There are two distinct halves to the story. In part one, the
dinosaur habitat of Isla Nublar is preparing to blow up because of an over-active
volcano. A small group of wealthy entrepreneurs, led by Benjamin Lockwood, the wheelchair-ridden former partner of the first two films’ deceased John Hammond (and
co-creator of the DNA replication process), want to save as many dinosaurs as possible before it’s too late. Lockwood is played by one of my
favorite character actors (except in this film), James Cromwell (THE YOUNG POPE and Stretch Cunningham
from the ALL IN THE FAMILY TV
series). I’ll explain my snarky parenthetical a little later.
Lockwood’s business associate (obviously evil from
the moment he appears on screen) Eli Mills (played by Rafe Spall - THE BIG SHORT, 2015), hires Claire Dearing, our hero from JURASSIC WORLD (2015), to help tap into the island’s biochip tracking software to locate specific dinosaurs.
Bryce Dallas Howard (LADY
IN THE WATER, 2006, THE VILLAGE,
2004) returns to the role of Claire, along with Chris Pratt (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, 2014, PARKS AND RECREATION TV series) as
former raptor trainer Owen Brady. Claire convinces Owen to join her using the opportunity to save his beloved Blue – a raptor he’d raised
since egg-hood, (and which our soon-to-be-revealed bad guys want, as well, because
of its intelligence and trainability).
All of which, unless you’ve lived in a cave for the past
year, you likely saw in the original trailer for the film, which gives away
everything that happens in the first act. Thankfully, there is a second half,
and here is where I as the audience went in cold, not knowing what would happen.
Sort of. What daughter Audrey and I saw was basically what would have happened
if the evil schemes hatched in THE LOST
WORLD actually succeeded and the evil geniuses managed to get more than one
dinosaur onto the mainland. A lot more. Again, though... sort of.
Rescuing the dinos from the island was a visual treat, as
would be expected, once things got going. The story didn’t linger in the
land of Nostalgia, which was a significant downside to the previous film. Much less
bloodshed in this one, too, as if the studio wanted to appeal to a wider family
audience than the past. Still, there is violence, though tempered and
mostly off-screen.
As mentioned, there’s nothing new in FALLEN KINGDOM you haven’t seen in at least one other Jurassic Park movie. Each tries to up
the ante with a meaner, more frightening dinosaur. In JURASSIC WORLD, we were given the genetically engineered Indominus
Rex, which like every dinosaur before it escapes and eats a lot of
people. During that ensuing chaos, Dr Wu (BD Wong, MR ROBOT TV Series and original JURASSIC PARK, 1993) escaped with the new dino’s DNA. In FALLEN KINGDOM, he’s working for Eli
Mills to develop a new dinosaur. This one is a cross between the previous movie’s
Indominus
Rex and the more stealthy, intelligent Raptor. Introducing: the Indoraptor,
our new, scarier dinosaur. Admittedly, this bugger is pretty frightening.
Here’s where the second half falters a bit, as enjoyable as
it was on the surface. Every Jurassic Park movie there are kids in
jeopardy running from hungry dinosaurs, though now it’s in the secluded, castle-like
Lockwood estate. There’s a minor plot twist about Lockwood’s in-peril
granddaughter Maisie (played with exuberant passion by newcomer Isabella
Sermon) but in the end, it’s still adults and children running from a deadly and clever dinosaur. Mind you, these scenes were done well, but you can say the same about
every identical house in a well-built prefab suburban development. Each is
quite nice, but when compared to their neighbors, it's... nice (awkward smile).
Howard and Pratt, as in the previous film, work well
together and have great chemistry, though their reunion in the beginning came across a
little forced. Still, they’re strong actors given enjoyable roles in a massive movie
sandbox, so they did awesome. Complimenting their characters are two younger
players, Zia (Daniella Pineda, THE
ORIGINALS TV Series) and nervously-likable Franklin (Justice Smith, PAPER TOWNS, 2015). They disappear for
a while in the second half for some reason, but when they’re on screen they give
the story some a needed change in flavor.
James Cromwell does fine as the aging Benjamin Lockwood, but tries too hard to be a replacement for Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond, down to the fake British accent. Some character actors are too entrenched, too well known as specific character types that, in this case, playing eccentric elderly British men just doesn’t work.
Once the dinosaurs are located, Mister Wheatley has no more
need of our heroes and they are left to fend for themselves in the heart of an
exploding Isla Nublar with hundreds of stampeding dinosaurs and many repeated
plot devices from previous movies, including the over-done “saved by the T-Rex”
bit. Again, if you’re not looking for something too original, but simply want to
enjoy an extended version of JURASSIC
PARK with some fun gimmicks, you’ll enjoy it.
The special effects are as near-perfect as you’d expect
given the reputation of the previous films and their monstrous budgets (pun
intended). With a mix of CGI, models and physical effects, we viewers are
pleasantly fooled into thinking these creatures are on set with the actors.
Kudos to one scene early on with Pratt and Howard trying to take blood from a
tranquilized T-Rex. For some, this might make the movie worth the price of
admission, especially if they had Movie Pass. And it worked.
JURASSIC WORLD:
FALLEN KINGDOM has its share of exciting chases and twists. I won’t say
why, but the final few minutes does open the door to a whole new approach
to the JP universe, if only the studio
has the guts to take it. We’ll all find out together in a couple of years. Overall, it’s a decent, fun monster movie for most of the
family, with very little cursing and only some (not many) scenes of bloodshed.
At worst it’s a low PG-13. Let’s call it PG-11, so wait until the Littles are
in bed before watching. The series doesn’t go in new directions here, since FALLEN
KINGDOM is more of the same. Admittedly, though, in this franchise “same” means
a solid, if a bit familiar, bit of entertainment.
I give it two and a
half grandchildren-in-peril out of
five.