Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

RATING: B

Let's start with full disclosure here: in general, the Jurassic Park/World franchise is a pretty fun one. Bringing dinosaurs to life with very convincing animatronics/CGI and having them run around and chase people is a cool little niche. The main problem with it is, there's generally only so far one can go with such a franchise. For one thing, just having dinosaurs chasing people over and over again will probably only draw people so many times if not a whole lot interesting is happening beyond that story-or-character-wise. (This was part of the reason that Jurassic Park 3 sucked.) 

But the other problem is that the more these movies continue to happen, the more their existence depends upon the insane stupidity of the characters within them. You would think eventually these people would learn their lesson about messing with these dinosaurs. But they haven't. This is the interesting deal, though: while Fallen Kingdom depends upon that issue as much (if not even more so) as any of the other movies, it's also the first one to actually take things in a different direction. 

In this installment, it's been a few years since the events of the first Jurassic World, where that particular park got laid to waste. While the dinosaurs there have been left to their own devices for a while, now there's a new wrinkle: the volcano on Isla Nublar is about to erupt. Which would kill every single dinosaur on that island. And despite the fact that these are predators (well, mostly predators) way higher on the food chain that would kill us at a moment's notice, you still have people fighting for the dinosaurs' lives. No, seriously. 

Now, a somewhat more pragmatic solution is offered: rescue some of the dinosaurs and move them to a new island which will *not* be a park--just a sanctuary where they can roam free undisturbed by humans. Owen and Claire from the last movie get wrangled into this operation because of their previous experience here. The problem? Turns out these guys planning the operation have other plans. Because of course they do. This is a Jurassic Park/World movie, and things never go as planned in these movies. This franchise is the epitome of Murphy's Law. 

Here's the deal. Fallen Kingdom is probably the most ambitious film in the franchise since the original one. It takes the series to places we haven't seen before, and ends on a very different kind of note. But the problem is to get to that point where they can be ambitious, we have to wade through a stunning amount of stupidity on the part of the characters. The villains are cartoonishly evil, and that's a phrase I almost never use to describe villains. Really, Owen and Claire are the only characters that are that likable (the former more so). There's also the little girl Maisie... but more on her later. Everyone else's stupidity and (in some cases) evilness is just so over the top at times. It's to the point where you're almost rooting for the dinosaurs. And not to mention the fact that the first half of this film kind of rips off The Lost World: Jurassic Park, only with an erupting volcano thrown in. (The eruption and escape sequence is pretty cool, but still.) 

The second half is where the film becomes a whole different kind of beast, and where director J.A. Bayona really gets to shine. After the dinosaurs have been wrangled, things inevitably go wrong and we have a few loose dinos running about. What we get is a whole different kind of setting for the series: a haunted house of dinosaurs. And that includes another unholy hybrid dinosaur, who ultimately gets taken out a little easier than the Indominus Rex did... but is still far more threatening than the latter, bordering on demonic. All of this brings the franchise back to its horror roots a bit more. Some of the scenes featured here are brilliant; they're intense, the set pieces are excellent, and the direction/camera work is strong as well. (Some have noted more of a "gothic horror" theme here during these sections... and I can kind of see that. Definitely interesting territory for the franchise.) 

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all here is the latest kid featured in these movies, Maisie. Generally, the kids in these movies aren't very memorable. They're just there to run and scream, and provide some extra terror for viewers because "oh no, kids are in danger of getting eaten by a T-Rex or something." Sometimes they also provide a classic case of deus ex machina. But this one is actually likable from the get-go, and actually ends up being critical to the plot in a twist that may seem inevitable but still helps take the franchise to new territory. Credit should be given in part to newcomer Isabella Sermon who portrays her. 

And then there's the ending. Due to spoilers, I can't say much; but once again it takes the franchise into some new territory and gives the next installment a good amount of possible material to work with. And it's really the first time any of these movies have ever ended on any sort of a cliffhanger. And it works. Despite how many times I rolled my eyes in the first two-thirds or so, I'm very interested to see what they do with the next movie. 

Fallen Kingdom is a strange beast of a film. It's rather frustrating/annoying at times early on due to the stupidity of everyone involved. And as previously mentioned, it does feel more like a retread early on. But then things go in a whole different direction in the second half and the film ends up becoming a focal turning point for the series. As a whole, it's not as good as the first Jurassic World. But this one still impresses in some major ways. The franchise is in a good position right now, because the third JW movie won't necessarily be a retread now--if they play their cards right. And if they do play their cards right, Fallen Kingdom will end up being a major part of the path taken to get there. For all its flaws, Fallen Kingdom may have just been what the franchise needed in some ways.