Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)



Movie Title: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Year Released: 2018

Rated: PG-13

Runtime: 2h 10min

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

Director: J.A. Bayona

Writer: Derek Connolly

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, BD Wong, Isabella Sermon, Geraldine Chaplin, Jeff Goldblum

Review: Three years after the destruction of the Jurassic World theme park, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) return to the island of Isla Nublar to save the remaining dinosaurs from a volcano that's about to erupt. They soon encounter terrifying new breeds of gigantic dinosaurs, while uncovering a conspiracy that threatens the entire planet.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom offers a fresh perspective on the Jurassic franchise: Dinosaurs exist, and they are living on Isla Nublar peacefully until an active volcano threatens their existence. This isn't your typical man vs. dinosaur tale, as the humans in this instance must decide whether or not the dinosaurs are worthy of saving, or if they should simply live out their remaining days on the island and fall back into extinction. I do like this conflict, and I think it's an interesting premise that far exceeds the silly rehashed plot of Jurassic World. The issue I have with this film, is that it's so over-the-top and eye-roll-inducing for me to take any of it seriously. I think there was a lot of potential here to right the ship of this franchise. But then we get scenes of Chris Pratt and a horde of dinosaurs running from an erupting volcano, Bryce Dallas Howard plunging into the ocean enclosed in a hamster ball, and it's just so painfully unrealistic. People don't survive these types of events. But I suppose these are the stars of the movie and they are supposed to survive, so we're supposed to just go with it.

Yes, I'm aware that this film is about an extinct species that hasn't existed on this Earth in 65 million years, but there needs to be some level of realism to accompany the more fictitious elements that are expected from this kind of film. This is where the original Jurassic Park excelled. The characters were dealing with creatures that they previously could only dream about, and the sudden realization that these creatures were capable of being brought back to life was truly exciting yet terrifying. There were real fears and the characters and their feelings on the dinosaurs were authentic. The Jurassic World franchise has abandoned this in favor of grandiose spectacles and unrealistic storylines. Fallen Kingdom ins't all bad. The CGI'd dinosaurs are magnificent, the introduction of the Indoraptor is a really cool dino-hybrid, the acting isn't bad, and it's fairly entertaining. With that said, the film fails to follow through on some of the more promising plot points that I was more excited about. It comes across as hollow and unfulfilled, and a let down considering what I think the film could have been. There is a very interesting cliffhanger that I think has a lot of potential to deliver a successful third film in this franchise. But things need to change in order for that to happen. Give us more substance, more character development, and less flair for the dramatic.

Stars (out of 4):
       

Fun Fact: The fact that Isla Nublar is actively volcanic was noted in the first novel, and it seems approximately 30 years later, this detail finally becomes plot relevant in dramatic fashion.



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