Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Review

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Review

Release date (US): June 22nd, 2018

Directed By: J.A. Bayona

Rating: PG-13

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum, Daniella Pineda, Justice Smith, B.D. Wong, James Cromwell, Rafe Spell, Toby Jones

Expectations/Background: To be completely honest, I wasn't all that into the first Jurassic World. While I enjoyed the film for the most part and thought that it was a "fun time" at the theater, I didn't understand why this film made over a billion and a half dollars at the international box office - I just didn't understand the widespread appeal that that film appeared to have. That being said, it made monstrous amounts of money and a sequel was very rapidly announced. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom enlisted director J.A. Bayona, who has directed some hidden gems such as A Monster Calls. The main players, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard returned and overall, I was mildly anticipating the movie. However, after seeing the trailers, I grew less and less excited and more and more apathetic towards the film. By the time the film hit theaters to lukewarm reviews, I was not anticipating the film all that much and my expectations were rather low. 

The Movie: While Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom isn't the next Citizen Kane, I had a good time watching the movie, and it certainly blew my low expectations out of the water. The film delivered some great moments as well as some terrible ones which overall, resulted in an enjoyable film.

I think the thing that jumped out at me right away was the cinematography. After reading many reviews for the film in preparation for writing my own, I noticed that not many people had mentioned the cinematography - but to me, the visuals of the film were stunning. I thought that if the set pieces were green screen, I couldn't tell and if they were, they were done beautifully. The backdrops for the film were absolutely beautiful. (Minor spoiler alert - the following information is in the trailers) The parts on the island while the volcano was exploding, as well as some other scenes out in the wild were shot in such a way that were grounded, yet showed the grandeur of the dinosaurs at the same time. There are some absolutely gorgeous shots in the film that you could screenshot and frame on your wall.

Another great thing about this film is the direction. J.A. Bayona brings something that Colin Trevorrow didn't in the first, and that's his own unique stamp. There are some scenes that invoke elements of horror films and those were the scenes that worked the best for me. The tension and suspense that Bayona drew out of scenes that really had no right in being that suspenseful was amazing. I found that even though I wasn't quite as invested in the story and characters as I would have liked, I was still on the edge of my seat for a couple scenes throughout the film, and I think that's all due to Bayona and his impressive direction.

That being said, that is the general summation of my positives for the film. While I enjoyed this film enough to overlook some flaws, there are some very apparent missteps that this film took. And it starts with the characters.

One of the main problems I had from Jurassic World (the first film) was the lack of depth from the characters, and this is an issue that carries right over to the sequel. We've now spent two films with Owen Grady and Claire and for the life of me, I still do not care about their characters. The only reason I remotely care about what happens to them is the performances given by Pratt and Howard, which elevate their meaningless characters. This film also does the same thing that the last one did which is introduce side characters that have absolute no significance in any way shape or form.

Jumping directly off of that, there are so many scenes in the film where characters do things that are quite frankly stupid. Now, in certain cases, characters will do stupid things in movies; but we can accept that because its in line with their character and it's what the story calls for (Infinity War with the same Chris Pratt). HOWEVER, when characters who receive absolutely no development do things that are so ridiculously dumb and ludicrous for absolutely no reason only to push the plot forward. There are so many scenes that made me lean back in my seat and just mutter, "What??".

Also - it is worth mentioning that (minor spoiler) this film is almost entirely the same as the first one. There are so many moments and plot lines (major ones too) that take directly from the first Jurassic World as well as Jurassic Park. Just thought it was worth mentioning. 

But perhaps the most egregious wrong that this film commits in the last ten minutes. This is a spoiler-free review, so I will not give away what happens, but up until that point, even though the characters were shallow and rather dumb, the plot held up somewhat and I was enjoying myself. But when the ending is revealed and the film comes to an end,  I audibly gasped because of how ridiculous the ending was. There are bold endings that push the envelope and are shocking, which is good. But then there are endings that go too far - and that was this. This ending was blatantly ending up a sequel, a third film that I have absolutely no interest in seeing at this point (though I probably will end up seeing it) and nearly ruined the entire experience for me.

That being said, this film has its moments. It really does - it looks beautiful and the performances do carry most of the movie, so while there are major issues, I actually did enjoy the film for what it was. 

The Villains: Same old "corporate" villains that we love to hate from the Jurassic films. I still don't understand why the filmmakers have to keep going back to that archetype, but they do it again. I won't reveal who or what the villain is, but when you see the film, it will be so blatantly obvious, and for the record, they weren't that good. 

The Music/Score: I was shocked when the credits rolled and it said that the music was done by the great Michael Giacchino, because throughout the entire film, I was telling myself that the music was vastly disappointing. I wish that Giacchino called back to the original Jurassic Park theme more often, and there were even moments that I wish he used the original theme. 

In Conclusion: Yes, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has issues, and major ones at that. BUT, despite all of them, there was never a moment in the movie (aside from the last ten minutes) that I wasn't enjoying myself. To me, this is the perfect example of a movie that you watch once and don't think about that much, and for what it's worth, I think that this was two hours well spent. 

**DISCLAIMER**: This is a subjective, opinionated article that has, nor should have any affect on your opinion on the given material. As such, my opinion is entitled to change over time and whatever is written here at this given point in time may not and should not be held to me in the future.