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

Jurassic World was one of the biggest popcorn flicks of the decade. It's a fun movie, but that's about it. It borrows a lot from Jurassic Park, and relies heavily on nostalgia. Fallen Kingdom is a follow-up to it. It does have quite a bit in common with the first film, notably that it's nothing more than a decent popcorn flick. Most of the good qualities about the movie come from that. The visual effects are spectacular. The dinosaurs still look awesome. The action sequences are great. Some of the new stuff is also interesting. The second half of the movie is set in a giant mansion, rather than in the park. This is a very neat setting for this movie, and a welcome change of pace for the franchise. The first half is a rescue mission, which isn't particularly interesting and feels rehashed. The second half makes up for it.

The new characters are nothing to report on. Gia is this sort of dinosaur veterinarian. Not much else to say. Franklin's whole thing is that he's a coward, and that's all there is to him. He shows up for a few jokes, and that's it. Maisie is the granddaughter of John Lockwood, John Hammond's former associate. After all, it wouldn't be a Jurassic Park movie without a kid. Is it just me, or is every child actor out there British? Not that that's inherently a bad thing. Lockwood himself appears as a dying old man. Killing him off wasn't necessary. The non-dinosaur villains are lame, but then again, since when were Jurassic Park villains not lame? Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) return from the previous film. They're given most of the attention, as they are the main characters. Dr. Wu returns from the other films, although here he's a villain of sorts.

I think the problem here is that it wasted too much potential, for new ideas and nostalgia appeal. For the latter, the ads heavily featured the return of Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), who gets 2 minutes of screen time at max. It also could have made better use of the classic John Williams soundtrack from Jurassic Park. It's in it, but only once in the movie and once in the credits. Look how well that worked for the new Star Wars movies. For new ideas, there's a twist involving Maisie that's totally out of left field and only referenced once, but was interesting and had the potential to bring a whole new edge to the series. The cliffhanger ending was a good new idea, and leaves open the ideas for what will happen when Jurassic World 3 inevitably comes out.