The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Why would anyone carry a hurt baby T. rex into a trailer parked on the edge of a cliff? That’s the kind of plan this movie runs on. Smart people make baffling choices, everybody wanders off alone, and Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm spends the whole trip saying it’s a bad idea, like a smoke detector with a dying battery. The trailer scene itself is legit great, glass cracking under Julianne Moore while the whole thing hangs over the drop, and Spielberg can still stage a chase through tall grass like nobody else. Pete Postlethwaite’s big game hunter is the most interesting person on the island, and the script keeps forgetting he’s there. Vince Vaughn mostly shows up to cause trouble. It made $618.6 million worldwide, so people came, but critics landed it at 57% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 4.6 because the set pieces are real Spielberg and the people inside them are cardboard. $34.66 says you yell at at least one character to stop running toward the dinosaurs.

What works: The trailer dangling over the cliff and the raptor chase through the tall grass are classic Spielberg suspense.

What doesn’t: The characters make baffling choices, the story wanders, and the last act feels bolted on from a different movie.

Who it’s for: Dinosaur fans who will forgive any plot for one more T. rex roar.