I'm in the camp of "The Lost World came out when I was, like, 7 and I love it for nostalgia reasons". For the most part I can totally look past the faults in the T-Rex in San Diego sequence. But I agree with your assessment here, especially the parts about adding Van Owen and Roland to the sequence and how that could've made it so much better. Never really thought about it like that.

Edit: And I absolutely hate thinking about what the hell happened on the boat. It makes no sense. I pretty much have to ignore it when watching.

Sometimes, but sometimes not. Sometimes I like the internal reading voice, almost like a narration to an audiobook or something. Sometimes I'm reading very visually, like a movie in my mind. Sometimes I'm reading it quickly, like I'm just absorbing the information on the page. IDK, it's kinda hard to describe. I don't think I decide consciously, it's kinda whatever feels good in the moment.

Leave her alone. She has good reasons for not speaking to you.