - I think if the creators are not capable of entertaining a viewer just enough to be invested in the second movie they ought not to get that pleasure after all.
The movie basically tells us nothing about its characters besides their names, occupations and a mutual desire for adventures so why should the viewer be empathetic to some paper-thin people who rush the narrative in hopes to see the lost world which one wouldn't even get to see in full. There is though some topics worth getting myself into this mess of a movie for, such as friendship - that even your rival can become a good friend when you've been through a lot with him side by side - and even a bit of a romance is present but it is so irrelevant to the story that you can simply ignore they even brought it up in the first place.
Overall this is certainly not the worst movie of all time, it has some fine African landscapes, solid performances by John Rhys-Davies and David Warner and a good enough explanation as to why the dinosaurs have genuinely survived all those years but it all falls flat when you see how poorly this immortal story was executed with cheap special effects, unnerving soundtrack and a basic lack of well-thought-out characters and the absence of a truly engaging story to back them up with and it all combined just hits the final nail into this movie's coffin.
Should it have been a TV movie I don't know but it sure feels like one: lack of budget fills every frame, the dinosaurs are never shown in full, only their heads and legs, and their general look and some animatronics that were involved in recreation of the creatures are subpar to say the least compared even to the 1925 movie.
The whole movie is rushed and jumps from one scene to another without really bothering to dwell on the moment - which in the end results in the movie being a collection of events rather than a full-fledged motion picture. I know that there was a sequel to this which came out that same year but I won't bother myself with watching that after this - I think if the creators are not capable of entertaining a viewer just enough to be invested in the second movie they ought not to get that pleasure after all.
The movie basically tells us nothing about its characters besides their names, occupations and a mutual desire for adventures so why should the viewer be empathetic to some paper-thin people who rush the narrative in hopes to see the lost world which one wouldn't even get to see in full. There is though some topics worth getting myself into this mess of a movie for, such as friendship - that even your rival can become a good friend when you've been through a lot with him side by side - and even a bit of a romance is present but it is so irrelevant to the story that you can simply ignore they even brought it up in the first place.
Overall this is certainly not the worst movie of all time, it has some fine African landscapes, solid performances by John Rhys-Davies and David Warner and a good enough explanation as to why the dinosaurs have genuinely survived all those years but it all falls flat when you see how poorly this immortal story was executed with cheap special effects, unnerving soundtrack and a basic lack of well-thought-out characters and the absence of a truly engaging story to back them up with and it all combined just hits the final nail into this movie's coffin.