'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' is a fun time at the cinema and gives the people what they want.
Rating: 3/5
Picking up three years after the events of 'Jurassic World', the sequel to the blockbuster film finds humanity at a crossroads: should dinosaurs be afforded similar rights as animals?
The dormant volcano on the island where dinosaurs live has become active, and failing to save them would cause the second extinction of the creatures.
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Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) embark on an expedition to save the dinosaurs but things do not go as planned.
When it comes to surprise blockbuster, 'Jurassic World' came out of nowhere and took the world by storm 2015. Becoming one of the biggest grossing films of that year. And while 'Jurassic World' very much thematically felt similar to the original 'Jurassic Park', 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' takes those building blocks and branches the franchise out even more.
Now, this film by no means is a smart film. The characters are one-dimensional, the villain is very moustache twirly, the beats of the film are beyond predictable and kiss scene between Owen and Claire is still forced.
However, the screenwriters and directors are well aware of the type of film/franchise this is and lean in the ridiculousness of it all. This is apparent from the first minute when we see a debate about whether dinosaurs deserve animal rights in US Congress. Which is really quite laughable taking into consideration that dinosaurs could end the human race in one swoop.
However, the self-awareness along with the on-screen charisma of all our protagonists is what makes this film such a joy to watch. Even the two new characters Franklin (Justice Smith) and Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda) fit right in, and provide never-ending comic relief.
Pratt has also brought more nuance to Owen and this time around he feels a lot less like Star-Lord 2.0.
The one thing, however, is I wish this movie was just a tiny bit less cheesy. And I know this franchise is built on the being super cheesy — when you establish that a specific dinosaur is a highly unstable and only a prototype and a character walks into a cage signing his own death certificate then we’ve gone a bit far. All I’m saying is I would’ve liked if it was more Camembert and than blue cheese.
The action and special effects are spectacular and the film is a lot gorier than the previous one. Director J.A. Bayona does a great job of giving the dinosaurs and humans palatable personalities with Blue and Owen’s relationship being very enduring.
Is this film predictable? Yes. Do characters make unrealistic decisions? Yes. Is the setup for the third film lazy? Yes. However, the fact that everyone involved is very self-aware of the ridiculous of this franchise and they lean into it makes for an enjoyable time at the cinema.