Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – Review

Set three years after the disastrous events of 2015’s Jurassic World, this film begins at a time of crises for the remaining dinosaurs.  The island theme park has been abandoned and is in ruins, the company has paid out millions in claims to the affected tourists, and the remaining dinosaurs have been abandoned on Isla Nublar.  However, the once dormant volcano on the island is now active and with massive eruption eminent, the fate of the remaining dinosaurs is in jeopardy.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are back and as good as ever.  While the prior film was directed by and partially written by Colin Trevorrow, he has a writing credit in the current film.  J.A. Bayona is the new director.  One highlight is that Jeff Goldblum has found his way into the film.  His character is really not at all important, but it is nice to see him back in the franchise.

Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt agree to go back to Isla Nublar for what they think will be a mission to help save the dinosaurs from extinction.  Well, guess what?  They have been lied to and the real mission is to utilize their help to capture the dinosaurs to profit off them in nefarious ways.

These two actors and name of the film are really the only fantastic selling points.  You could plug these two into any big name franchise and it would make a lot of money.  They are joined by a few additional motley members who are overly bland and cliche without any meaningful character development.  There is a paleo-veterinarian who had never actually seen a living dinosaur before the mission.  There is also the implied low-end IT specialist who worked at what could only be described as a low-budget activist organization who is secretly a master hacker and can instantly work magic sitting at security terminals on Isla Nublar.

There are big dinosaurs, plenty of action, and moments of suspense – but that’s about it.  The movie catapaults everyone into action pretty quick and things continue at a near feverish pace during most of the movie.  This style is typical of Michael Bay or J.J. Abrams films.  Pratt and Howard do great at what they are tasked to do, but there isn’t much room for their characters to develop at all.

There isn’t really any sort of narrative arc that transpires.  The little that does exist is strikingly similar to the previous movie.  With an additional sequel planned for a 2021 release, more dinosaurs is inevitable.   The next film will undoubtedly remain exciting, but will likely also remain as bland as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.