The Lost World (2001 film)

The Lost World is a 2001 adaptation of the novel of the same name. Directed by Stuart Orme, it was filmed at various locations on the West Coast of New Zealand and consisted of two 75 minute episodes which were broadcast on BBC One on December 25 and 26, 2001. The two episodes later aired on A&E in the United States on October 6 and 7, 2002.

Part 1
In 1911, Professor George Challenger shoots an animal he believes to be a pterosaur while in the Amazon jungle. He returns to London to attend a lecture fellow professor Leo Summerlee about dinosaurs. Challenger presents what's left of the animal he shot, the forearm, and tries to use this as proof for living dinosaurs to mount an expedition. Though the majority of the attendees scoff at this, renowned hunter and womanizer John Roxton and reporter Edward Malone express interest and agree to join and finance the expedition, with a reluctant Summerlee joining as well.

The party heads to South America using a map made by Portuguese explorer Father Luis Mendoz, who documented his finding of a Brazilian plateau, which Challenger believes to be the lair of the pterosaur. They stop to look for a guide at a Christian missionary in the Amazon, meeting Agnes Clooney and her uncle Reverand Theo Kerr, who condemns Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Roxton flirts with Agnes after taking a liking to her unladylike behavior. Agnes agrees to join the expedition as a translator. However, halfway through the journey, their porters flee out of superstition, and Kerr arrives shortly afterwards and repeatedly tries to convince Challenger to turn back.

The party find the plateau and a cave leading to the surface, but find that is has been blocked. They find a gorge leading straight to the plateau, using a tree as a substitute bridge. However, when everyone else makes it across, Kerr knocks the bridge over and cuts the rope as well, claiming that the plateau belongs to the Devil and leaves them stranded. They head further into the jungle and come across several dinosaurs, a flock of pterosaurs that injure Summerlee after catching them near their nesting site, and an allosaur that attacks them during the night. The next day, Malone spots a lake in the distance and is startled by an apelike creature that he describes as looking almost human. Malone names the lake after his fiancé Gladys. Malone and Agnes encounter the allosaur from the night before and it chases them through the jungle, but they evade it after falling into a manmade trap and the dinosaur is skewered and killed on the sharp stakes at the bottom.

Part 2
Edward and Agnes return to the lake to learn from Roxton that the professors have been kidnapped by the ape men, and come across a tribe of indigenous warriors who agree to help them rescue their friends. The ape men take the professors to their layer, where they have also some of the indigenous tribe's members, including the chief's son Achille. The ape men reveal their savage nature when they place one of the natives on a slab of rock, bash his head with a rock and eat him, much to the horror of the two professors. They prepare to do the same thing with Summerlee when Roxton and the warriors arrive and begin killing a majority of the ape men, but Challenger convinces them to spare the remaining members, which are taken captive.

Arriving at the village, the tribe are revealed to be descended from members of the Portuguese expedition and mistake Challenger for Pendoz, who taught them Christianity. The chief shows the other end of the cave and reveals it was blocked by a man who visited the tribe, trapping them within the plateau. Roxton falls in love with the chief's daughter Maree, a woman who is quite similar to him, and they eventually marry.

Some time later, the ape men cry out after having to bury one of their children, attracting the attention of two allosaurs who rampage and kill most of the tribe, including the chief. Roxton and Malone successfully kill both of the dinosaurs, and Summerlee uses explosives to reopen the cave, allowing the explorers to leave when Achille condemns them for the destruction caused. Roxton is stabbed by one of the ape men, which is itself shot and killed by Achille. Roxton holds the natives back for the others to escape and seemingly succumbs to his wounds and is mourned by the villagers.

Challenger, Summerlee, Malone, and Agnes return to the Amazon and find a crazed Kerr, who they realize was responsible for sealing the cave to prevent anyone from finding out about it and deemed it to be the place of the Devil because of the ape men. Kerr produces a revolver, determined to kill the group and stop them telling anyone about the plateau, but Summerlee wrestles him for it, but Kerr accidentally shoots himself in the chest and dies. Kerr is buried at the foot of the plateau, and the party are eventually found by the porters and return to London. Upon their return, Edward finds that Gladys is has become engaged to another man; however, he is quite happy about this, as he has since fallen in love with Agnes. At Challenger's press event, he unveils a juvenile Pteranodon he picked up as an egg. However, the excited crowd scare the Pteranodon out of a window. Seeing how crazed this mayhem has become, Summerlee and Malone convince Challenger to pretend the whole expedition was a lie to protect the plateau's inhabitants from destruction, sacrificing his reputation and success for the safety of the dinosaurs and villagers. In the end, Summerlee stays with his family, Challenger sets off to find Atlantis, and Edward declares his love for Agnes while also deciding to pursue his career as a novelist. The Pteranodon is shown flying all the way back across the ocean to the plateau, and Roxton is revealed to be alive and living with the villagers in peace.

Cast

 * Bob Hoskins as Professor George Challenger
 * James Fox as Professor Leo Summerlee
 * Tom Ward as Lord John Roxton
 * Matthew Rhys as Edward Malone
 * Elaine Cassidy as Agnes Cluny
 * Peter Falk as Reverend Theo Kerr
 * Joanna Page as Gladys
 * Tom Goodman-Hill as Arthur Hare
 * Robert Hardy as Professor Illingworth

Featured species

 * Allosaurus
 * Brachiosaurus
 * Diplodocus
 * Entelodon
 * Epanterias
 * Hypsilophodon
 * Iguanodon
 * Pithecanthropus
 * Pteranodon