Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - A RMNT Review

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the fifth installment of the Jurassic Park film series and the sequel to Jurassic World, with J.A. Boyana taking on the role as the film's director. While Jurassic World is better than the previous films, with Jurassic Park still being the best of the franchise, it suffered from the underwhelming CGI and lack of animatronics of the dinosaurs, the unnecessary romance between the two main characters, one-dimensional villain, the unsubtle nostalgic references of the first film, but despite that, I still had a lot of fun watching it, but can Fallen Kingdom really bring new ideas to the franchise?

Warning: This review contains mild spoilers! The film opens with this question: "should the dinosaurs live or should they face extinction all over again?" It's an interesting theme to explore in the sequel, but unfortunately, the plot's execution is rather clumsy as it struggles with identifying itself as either being serious or as a B-movie, making the tone feel inconsistent, but regardless, the suspense remains effective since its shown to be the darkest of the franchise if you can believe it, especially when you have the Indoraptor, the film's featured genetic hybrid dinosaur, on the lose! The film went off to a good start during first act, but sadly like the island in the first act, the story erupts into a mess when it reaches the second act at the Lockwood Mansion, where the plot continues for the remainder of the film. Now while the interior itself looks nice, I expected more exterior areas, making this the first Jurassic Park film to be set mostly indoors. Honestly, you kinda get bored seeing the same areas of the sets after a long while, especially if its a film about surviving from dinosaur attacks. The ideas are there, but went extinct the moment you saw it dry out onscreen. Then there's also the matter of how the film ended, which left me jaw-dropped, but in a very "screaming into your pillow" way. Without spoiling, let's just say you wish to smack the person responsible for the conclusion.

The only characters to return from Jurassic World are Owen Grady, the former Velociraptor trainer, Claire Dearing, the former operations manager of Jurassic World who's now a dinosaur-rights activist, and Dr. Henry Wu, the former head geneticist, with Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and B.D. Wong reprising their roles respectively, along with new characters making their debut in the film. While the performances of the cast are to be appreciated, some of the characterization was lackluster. For a sequel, there's not much development going around, particularly one of the two returning main characters, Owen. Owen remains the same as the previous film, despite having the leading actor's signature witty charm, but at least he's determined to help the dinosaurs later in the film and we do get to see him fight off against a bunch of goons, which is a first. Claire wants to save the manmade dinosaurs, but despite that, I feel that she hasn't grown much either, I guess its due to the film reminding me that they had a relationship that's forcing itself into the story a couple of times. But despite that, the two give solid performances. James Cromwell as Sir Benjamin Lookwood, old partner and friend of the man who created Jurassic Park provides the resources to rescue the dinosaurs from the dying island, and while he does good work with the role, the man needs to work on his British accent as you hear his American accent taking over from time to time. Two of the new characters, Eli Mills (Lockwood's ambitious assistant who recruits Owen and Claire to rescue the dinosaurs) and Ken Wheatley (A seasoned mercenary who commands the rescue operation on Isla Nublar) are the antagonists of the film, who I swear belong in a Saturday Morning cartoon! Why? Their motivations and tropes. I know they're good actors, but this is the best material that they're given? I'm glad that they died later on out of sheer stupidity! There's Isabella Sermon as Lockwood's juvenile granddaughter Maisie, who I have say left a good impression for me, thanks to her performance and acting like how a kid should as well as showing good characteristics, that is until the film reveals something about her that I never expected to see in this franchise, which for some odd reason isn't addressed later anymore like its no big deal and what she does later in the end... You might want to take a deep breath... Two of Claire's co-workers in the activist agency, Zia (a paleoveteran) who's likable in her own way and for a couple of essential moments and Franklin (a systems analyst), who I found insufferable from his constant whining, screaming, phobias of being on a plane and on a boat, and then when he's gone missing offscreen with a henchmen, you'd feel a huge sign of relief until he appears later, making you remember that he's part of the film. To tell you the truth, I wished to see him die just so I don't have to hear him whine anymore. After 23 years, Jeff Goldblum reprises his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm, only to provide commentary related to the dinosaurs' right to live dilemma, but don't expect him to be in the film much, as he only appears in the first few minutes of the film and at the remaining minutes before the end credits.

The CGI has improved tremendously after the previous film as they look like the dinosaurs are actually there, including more noticeable moments where you see the animatronics at work, which is both very welcoming and essential since that's what made the first Jurassic Park so iconic in that area, especially used for both the T-Rex being transported in the carrier scene and Blue (the main Velociraptor) tied up and bleeding. The visuals of the film are also nice-shot, from the aerial shots, the the abandoned Jurassic World covered with moss, rust and vines, and the interior of the Lockwood Mansion, which as I mentioned, is where the film's plot remained, which can get tiring as there's not much more outdoor locations to explore, and I won't be counting the rooftop of the mansion, where the climatic dino fight takes place, as an outdoor location. But I do want to comment on my favorite scene of the film where the Indoraptor enters the bedroom of one of the characters, giving that feeling that you're experiencing a nightmare thanks to the atmosphere and music slowly building, so kudos to the director! While the visuals are well-built, its too bad there's not much to look around.

As much as it was entertaining, the experience is a pretty double-edge sword. On one edge, the film has a great first act, stunning cinematography, plenty of suspense, improved CGI plus very impressive animatronics and performances, particularly from Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, but then again, there's the story's clumsy execution and its inconsistent tone, frustrating moments from one of the new characters, one-dimensional antagonists, and lack of development of the two main characters. So should I hate it? No, but I expected this to be an improvement from the last film. Will the upcoming sixth film redeem it? I hope so because if it doesn't, then this franchise is sure to be put to extinction.

Story: 2.5 / 5

Characters: 2.5 / 5

Production: 3 / 5

Final rating: 2.5 / 5