Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom follows in the events of the last film, with the once-theme park island now overrun by dinosaurs. When the island's volcano becomes active, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) join a rich man's venture to save as many of the species as possible.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Review
What is there to say about a franchise that has been on a decline since the original and a sharp decline since the sequel? The first Jurassic World felt like a retread of the original classic, practically mocking itself and its audience with the satirical concept of having to genetically engineer monster dinosaurs to keep getting desensitized generations to fill the seats. And besides that self-aware plot point, the film felt too much like a Jurassic Park remake than any kind of a sequel.
So where would Fallen Kingdom go? Well, how 'bout retreading the first half of The Lost World, just to keep the trend of unoriginal storylines shoved down a new generation's throats? The plot of taking the wild dinosaurs off the island with a militaristic group funded by a rich person with possibly-nefarious tendencies is just a slight rewrite from the decent sequel of the original.
Pratt has endeared himself to us all, with his comedic delivery, good looks, and seemingly good-guy persona in real life. But not even he can save this film from the utter failure of being anything but a shallow cash grab. It has its moments, with a few fun dinosaur antics courtesy of Baryonyx, Carnotaurus, and Stygimoloch. Yet, the rehash of the Indominus Rex arc from the first Jurassic World only succeeds at making this film feel even more cheap and derivative.
Like the stream of Transformer films, there's plenty of brainless fun to go around. The film is certainly not a complete waste from a mere enjoyment perspective, but it just lacks the magic, awe, and proper treatment of the script that was prevalent in the first two original films. Maybe Claire's character from Jurassic World is right...We're just not in a place where we can appreciate these creatures by merely experiencing them anymore. Now we need more. Yet, this is the one place I feel jaded and I really didn't need the monster...The Indominus-whatever just cheapens it. And to repeat that, along with so many other themes and concepts, just feels like a joke on a joke.
Horror Rating System
Horror Qualifier: 6/10
Horror Quality: 5/10
Film Quality: 5/10