Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this flick. Indeed, since I heard only bad things about this movie, I thought it would be something really bad. Eventually, even though it was indeed pretty average, it was definitely not the worst movie I have ever seen and I was (almost) positively surprised. In my opinion, if you don't take this movie too seriously, it is actually not completely awful and barely enjoyable (even Roger Ebert actually gave it a positive review which would still be a little too generous though). Basically, it is a rather awkward combination of various (better and with a bigger budget) adventure flicks. The main issue is that it came just after โJurassic Parkโ, another adaptation of a book written by Michael Crichton, which looked really awesome while, here, the special effects were rather ridiculous and pathetic. Eventually, you wonder how Laura Linney's career has been able to recover from this turkey (as a matter of fact, even though it was panned by the critics, it was actually a box-office hit at the time). Anyway, to conclude, it is not one of the worst movies ever made and if you are a fan of B movies, you may actually end up enjoying it but don't expect much from this though.
5/10