Despite receiving mostly mixed reviews from critics, Jurassic World was a massive success. On a budget of $150 million, the movie grossed over $1 billion worldwide and set numerous box office records. It became the first film in cinematic history to gross over $500 million in a single weekend and was the third-highest-grossing film of all time in the US and Canada. It was the second-highest-grossing film of 2015, right behind Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, and it’s gone on to be the highest-grossing film in the Jurassic Park franchise. Naturally, with this insane box office success, Universal was going to move forward with a sequel. This time, however, Colin Trevorrow would not be returning as director but would serve as a producer and co-writer alongside Derek Connolly. Instead, the director’s chair was handed over to J.A. Bayona, who previously directed The Orphanage, The Impossible, and A Monster Calls. Returning from the previous film are Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and BD Wong. Some notable actors who were brought in included Toby Jones, Ted Levine, and James Cromwell, and Jeff Goldblum was brought back for a small role as Ian Malcolm. So, with all this talent coming together, how does Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom compare to the last film and the other films in the franchise?
%
Rating
Taking place three years after the previous film, the island of Isla Nublar has long since been abandoned, with all the remaining dinosaurs living in peace. At the beginning of the film, we see a group of mercenaries go to the island to retrieve a DNA sample of the Indominus Rex from the last film. Despite being attacked by a T-Rex and the Mosasaurus from the previous movie, the mercenaries manage to make off with the DNA sample. Meanwhile, the US government is debating whether or not to preserve the lives of the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar once it’s discovered that a previously inactive volcano has become active and is threatening to kill them off. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) even voices his opinion, saying the dinosaurs should be killed off to correct the mistakes that John Hammond unintentionally started. At the same time, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who was the park manager from before, has started a charity organization dedicated to preserving the lives of the dinosaurs. With hoping seeming lost, she’s invited to meet with Benjamin Lockwood, played by James Cromwell, who worked alongside John Hammond back in the day. With his assistant Eli Mills, played by Rafe Spall, Lockwood plans to move the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar to another island that will serve as a sanctuary, where they’ll be left alone and kept safe and sound. While they’re confident they’ll be able to find all the dinosaurs, Mills is concerned about finding Blue, the last surviving velociraptor from the last film, so Claire decides to recruit Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to help her rescue the dinosaurs. Also along for the ride are Franklin Webb, played by Justice Smith, who works with Claire as a systems analyst and hacker, and Dr. Zia Rodriguez, played by Daniella Pineda, who also works for Claire as a dinosaur veterinarian. Once they make it to the island, it becomes a race to save as many dinosaurs as possible and find Blue before the volcano explodes and they’re engulfed in lava.
Anyway, that’s all I can really say about the plot without spoiling things. However, I will say that the trailers really only tell you about the first half of the movie. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that the second half goes in a direction that you wouldn’t see coming. Just to get this out of the way, while I found the movie enjoyable and entertaining enough, it is easily one of the weaker films in the franchise. It’s not a completely worthless film as there are plenty of good things about it. For one, the film is very well-made. Having not really since any of J.A. Bayona’s previous work as of the writing of this review, I was impressed with his skills as a director, and I am now curious to see how his other movies compare. Also, much like the last film, while I am still a bit upset about them using mostly CGI for the dinosaurs, I will say that the dinosaurs do still look impressive and are cool to look at. Plus, there is some fun spectacle to be had, especially in the scenes on the island and some of the stuff that happens in the second half. What also helps is that the actors do elevate the material, as Chris Pratt is still likable and fun and makes the movie worth watching, while Bryce Dallas Howard owns her role and does a lot more than she did before. I’d also like to shoutout Justice Smith, who starts off a little annoying with his screaming and constantly acting afraid of everything but does improve as the movie goes along, and Daniella Pineda, who is a very fun character and has her moments to shine. Plus, I was impressed with newcomer Isabella Sermon as Maisie Lockwood, whose honestly not that bad for a child actress and actually does have her moments.
Now to get into the stuff I didn’t like, and there’s quite a bit. For one, this movie is insanely dumb. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of dumb movies that I love, but there’s a difference between the kind of dumb that you can enjoy and the kind of dumb where it feels like the filmmakers think the audience is dumb and doesn’t know any better. Ordinarily, I don’t complain too much when characters do stupid things since a lot of times the stuff they do is something I can see at least somebody doing. But here, the characters keep making stupid decision after stupid decision to where you just get mad at the characters for not realizing how stupid this is. Also, one thing I don’t understand is that a lot of people, including myself, found the whole weaponizing the dinosaurs subplot from the previous film to be one of the weaker elements of that movie, and yet here, they bring that back and put it in the forefront, especially when the movie gets into the second half. The villains are so cartoonishly evil that it’s ridiculous, especially with how this movie tries to play itself so seriously. These guys, especially Mills, Mr. Eversoll (Toby Jones), and Wheatley (Ted Levine), might as well be twirling mustaches and gloating about how rich they’re going to be. Going back to taking elements from the last film, they repeat the whole create-a-dinosaur-with-genetic-splicing bit from before, and it honestly seems like a lot of this is just a repeat of the previous film.
I’ll fully admit that I went into this movie wanting to sing its praises up and down the streets. Like I said earlier, there were some entertaining moments and some of the cast made the movie slightly enjoyable, but overall, this just feels like a movie that was simply made because the previous one was a hit and honestly seems to double-down on what didn’t work in the previous film. For fans of the previous films in the franchise, I’d just stick with any of those (mostly the first one), because Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a highly-flawed yet slightly enjoyable film that’s probably best as a rental.
