Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Movie Review

3/10

“A creature from the future made from pieces of the past”

A series that might as well be extinct. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom shares a plot that’s muddled with ridiculousness and is built on poor foundations. The film does look incredible but unfortunately, the story can’t match the amazing visuals and the narrative flaws drag it completely down. This should serve as final proof that the series has been in a downward spiral ever since the original came out 25 years ago. In fact, a more appropriate name would be Jurassic World: Fallen Franchise.

My interest in seeing the film tackle the debate of whether dinosaurs should be saved from extinction was quickly diminished when the story became riddled with clichés and unintelligent ideas. I can’t take the story seriously because these aspects didn’t work to their intended dramatic effect, nor were they used in a way that made the movie fun. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has the same intelligence as a Fast and Furious film but none of the nonsensical action I can enjoy.

The villain is not only predictable but also cookie cutter and doesn’t make much sense. There’s yet another new dinosaur to appeal to our senses in case we didn’t love Indominus Rex from the prequel, but he’s almost as forgettable as the story. Plus, there’s another child character because it seems like you can’t make a Jurassic Park movie without having “loveable” child characters. See what I mean with this film being a creature from the future made from pieces of the past?

Even putting aside, the clichés and unfun ridiculousness, there wasn’t anything else new to enjoy. Chris Pratt plays Chris Pratt. Jeff Goldblum’s monologue feels like a Stan Lee cash grab cameo. And everyone else is basically forgettable because the supporting characters only have a certain job to do and they’re not given much else in terms of depth. Their leads are basically a rehash of the prequel and they no longer feel as refreshing. I cared less for the people in this film and more so for the animals that were on display, who speaking of, looked visually fantastic.

I feel that this is the only redeeming quality about the film because the computer animations on the dinosaurs made them look incredibly realistic and believable. They were often moments that made them look so real that it genuinely felt like this is how they would look if they had somehow been filmed in real life millions of years ago. I still harbor warm feelings for the practical effects used in the original but when computer graphics animation is done right like this, the effect can be quite spectacular. And with a production budget of over $150 million, I’d expect nothing less but it still goes to show how great bigger blockbusters can visually be.

Whilst clearly a large amount of effort has been put into the production, I still can’t justify recommending you see this simply because of the story. None of the film feels like intelligent hands have written the script because there’s just too much that feels like it was done so without keeping any real logic in mind. I’m left eye rolling at so many moments that to be put simply; are just dumb.  If you do go see it, I pray that you can find some of the ridiculousness laughable because that’s the only glimmer of hope that might make this film enjoyable. See it if you want to see some great looking dinosaurs but go in with low expectations for the plot and you’ll be grateful. Skip it.