Hello everyone, hope you're all doing well, and welcome to my review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom! This movie franchise has always been one of my favorites. I think just about everyone has at least a slight fascination with dinosaurs, and when I first watched the original Jurassic Park I was blown away to finally see them on the big screen. After that the quality of the films started to decline, and now years later a new series has begun, Jurassic World. The first Jurassic World was average at best, with only a few memorable moments here and there, and too many annoying characters. Now the second installment of this new series is out, and I'm happy to say I thought it was much better than it's predecessor.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the second film of this new planned trilogy, and it features two returning characters Owen Grady, and Claire Dearing, played by Chris Pratt, and Bryce Dallas Howard. These two were the only characters that I liked from Jurassic World, so I'm happy to see them reprising their roles here. The new side characters are pretty solid, they didn't annoy me at all, and the film doesn't really focus on them too much. My favorite member of the original Jurassic Park movies, Ian Malcolm played by the wonderful Jeff Goldblum, is also in Fallen Kingdom. He doesn't have a major role, basically just a cameo, but it's still nice to see him, and it also helps to tie this into the original trilogy.
The whole tone of this film is quite a bit different from the first, with everything being much more dark and scary. The opening scene did a great job of getting my attention, and gave me a good idea of what to expect. The story of Fallen Kingdom is all about a rescue mission to get the dinosaurs off of Isla Nublar, before the volcano that makes up the island explodes killing them all. The government decides to not get involved, being of the mind that we never should have brought dinosaurs back in the first place, and is willing to let nature take it's course. Claire is hired by a private investor to go to the island and rescue as many of them as she can, with a team of people, and of course Owen. Once they arrive time is of the essence, as the volcano is about to erupt at any moment.
The whole first half of the movie is very tense, with lots of action, and even a little humor sprinkled in, as Claire and Owen try to rescue these huge creatures. The dinosaurs get a lot more attention this time, rather than focusing on a bunch of different characters like in the previous film. This was a welcome change for me, and greatly helped to keep me immersed and invested in what was happening. For me the dinosaurs have always been the main attraction of these films, so it's great to be able to see more of them. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard give great performances, and since they get the most screen time we get to know their characters a lot better, as they do all the heavy lifting.
Once the events of the rescue mission are over the rest of the movie takes place on the mainland, as you've probably seen in the trailers. This is where the tone shifted from chaotic action with big set pieces, to a more claustrophobic horror movie feel. I wont go into detail so nothing gets spoiled for you, but the second half of Fallen Kingdom has a lot of great scenes of dinosaurs in close quarters, wreaking havoc, and terrorizing unsuspecting people. I really enjoyed this part of the film even more than the first, and it almost reminded me of the original Jurassic Park, where the Raptors were chasing people around inside the park, scaring them half to death.
I'm a huge fan of good horror movies, as well as dinosaurs, so Fallen Kingdom really delivered for me. If you're looking for a fun, light hearted adventure film, you're not going to find it here, but if you want to see a Jurassic Park with a darker, more serious atmosphere I think you'll enjoy this one. There's definitely some cheesy dialog, and some far fetched scenes, but compared to Jurassic World this is a huge improvement for me. The characters are likable, and I actually cared about what happened to them. The dinosaurs got much more screen time, you get to see them in scenarios that you don't normally get with these movies, and I was thoroughly entertained the whole time. This is a film that I'll gladly watch again and again for it's unique take on the series, and it's horror movie vibe. I'm going to give Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom a grade of...……………………..
B
Thank you for checking out my review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, I hope you enjoyed it!