The Lost World Essay, Research Paper
Jurassic Park – The Lost World
Comparison ? Contrast
The Lost World as a novel is very different from its film version. The most
contrasts are found in the beginning of the story. For instance, the novel
starts off with Ian Malcolm giving a detailed lecture on extinction theories at
the Santa Fe Research Center. Where as, the film starts with a wealthy British
family vacationing on Isla Sorna, an island of Costa Rica. On this island the
tiny dinosaurs called compys attack a young British girl. As you can see the
beginning of the novel is completely different from the beginning of the film.
As a matter of fact, the novel and the film do not begin to have any
similarities until the characters get to Site-B, an island off of Costa Rica
where the dinosaurs where bred.
The characters in The Lost World did have a lot of similarities as well as
differences. One major character is Ian Malcolm, a forty-year-old man who was
one of the early pioneers in the Chaos Theory. Malcolm also featured in the
first Jurassic Park. Even though he was in both the novel and the film, his
characteristics were different. In the novel his leg was hurt from his previous
expedition in the first Jurassic Park, but in the film he seemed to be perfectly
healthy and uninjured. Another character that plays a major roll is Richard
Levine, an arrogant thirty-year-old man. In the novel Levine plays as a wealthy
paleontologist in search of Site-B. As for the film, Richard Levine plays a
completely different roll. In the film he is the nephew of John Hammond, the
creator of the dinosaurs. He also has no association with being a
paleontologist; his interests in the movie are for making money off the
dinosaurs by creating an amusement park that features the dinosaurs on the main
land. Sarah Harding plays a big part in then novel and as well as the film. In
the novel Harding plays a rather young biologist, which has a relationship with
Ian Malcolm. The only difference with Harding between the novel and the film is
that she plays a biologist in the novel and a paleontologist in the film.
Another two characters that play a major roll in the novel are Kelly Curtis and
Arby Benton. Kelly is a thirteen-year-old seventh grader, who has an interest in
paleontology, not to mention that she idols Sarah Harding. Arby is an
eleven-year-old African American seventh grader; he has been skipped up a grade
because he is so intelligent. In the novel the two children sneak on to the boat
is on the expedition to Site-B. In the film there is only one child, a young
African American girl named Kelly that is related to Ian Malcolm by adoption,
which also sneaks on to the island.
The most similar of the novel and film is probably the terrain of Costa Rica.
This is probably because the terrain is a known fact that cannot be changed. In
both the novel and film, the terrain is covered with rocky cliffs and volcanic
ridges. Ravines, tall grasses, and very dense overgrown jungles also flourished
the island. Considering the dense overgrown jungles it was very hard for the
characters to see the buildings and roads from the air, which made it difficult
to find a good place to land. One thing that made it difficult to travel,
besides the dinosaurs hunting them, was the gusty winds with updrafts.
The dinosaurs were obviously similar in the novel and film. The only thing
that contrasted the two is the fact that the novel had more of a variety of
dinosaurs than the film. There were three dinosaurs that were mainly featured in
the novel and film. Among the three, was the famous Tyrannosaurs Rex, which
caused the most damage and casualties. The T-Rex reaches about twenty to
twenty-five feet in height and has gigantic bone crushing jaws with flesh
tearing teeth. Another one was the Velociraptor, more commonly known as the
raptor. The raptors were probably the smartest of the dinosaurs. The raptor
reaches about ten to fifteen feet in height, has a long snout, and long deadly
claws that would tear an animal or a human apart. The Compys were definitely the
creepiest because of how they kill their prey in packs. Although they look very
innocent and harmless they can kill their prey in an instant. The Compy was
about one to one and a half feet tall. They pretty much looked like a miniature
raptor.
The Lost World from the novel to the film definitely had a high number of
contrasts. The beginning as we know completely had no similarities at all. The
novel and the film did not start to have comparison until the characters arrived
on Site-B. The characters did have some similarities, but mostly differences.
More or less, the names were what made them similar more than anything. There
rolls in the novel and film were what differed the most. Nonetheless, the novel
and film did seem to have very similar parts in one area, which was the setting
of the islands. The terrain in the novel was practically identical to the one in
the film. The dinosaurs as well had many similarities, except for the fact that
there was more of a variety in the novel than there was in the film. In the end,
both version of the great story were spectacular.