 Although I'm somewhat of the mind that this is just more of the same, I will give the film a touch of credit for trying a new approach to the concept of nature being messed with, delivering a heavy-handed message about us humans playing God. At the very least, this isn't just about creating a new dinosaur that will wreak havoc (although that's still almost annoyingly present). The central plot aims to benefit humanity by accomplishing something for the greater good. Although greed still plays a significant role.
However, even with some of the new ideas present, I've come to realize sitting through this that nothing comes as a surprise anymore, even with the use of new dinos - one of which is "invented" and whose creature design is one I find quite irksome. It's still people putting themselves in danger for money; it still involves a "search-and-rescue" mission, be it big or small, there's still some awe to it, but at this point, nothing will ever strike us quite like the classic '93 original did. One thing that's 100% fresh and new about this chapter, however, is its cast of all-new characters, which is a breath of fresh air. The film opens with a brief recap of events since the last 'Jurassic World,' which saw dinosaurs running wild, but mostly involved locusts. I can't speak to the accuracy of this, but I can give the film credit for addressing the fact that, in the present day, the climate has pushed any surviving "de-extinct" dinosaurs towards the equator, as they can't survive in our human-run Earth climate. These areas soon become uninhabitable for the dinosaurs, and travel bans are put in place so no human beings go and accidentally kill themselves. But of course, without such fools, we wouldn't have much of a movie. Enter ParkerGenix pharmaceutical executive, Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), who recruits ex-military covert operative Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and expert paleontologist, Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) to head to the equator for a top secret mission. It is thought that the three largest surviving species of land, sea and air-dwelling prehistoric creatures hold the key to conquering heart disease; respectively, the Titanosaurus, the Mosasaurus and the Quetzalcoatlus. The goal is to collect blood samples from one of each living creature, bringing them home for study and earning a substantial amount of money in the process. Meanwhile, Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his daughters Isabella (Audrina Miranda) and Teresa (Luna Blaise), along with Teresa's meathead boyfriend, Xavier Dobbs (David Iacono) are sailing nearby when they encounter the Mososaur that the team above is after. They all cross paths, only to be separated again: the team, after what they came for, and the family, left to survive on their own. However, a few, namely Zora, Henry and Zora's professional sailor friend, Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), are genuinely concerned for their safety. While I can give the film some credit for some new ideas, things otherwise get ruined by a few details. The big annoyance is the constant name yelling we haven't seen as bad since 'JP III.' You also have to wonder what the hell the family is doing out that way. Even if it is addressed, there are also travel bans that they are ignoring. To top it all off, the creation of what InGen has dubbed the "Distortus Rex," which is a blend of the Xenomorph from 'Alien' and the Rancour from 'Jedi,' perhaps with a dash of Cloverfield Monster. It looked like they were reaching far too much with this thing, and it felt like a blatant rip-off. Even with as much credit as I can give the movie, there's not enough here for me to say that I enjoyed it, save for a cool scene or two not involving the "D-Rex." Even the idea of grabbing these blood samples is fine, but the whole way it's done is straight out of a video game and doesn't feel like it should be as easy as they make it look. After this chapter, I sincerely feel like it will take a hell of a lot to get me back into the franchise, which I haven't appreciated at all since 2015's 'Jurassic World.' This isn't quite as bad as some others, but it's definitely near the bottom. 2/5
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 This film turned out to be a disappointing theatrical experience, mainly due to the presence of rowdy kids, so I was relieved to revisit it in the hopes of getting more out of it. As it turns out, however, I was just reminded of how bad it was. My hopes were never exactly what you'd call high for this. However, I had forgotten just how much this movie sincerely lacks, especially considering its overkill runtime of 2h 27m, and bringing everyone back into the story for one significant collaborative effort.
I'm going to enter spoiler territory to review this, so to put it out there, one might not want to read on if they haven't yet seen 'Fallen Kingdom.' Now that I have that warning out of the way, this film picks up about four years after the events of 'Fallen Kingdom,' where young Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) unleashes a bunch of dinosaurs into the world, which rescues them from captivity. So, screw the other animals and people; they'll all eat. Anyway, despite how dumb it all is, the concept of a modern world overrun by dinos was admittedly appealing, but I wish it had been done differently. With dinosaurs back on planet Earth, the world's ecosystem, to no one's surprise, enters a state of chaos, and humans aren't exactly surviving very well. So, once again, thanks a lot, Maisie. In the meantime, Biosyn Genetics (established way back when as a more crooked rival company to InGen) has been granted permission to create a dinosaur sanctuary in Italy's Dolomite Mountains. There, they continue their research on the creatures. However, they also want to get their hands on Maisie for research purposes, involving her immunity to a genetic disease. Maisie now lives with Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who still works with the Dinosaur Protection Group, and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), who now works as a dinosaur wrangler, relocating stray dinosaurs. As life goes on for these experts in this new world, danger is imminent when crops begin getting devoured by giant locusts, which brings in Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to study the phenomenon. What they discover, to no one's real shock, is just another Biosyn "control" plot. I'm sorry if that is considered a spoiler. Part of what makes this so bad is its overpredictability. The film goes through the motions, warning us about the dangers of messing with nature, and focuses mainly on the locusts and Maisie's significance to humanity, which is a classic zombie/infected plotline best explored in 'The Last of Us.' There are plenty of dinosaurs to be seen throughout, but there's not much to them when it comes to adding to the story. It's just to put something dangerous in the heroes' way. It's less of a dinosaur movie and more of a film that happens to have dinosaurs in it. It's funny, but even at the time of its release, this claimed that it would be the "last one," but along came 'Rebirth' just three years later, which goes to prove once again that just because a franchise says "this is the final one," money talks. It helped in this case to bring back old characters, who also include Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), to bring in a solid generational split. But it also goes to show that just because everyone's in it doesn't mean it's necessarily good. What you need is a good writer to tie it all together. When you get right down to it, I could consider the 'Jurassic' franchise to strongly fall under that category of a franchise where the first one is the only one you truly need, as the rest of them all pretty much convey the same lessons in what it means to play God and have control over something that will ultimately bite back in the end. Aside from the presence of a whole load of unrecognizable dinosaurs here (with a few exceptions), it's still just the same underlying concepts with a different delivery system, and altogether unimpressive despite the attempt using the 'Jurassic' all-star cast. 2/5  While I can say with all honesty that I enjoyed 'Jurassic World,' it's probably fair to say that the series starts to travel downhill after that. The original '93 movie will never even come close to being topped with anything new. On one hand, people come to thee to see some of their favourite dinosaurs in action, and that's fair. But how far do these have to go? This was where I found the series to jump the shark completely, and the catalyst for what has made me tired of this series.
This chapter is yet another look at how we humans can't seem to learn a damned thing about what it means to have power over nature and how nature will ultimately turn on them in the end, making it extremely predictable. At this point, it feels like we're going through the motions, and it's a simple matter of getting butts into seats, using that 'Jurassic' title. And hey, my butt ended up in one of those seats, and I can still remember when it was all over, almost feeling insulted by some of the stupid twists and turns the movie makes. This time around, we kick things off with Jeff Goldblum returning as Ian Malcolm very briefly. He's in a conference where they discuss the volcano on Isla Nublar about to erupt and kill off these dinosaurs. Malcom, being the only one with common sense, suggests letting it happen. Dinosaurs are not meant to be a part of our world, plain and simple. But of course, animal rights activists come into the picture, saying things like "our children shouldn't have to grow up without dinosaurs," just like everyone watching the movie did, using books and media to educate themselves so they could recognize the dinosaurs in this movie. But I digress. Heading this department is Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) from the last film. She recruits Owen (Chris Pratt) and a team of minor characters to head to the island and try to get the dinosaurs off of it. However, the volcano erupts, and few are rescued, but by the wrong people and for the wrong reasons. I'll give you ONE GUESS what they wanna do with these dinosaurs - that's right, same as usual. Use their DNA to create new and unfamiliar creatures that wanna kill things. This time around, I won't spoil much, but they take it to a pretty ridiculous extreme. While I can admit that there were a few neat ideas throughout the film, for the most part, this turns into an incredibly heavy-handed movie about animal rights, which I support, but more so for the creatures that these dinosaurs would ultimately destroy and drive to extinction. This isn't a species of creature that is endangered and about to go extinct that we should struggle to save. It's a species we lived without for centuries that poses a threat to our very existence. Hell, there's even a scene where Blue the Raptor is shown crying. Again, heavy-handed. I would probably put this just a notch above 'JP III' as far as quality goes, but not very far. This wasn't without a decent thrill or two. Blue grows on you a bit more, and it's kinda neat to bring it all to the mainland to offer up a bigger threat in case something goes wrong and doing it without a T-Rex trying to be Godzilla. But then there's the ending that shows us how one little clone (don't ask) girl named Maisie (Isabella Sermon) performs a bit of a "playing God" act, herself, but for some reason it's supposed to be "okay," when in reality, this girl unleashes pure Hell on Earth. I won't say anything much more than that about it, but if you've seen 'Dominion,' you already know what Maisie does at the end here. For me, it was one of the most ineffective ways to convey the importance of animal rights. The only thing I appreciated about it, however, is that it brings back a bit of that light horror vibe for the kids watching, which was what several of my peers and I experienced with the original '93 film. However, that's not enough to outweigh some of the sheer stupidity seen throughout this chapter, and it truly marks the "beginning of the end" for me when it comes to the quality of these movies. 2/5  In my 'Lost World' review, I ended up considering it to be probably (at least in my eyes) the "third best" of the 'Jurassic' series. While the top of the list feels like an obvious choice with the original film, it's probably 'Jurassic World' here that I would consider the second-place film in the series. That's saying a lot, because this one's not without its problems and irksome moments, but so help me, the nostalgic factor, along with a few new and interesting ideas, reeled me in.
The nostalic factor often plays a part in my enjoyment of a movie, successfully executed with movies like 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' and (I almost regret admitting) 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens,' but it must be noted that it doesn't always work, and even when it does, it's never anything "perfect." Still, though, there's something they get right with the balance of things, and I have to admit that 'Jurassic World' finds itself residing in that soft spot in my heart, which is far more than I can say for its sequels. Taking place over twenty years after the disaster on Isla Nublar (the first film's island), the film offers a fun glimpse into what 'Jurassic Park' could have been with the new theme park "Jurassic World," where families can spend time among the coolest of prehistoric creatures. Kids can ride baby Triceratops, there's a petting zoo, an aviary full of Pterodactyls and the like, and it's all seen through the eyes of siblings Zach and Gray Mitchell (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins, respectively), who go there to visit their aunt Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard). The boys, however, are passed over to her assistant, Zara (Katie McGrath), as Claire is just a litle too busy with her latest Jurassic World attraction; a new dinosaur they name the Indominous Rex, which is a hybrid dino combining the DNA of various dinos, mainly a T-Rex and a mystery dinosaur that you can probably already guess just knowing the Coles Notes about 'Jurassic Park.' Anyway, this thing, created mainly by Henry Wu (BD Wong), who some will remember from the first film, is meant to be a new, thrilling attraction, as by this point, regular dinosaurs seem to be "old news" for the Park. In the meantime, Raptor expert, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) has been researching Velociraptors and their behaviour, when he is approached by head of InGen security, Vic Hoskins (Vincent D'Onofrio) who, in classic InGen villainy, wishes to weaponize the Raptors, which is a whole B-side to the film and dovetails with the central plot. Claire later approaches Owen to check out the Indominous Rex, its enclosure, and make sure things are up to snuff. Cutting to the chase, the Rex tricks him and the JW owner, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), only to make its escape, and bring us into a whole new disaster. While part of the film is about searching out the escaped Indominous Rex, and offering up another disaster movie that is thematically about the dangers of playing God, the other part is mainly about finding and rescuing the two brothers, so it's abundantly clear that this is a whole lot of the same thing again. However, here, things are just done better, offering up things like a carnivor tag team death match as its climax instead of, let's say, the Ceratosaurus in 'JP III' who quite literally does nothing. And hey, let's not leave out Pratt playing Alpha Raptor and guiding a team of Velociraptors with his motorcycle. Silly, sure, but still badass. While so much of the film is the same thing again, at least it could be said that this is a chapter that tries some new things like the Park coming to fruition, interesting (if poorly thought out) rides like the Gyrospheres, putting on a Mososaur show like its an Orcha at Sea World, and interesting things like that, which add to the whole concept's risk factor even without a crazy Frankendino on the loose. While the film isn't perfect, it certainly has my respect, and it's probably the only 'World' title I'd happily go back to watch. In short, this is just a lot of fun. 4/5  Concerning the original 'JP' trilogy, it seemed abundantly clear that while the first film was to go down in cinematic history as a massive achievement for its time, its sequels were pretty weak in comparison. While I did mention liking 'Lost World' with my reasons, I can safely say that 'Jurassic Park III' was something I strongly disliked at the time. I still strongly dislike today, considering it among the worst of the 'Jurassic' titles. But does it have any redeeming qualities? Well, a bit more on that later.
Seeing this in theatres back in 2001, I can still remember being ultimately excited, but strongly let down. While some may praise this for its short running time and getting straight to the point, I felt it was too short and ultimately somewhat pointless, considering the film's entire plotline is followed by an ending that will leave one shaking their head, wondering, "We couldn't have done this from the beginning?" Not gonna spoil it, but for those who have seen the movie, you probably know what I'm talking about. The film opens immediately with a stupid decision as young Eric (Trevor Morgan) and a friend of his stepfather's go paragliding right next to Isla Sorna, which is the island full of wild dinos we recall from 'The Lost World.' Predictably, shit happens, and it's pretty reminiscent of the beginning of 'Lost World', where it leaves us wondering what happens until it gets addressed later on in the film. Then the film cuts to our heroes from the first film, paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), who is now married with children to someone who isn't Alan, named Mark (Taylor Nichols). This is extra irksome nowadays, as in the 'Jurassic Park' book, Ellie is a student of Alan's, but they changed it up to a relationship in the film. Yet here, things do not carry through, the point being, if you're gonna change it anyway, and do it reasonably well, I might add, you might as well keep rolling with it, especially considering they have such chemistry between them here. But I digress; all this means is that the film is worse than I remember after finally reading the books. But to get to the point, he's trying to secure funding for his Velociraptor research. Funding comes in the form of a couple by the names of Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Téa Leoni, respectively), who write a generous cheque to Alan in hopes that he will be their guide on a low-flying tour of Isla Sorna. He reluctantly accepts, bringing along his protégé, Billy (Alessandro Nivola), a promising young paleontology expert. Before long, however, it's revealed that Alan and Billy have essentially been kidnapped, as the Kirbys need an expert to help them navigate the island safely, as they search for their missing son, Eric, from the opening of the film. To get right down to criticisms, let's start with the Kirby couple. Both are annoying in their way, but perhaps most grating is how often they call out for Eric. It doesn't stop at Eric, either. 40% of this film's dialogue is just yelling out names. A lot of the rest of it is just stupid decisions. There's also too much antirealism going on here, namely the concept of a kid surviving a full 8 weeks. That's right, this search is 8 weeks after Eric goes missing. Even the best 'Jurassic' movies are over just a few days. It's far too difficult to buy into. Going back to what I said before about redeeming qualities, about the best I can give it is that they introduce some new prehistoric creatures to the mix, like Pterodactyls, and most infamously, the Spinosaurus, who no one talks about anymore, aside from the idea that it downs a T-rex, much to the shagrin of 'Jurassic Park' fans. So even any praise I can try to give ends up as a disappointing detail. Lastly, the CG is just CG at this point, and is far more obvious-looking than in the previous films, and hasn't aged nearly as well. It's a bit of a dice roll to figure out which of the 'Jurassic' films is the worst, but this is definitely in the running. 1/5  I've always found this chapter of the 'Jurassic' franchise to be a bit difficult to maneuver. It's seldom seen as a good movie by most critics, and several things about it are recognizably pretty awful, but I have to admit that 'The Lost World' here still has a place in my heart. I was 14, going on 15 when it was released, so very age-appropriate. I saw it with a good friend who loved the first one as much, if not more, than I did. Even today, I consider it to be the third-best in the series, just behind 'Jurassic World' (but that's me).
Nowadays, when I look at this film, there's quite a bit about it I don't like, but there is a nostalgic attachment to it all the same. What I like about it ends up outweighing the things I don't like, even if they are cheesy and stray extremely far from the book. One must note, going into this, if they are indeed fans of the novel, that this is barely even based on it. The film takes a lot of liberties, and that's bound to throw a lot of people off. I understand that completely, it's how I felt about the 'Percy Jackson' movies in comparison to the books. With few exceptions in similarities, this is its own thing, and should be treated as such. The film even opens with a recreation of a scene from the original first 'Jurassic Park' novel, in which a little girl is attacked by a group of carniverous Compsognathus, which Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard), nephew of Jurassic Park's founder, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) uses to gain control of the InGen company; those responsible for the cloning of the dangerous dinos in the first place. The site where the girl was attacked was the outskirts of Isla Sorna, which was the site where the dinosaurs were cloned, but due to a hurricane, the island had since been abandoned, and the dinos are loose and running around. Hammond calls on Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to join a team in documenting the creatures in an attempt to initiate a non-interference policy. Due to the events of the previous film, which are essentially Hammond's fault, Malcolm initially refuses. However, when he learns his girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), is already on the island, the mission's purpose changes abruptly from an animal study to a rescue mission. Things get even worse for Malcolm when he learns his daughter, Kelly (Vanessa Chester), has stowed away for the adventure. In the meantime, Ludlow's plans involve using his team to capture several dinosaurs to bring to the mainland in an attempt to save InGen. Once again, this is man interfering with nature, and it leads to dire consequences. Anyone who has seen this knows about the climactic ending, which involves a T-Rex going full Godzilla, which brings me back to what I mentioned earlier about liking some of the cheesier bits about this movie. It's a ridiculous scene that has absolutely nothing to do with the book, but I've always seen it as a Spielberg homage to Godzilla. To add to that, there's a lot about the film that strays further from the book, but closer to the 1925 film 'The Lost World,' which also involves a rescue mission and survival in the face of dinosaurs. It's my impression that Spielberg and writer, David Koepp took this opportunity to give a bit of a nod to the "creature feature," as the 'Jurassic' movies are mainly representative of what the modern giant monster movie would be, which both 'The Lost World' ('25) and 'Godzilla' have in abundance. So once again, one must treat this as a separate entity. While I may enjoy this more than most, especially literary purists, it's certainly not without its problems. Some of the characters are weak, a LOT of the decisions made are incredibly stupid, there's a ton about the raptors, it's tough to buy into (the gymnast scene is ridiculous), and while I have a particular appreciation for its cheesiness, let's face it, the T-rex mainland scene is a bit much. Still, it's a film that I have fond memories of, and a fresh appreciation for when I consider some of its probable inspiration. Either way, I know this - it's not the weakest 'Jurassic' movie by a long shot! 3/5  When it comes to 'Jurassic Park,' I find it interesting to consider that the use of CG effects was so new at the time that it paved the way for some groundbreaking material. Sure, 'Toy Story' was the first full-length CG film by 1995, but I tend to consider 'Jurassic Park' to be what really, truly brought CG into the spotlight, bringing dinosaurs to life for us dino-obsessed kids at the time. Before this, if we wanted to make dinosaurs more "realistic," we'd have to use stop-motion animation and camera tricks.
Nowadays, the effects dealt with in this film are commonplace. Back in 1993, though, this was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, and holds up today better than most straight-CG renderings of creatures, like in the later 'Star Wars' movies thanks to the effects artists using CG over models, giving these dinos the life we always wanted to see back then, an there was barely a soul alive that left the theater not feeling the thrill 'Jurassic Park' provided. This film was the box office equivalent of your average Marvel movie today. The story begins when wealthy industrialist John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) invites paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to an island he owns, off the coast of Costa Rica - Isla Nublar. Here, he hopes to have the two experts analyze what he has created and approve his attractions for opening his park. This is influenced by the park's investors insisting on a thorough inspection to ensure the park's safety. The investors' representative, lawyer Mr. Gennaro (Martin Ferrero), also attends, inviting mathematician and chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Although the group is blown away by what Hammond has created (an interactive "zoo" that holds cloned dinosaurs as opposed to everyday animals), all manage to see the inherent danger that lies within the park. Still, the group is sent on a tour, accompanied by Hammond's grandkids, Tim (Joseph Mazzello), a young dinosaur enthusiast, and Lex (Ariana Richards), a young computer nerd (though she prefers to be called a "hacker"). As the group enters the Jurassic Park tour, however, little do they know just how right most of them are about the dangers of the park, thanks to the greedy Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight). Nedry, the park's head programmer, has plans to steal fertilized dinosaur embryos and deliver them to Hammond's corporate rival in exchange for a bribe. This involves shutting down the park's security system and racing against the clock as a severe storm is approaching. As a result, the dinosaurs escape, chaos ensues, and the tourists get separated. While Ellie, Malcolm, Hammond and others work on restoring power and communications to the island, Grant, Tim, and Lex find themselves having to maneuver through a dangerous array of should-be-extinct wildlife - half of which is out for a good meal. Nowadays, we can watch this and point out several flaws, be they nitpicks or genuine errors, but it was a perfect mix of action and thrills for us kids at the time (I was 10) to such an extent that a lot of it was legitimately scary to us, and it provided a lot of our first toe dips into horror, despite it not being a horror movie. For me, the T. rex escape and Raptors in the kitchen were particularly nerve-racking, but I was still in awe about how amazing the film looked. It was a roller-coaster ride, and provided a cautionary tale about what it means to "play God" to try and cash-in. 'Jurassic Park' remains hands-down my all-time favourite 'Jurassic' movie, and a lot of that is due to all of them repeating the same 'playing God' concept based on greed, which gets old fast. But I suppose the success of the series over the years mostly boils down to the same simple idea that got me into this film in the first place - wanting to see dinosaurs on the big screen, and there's a whole new generation of kids falling in love with dinos just as I did way back when. I'm not here to take any of that away from the fans, but as far as the 'Jurassic' series goes, it does not ever get any better than this particular landmark of a movie. 5/5 |
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