Rating (1.5 out of 5)
Summary: We all need to band together and ban any further Jurassic World movies so Hollywood stops producing them. A poorly written script recycles the theme of corporate greed versus the dinosaurs. Only the dinosaurs, which we have all seen before, remain the only redeeming feature of the movie. “Fallen Kingdom” offers nothing new for the audience, don’t waste your time.
Even the movie being free on Southwest airlines couldn’t make me enjoy “Fallen Kingdom”. The 1.5 rating is a result of the solid effects and well, dinosaurs are awesome.
Plot: Claire (Bryce Howard Dallas) recruits Owen (Chris Pratt) to save Blue their velociraptor from the island before the volcano destroys all the dinosaurs. They successfully rescue Blue, but of course are double crossed by the well dressed slick corporate slug Eli Mills (Rafe Spall). Claire and Owen struggle hundreds of armed mercenaries and rampaging dinosaurs to save the day.
What I Liked: The dinosaurs are always cool and well done. I enjoyed the scene where Claire and Owen drew blood from the T-Rex.
What I Didn’t Like: Let’s start with the shallow script offering nothing new. First, insert the corporate stooge selling out everything for a few bucks (every Jurassic Park movie). Who didn’t know Eli was the bad guy as soon as he appeared on screen? Second, capture the dinosaurs, but then let them all loose. Aaghh!
Claire and Owen don’t prepare to be double crossed on the island? Please, they should have known from the last time, or the previous movies the corporation interests and theirs don’t align. Anticipating a double cross would have added an interesting element.
The two side kicks, Franklin (Justice Smith) and Zia (Daniella Pineda) are useless characters. These two characters are flimsy characters, devised to trigger key parts of the story forward. Franklin full fills the need to get the technical aspects running and Zia removing the bullet from Blue. Had they followed my Power Ranger Formula, the characters traits would be enhanced and improved the overall film.
Who didn’t know Maisie Lockwood’s (Isabella Sermon) vital secret. The big secret doesn’t impact the resolution and is unimportant to the creation of conflict, so why waste valuable screen time on her character.