Items46The creator’s order
  1. 1The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) 6.6/10 on IMDbReleased May 23, 1997Islands and plateaus. Start here for an island where the dinosaurs have spread beyond the attractions of the first film. Isla Sorna gives one group a world to observe and another a place to take animals from. The tension builds around how differently the two expeditions read the landscape.0
  2. 2Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) 6.9/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 2, 2001Hidden civilizations. Choose this for a city whose people can explain what the discovery means to them. Milo’s language work lets him see what members of his own expedition miss. The adventure moves quickly once the rest of the crew starts seeing objects that might be worth carrying away.0
  3. 3Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased Dec 15, 1959Under the surface. Try the James Mason version for the pleasure of traveling through one unfamiliar landscape after another. The lava passages open into an underground ocean, and the expedition has to work out whether what they find helps them get home. Give this one time for the old-fashioned…0
  4. 4Forbidden Planet (1956)Forbidden Planet (1956) 7.5/10 on IMDbReleased Mar 23, 1956Off-world ruins. Pick this for a rescue mission that turns into a tour of machinery its builders left behind. The remains of the Krell let you see how far the vanished civilization got, and the small human outpost gives the big sets a quiet edge. It’s more of a mystery than a chase.0
  5. 5The Lost World (1925)The Lost World (1925) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased Feb 2, 1925Islands and plateaus. Choose the silent film that makes an isolated plateau feel like a place the explorers have walked into by mistake. The dinosaurs have room to behave like animals before people try to take one away. Watch it for Willis O’Brien’s stop motion and its surprisingly lively group of…0
  6. 6The Lost World (1960)The Lost World (1960) 5.5/10 on IMDbReleased Jul 13, 1960Islands and plateaus. Try Irwin Allen’s version for an expedition whose disagreements start before the prehistoric creatures appear. The team sets out to settle Professor Challenger’s claims, and the prospect of having to stay on the plateau gives those quarrels a cost. Its bright widescreen look…0
  7. 7King Kong (1933)King Kong (1933) 7.9/10 on IMDbReleased Apr 7, 1933Islands and plateaus. Pick the original for an expedition that makes a grand discovery on an island and immediately tries to turn it into a public event. The island’s enormous wall and the stop-motion encounters make its scale easy to grasp. The city scenes show how much the expedition…0
  8. 8Kong: Skull Island (2017)Kong: Skull Island (2017) 6.7/10 on IMDbReleased Mar 8, 2017Islands and plateaus. Choose this for an aerial survey that becomes a scramble to understand which creatures defend the island and why. The group arrives with equipment and firepower that give it too much confidence. The fast pace leaves memorable glimpses of a whole food chain.0
  9. 9King Kong (1976)King Kong (1976) 6.0/10 on IMDbReleased Dec 15, 1976Islands and plateaus. Choose the 1976 remake if you want an expedition drawn there by the prospect of oil. The discovery changes what the company thinks it can profit from, and the story puts more weight on that corporate pressure than the earlier film. Its island spectacle has the scale and polish…0
  10. 10King Kong (2005)King Kong (2005) 7.2/10 on IMDbReleased Dec 12, 2005Islands and plateaus. Try Peter Jackson’s remake for the longest visit to Skull Island among the original and these remakes. A film crew gets far beyond anything it planned to shoot, and the stampede sequences make the landscape itself dangerous. The movie spends as much energy on attachment as on…0