Review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) by Skd — 23 Jun 2018

Fun, but predictable.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: No Jurassic movie is ever going to make you feel the way the first one did, ever. That was unique. I certainly felt like the decades of subsequent sequels had pushed me beyond the point of diminishing returns. Often throughout the film, I starred indifferently at the screen as yet another person was gobbled up when I knew that my jaw should be on the floor.

This round wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been (certainly not the franchise’s worst) and it still scratches the itch of a fun summer movie. However, there’s only so much that you can do with dinosaurs and people fleeing for their lives before you feel like you’re going through the same, familiar motions.

All the protagonists and antagonists generally played their roles well, but I was pleasantly surprised by Franklin’s character in particular. At first he seemed like the cliché kid who was tagging along for the ride. However, early on he professionally delivers some well written humor that softened me towards his role. The motivation for our heroes and their “Save the Dinosaurs” movement was eye-rolling at times, particularly at the end, but it was bearable. A little disappointed that Jeff Goldblum didn’t really have a role in this movie beyond sitting in a Congressional hearing. Then again, you could argue that he was hanging out with the REAL dinosaurs.

There are plenty of nostalgia moments inter-woven in this movie, especially toward the end. Whether it’s an adult grabbing a child that’s catching their breath by surprise, the Raptor claw clicking the floor as it hunts the child, the child closing the shutter door before the Raptor gets them, or the small raptor fighting the bigger, T-Rex like one; the film pays tribute back to the original multiple times. But like I said at the top, you can’t out-do the master.

As long as you calibrate your expectations before going into the theater (I set mine to zero), you will have a good time. But if you are looking for an experience that will stick with you for decades to come, that was already done 25 years ago.