‘Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom’ Review: Predictable fun
Can a summer movie offer a ton of fun, offering very little else? Well, that’s exactly what the creators of the new Jurassic World sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, is counting on. The real purpose of Fallen Kingdom is clear: give the audience a fun ride while movie the setting from a remote island to, essentially, the whole world.
The picks up years after the events of Jurassic World with Claire (Bryce-Dallas Howard) embarking on a noble mission to save the dinosaurs from an impending volcano eruption on Isla Nubar, funded by a billionaire partner (James Cromwell) of Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond. Claire needs help to reach the lone surviving velociraptor, Blue, and reaches out to Chris Pratt’s dino-handler, Owen.
Animal rights and a ton of action move the story along with substitutes for comic relief and technical support (Justice Smith and Daniella Pineda) before engaging the cliche “evil rich guy” who lied to our heroes and plans to exploit the dinosaurs for profit and power.
Let’s be clear, Fallen Kingdom doesn’t take itself too seriously in between the entertaining lectures from Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm, a welcome return to the franchise, who speaks at both the beginning and end of the film (which is strange BTW).
So, the problem lies with how serious the audience will take Fallen Kingdom.
Once again the humans are arrogant and naive, the dinosaurs will eat people and humanity’s moral conflicts can and will unleash these dangerous creatures into the populace. That is NOT a spoiler, but rather, the plot of every film in the series.
Fallen Kingdom is NO exception.
Fallen Kingdom gives fans an entertaining middle chapter to the planned trilogy, teasing fans with references to the earlier films, brief shots of the incredible mosasaurus and the more horrific survival sequences for the characters.
The film is also a mess with a failed romantic chemistry between Pratt and Bryce-Howard, follows way too many cliches of hunters (any guy with a gun) being eaten by a dinosaur and an annoying effort to romanticize saving the dinosaurs. B.D. Wong also returns as the maniac scientist, Dr. Wu, from earlier films, but it’s too short to be interesting.
The cast is tolerable with no real impactful performances, in part due to the lack of good material to work with, but that is never the focus.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom earns 2 stars out of five stars
Add stars depending on how entertaining you find the Jurassic Park films. It’s fun, clean and humorous, so families will and should flock to theaters to funnel more cash into the studio’s pocket to get more of these films.
