Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Directed by J.A. Bayona

Starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Jurassic World:  Fallen KingdomDaniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, B.D. Wong, and Jeff Goldbum

Backstory

I love the Jurassic Park films, ever since I saw the first one on my 16th birthday.  Sadly, though, most of the sequels have just been OK.  With the exception of Jurassic World.  I thought Jurassic World was a tasty slice of nostalgia pie.  “Now THAT’S the sequel I wanted in 1993!” I exclaimed.  I guess lots of others thought so, as Jurassic World was a monster hit and spawned a sequel.  Now, I greeted the first trailer with a shrug, as it looked like they would just be remaking the first sequel, The Lost World.  But the second trailer, featuring dinosaurs creeping around a mansion, got me hooked.  Did they finally find something better to do than “People go to an island full of dinosaurs and get attacked by said dinosaurs?”

Plot

Claire Dearing, the former manager of Jurassic World, now heads up a charity dedicated to preserving the surviving dinosaurs and letting them live in peace.  But, it’s kind of tough, because the volcano on Isla Nublar is about to erupt and kill the remaining dinosaurs, and the government shows no interest in relocating them.  But, Claire soon gets some help in the form of Eli Mills, who represents Benjamin Lockwood.  Lockwood was one of the original investors in Jurassic Park, and wants to save the dinosaurs.  But, for mysterious reasons, they need Blue, the last surviving velociraptor.  Which means Claire needs to bring in Owen Grady, the raptor trainer, to help find Blue.  But, as soon as they arrive on the island, Mills’ men turn on Owen and Claire.  Turns out Mills has his own sinister agenda for the surviving dinosaurs.  Will and Owen and Claire escape to the mainland and stop Mills before he unleashes horror on the world?

What I Liked

Yay, more dinosaur action!  There’s one particularly poignant scene involving a dinosaur’s death that was very emotional.  Any worries that they were going to just redo The Lost World was scrubbed away, as most of that stuff is saved for the first act of the film.  Probably the most horror-oriented of the Jurassic films, as I sure fell for a lot of jump-scares.  Owen and Claire, again played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, are a delightful pair of heroes.  And the ending.  SPOILER WARNING.  If they stick to the ending, looks like the next film will be the “dinosaurs lose on the mainland” film they’ve been teasing since Spielberg turned the T-rex lose on downtown San Diego in The Lost World.

What I Didn’t Like

Don’t know if it was just this particular screening, but holy crap was it loud.  Lots of jump scares makes for lots of screaming characters, and big booming explosions from the volcano.

Final Verdict

A fun new entry in the Jurassic franchise, but dude, you think after all this time, they would have learned their lesson, and stopped going to the island full of dinosaurs.

3 Nibs