Customer Reviews
Good BBC production - By: chuckles, 23 Oct 2008 
Somehow I missed this first time around, & tunedin to see it on BBC3, however missed a lot of that as well, so time to buy the DVD. Have to say this was an excellent DVD, well shot, good special effects & an outstanding cast list. Also, for once, this was pretty faithful to the original unlike many Hollywood remakes. Well worth a purchase!
Not the definitive Lost World by any means, but not at all bad - By: Trevor Willsmer, 21 Nov 2007 
The BBC's 2002 version of Arthur Conan Doyle's oft-imitated The Lost World is better than most (not saying much considering the low budgets & abysmal special effects of most versions over the past half century) but it still takes plenty of liberties with the source material. Bob Hoskins' irritable Professor Challenger & James Fox's Professor Summerlee are faithful enough, but once again a new female character has been written into the story for purely demographic reasonsin the form of Elaine Cassidy's daughter of Peter Falk's missionary, though this does at least allow the script some contentious discussion of Creationism vs. Darwinism to help stake its claim to a higher intellectual plateau than its cheap-and-cheerful rivals. But of course, it's the dinosaurs that people are really interested in. they're mostly to be foundin the second half (the show was originally broadcastin two parts over Christmas) & if you can't quite help shaking the suspicion that this version was only produced was because the BBC still had all that costly computer software left over from Walking With Dinosaurs on their hard drives it's impressive enough to leave little ground for complaints even if it's not quite Jurassic Park standard. Indeed, it'sin many ways the perfect choice for a BBC adaptation: part period costume drama, part nature & science documentary, & even if the definitive version has still yet to be made, this will do well enoughin the meantime.
Though not exactly packed with extras - a half-hour making of & an audio commentary - the DVD boasts a good widescreen transfer.
Is this the same film that I saw??? - By: F. Lane, 08 Feb 2006 
I was eager to see this when it was shown on BBC, but then I was so appalled I actually had to force myself to watch the second part, just to see how much of a mess they’d made of it.
As an adventure film, it’s fine: as a film based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s story of the same name, it stinks. They’ve ruined it, as far as I’m concerned: if this had been done to a person, it would probably be called attempted murder.
Granted, they had to update the reason for the explorers being marooned on the plateau, since the book is a tad racistin places. But they could have done that without destroying the original storyline.
And of course there has to be a femalein it [this was one of my beefs with the original Michael Rennie version; that & the use of helicopters!].
The finale is so very twenty-first century; the explorers “confessing” that the whole thing was a hoax to save the plateau from becoming a tourist attraction complete with burger bars.
There's probably lots more that I could say, but I only saw it the once, & had to force myself to watch at least half of it, so most of the rest is mercifully blurredin my memory
If they’re going to make a film of a book, why don’t they stick to the book?
A breathtaking adventure with an interesting subplot - By: unknown, 27 Mar 2004 This is the story of a great adventure. At the beginning of the 20th century four very different men leave London on a strange expedition: they follow the map of a long dead missionary, who thought that he had seen dragons somewherein the middle of the Brasilian rainforest ...
Professor Challenger is convinced that these dragons are dinosaurs, his dour collegue Summerlee thinks that it is a hoax, Lord Roxton likes the adventure & the reporter Edward Malone wants to impress Claire, the girl he isin love with. Somewherein the Brasilian jungle they are joined by Alice & her uncle, a missionary - for reasons that you have to see for yourself! The expedition finds the "lost world" on a plateau deepin the rainforest. And then the real adventure begins & Tyrannosaurus Rex is not the only danger they have to face ...
I loved the film, because it is not only action & special effects, but has some deeper levels as well. Darwin's theories come into it & also the idea that being human means that you have to make choices & that you are responsible for them. That makes it really, really interesting to watch. Much more than Spielberg's "Jurassic Park", which has more action, no psychological depth at all & spends not much thought on the scientific & philosophical questions of Doyle's story.
And the acting is excellent! I especially like Bob Hoskins as Challenger. His enthusiasm & his awein view of the things he sees & experiencesin the "lost world" seems so genuine that you are absolutely drawn into the story & see it all with his eyes. And Matthew Rhys as the awkward Edward Malone is quite good as well. The look of dumb shock on his face, when he is faced with another catastrophe (which happens quite often ;-)) is absolutely hilarious!
Christmas Highlight- And A Great DVD - By: John Laidlaw, 16 Aug 2003 I would call The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle my favourite book. Although once an important book, it has now sunk to be one of Doyle's many lost books, overshadowed by Holmes
That is why I was extremely excited to hear that the BBC was to put it on TV, not being old enough to have seen any of the old films.
Usually TV adaptations never seem to be pulled off properly. This one did it perfectly. Probably because it did not stick rigidly to the text. The addition of Theo Kerr to leave the group stranded (rather than the slightly weak story of Gomez)among other things was a good one, & the big addition of Agnes worked well. The entire screenplay was writtenin Conan Doyle's style, the additional scenes with the indians & the endings of the characters are entirelyin context with the original story. The ending also is nothing like the novel's ending, but again works extremely well.
The characters are performed extremely well. Although Challenger, like Holmes will always be extremely hard to capture, Hoskins does the best job that could be possible. Unfortunately the script doesn't show the worse qualities of Challenger, but for this family adventure, it doesn't really spoil the story at all- Shame he doesn't have that wife though. Summerlee likewise is captured exactly to the story, his contempt for Challenger & the whole adventure is shown perfectly. Little details complete Summerlee's character, definitely the best likeness to the four.
Lord John Roxton's alternate ending to the book is completely true to his character, & the actor is almost perfect (It would be too difficult for actor & scriptwriter too add Roxton's colloquialisms).
Then there's the everyman, the reporter Ed Malone. Matthew Rhys shows himself to be a promising actor, another sterling performance, upstaged by the other actors, however
Elaine Cassidy as Agnes & Peter Falk as Theo Kerr were both good choices, perhaps the role of Falk over-rated
Allin all one of the best all-too-common BBC two-parters yet made.
