Let's address the dinosaur in the room - Fallen Kingdom wasn't a bad sequel. To a certain extent, one could even say this installment has surpassed minimum expectations. It has all the right ingredients a general audience member would anticipate walking into a Jurassic Park movie and maybe, even slightly more. With this consensus achieved, it's time to pick the film apart to see what functioned and what didn't.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom commenced with a theme. Living dinosaurs post Jurassic World disaster are currently facing a calamitic threat. In this situation, do we save them or not? A theme or a choice to be made can only be certified excellent if it isn't just simple black and white. Try thinking about the theme here for a second. Of course, the humane action would be to rescue the dinosaurs. We can't afford to let these animals die right before our eyes while clearly knowing we are able to do something about it beforehand! At the same time, we are talking about dinosaurs - the single most impossible coexistence to mankind! That's a beautiful dilemma! It's sad to say the script didn't fully utilize this golden potential, but it's fair enough to deem the plot, story and characters' actions were faithful to this thematic premise during the major plot points at the very least.
Speaking of plot, story and characters, one of the primary issues that caused Fallen Kingdom to falter was the structureless second half. Events kept happening and dinosaurs were kept hurled into the mix just to spark interactions between humans over and over again, regardless of whether it facilitates the narrative or not. When no changes are brought to the storyline and characters after an incident has occurred, that's when you know it’s a nonevent. Repeat that same damn thing a few more times, chances are bright to produce a nonfilm in the end! Personas wise, Chris Pratt was charismatic because of the actor, not the role unfortunately. Bryce Dallas Howard's presence was likable in this one if compared to Jurassic World. Jeff Goldblum was a blink-and-miss! Isabella Sermon was a decent child actor. Justice Smith as Franklin was an annoying burden to carry across this journey. Rafe Spall as the antagonist was merely a treading exposition spiller. And Ted Levine played a seasoned mercenary who consistently made stupid decisions throughout.
One can't help but spot resemblances to The Lost World in Fallen Kingdom. Dinosaurs auction was done in a way we have not experienced before in this franchise. Theropod training clip was adorable despite being lazily sneaked into the proceedings. While Owen Grady's (Chris Pratt) attempt to evade lava in a paralyzed state was worth chuckles, it would have performed even better if the episode wasn't abrupt or patchy! A compulsory inclusion of kiss and Blue the raptor running away from a gas combustion were silly. The unexpected twist about the granddaughter being a clone plus the dinosaurs released into the wild and worldwide to live with humans coated the tale with a powerfully dark, sinister flavor!
Most of the action sequences were devised with meticulous attention and planning. Volcanic eruption with leads running side-by side dinosaurs, T-Rex chomping on a Carnotaurus, Indominus Rex bone sample collection, initial T-Rex chase on helicopter, Indoraptor rumble at hallway, blood-drawing from a T-Rex in a claustrophobic truck, Indoraptor attack in house museum and bedroom invasion were well thought of! Guess where the problem lied in its final effectiveness? The characters. Throw in any scale of mishap into the motion picture, the protagonist and his troop will escape without a scratch. When this was done repeatedly, all the prospective tensions and thrills have evaporated. The audiences were already told and taught that no matter what happens, these lead characters will come out alive and well. Why then should the audiences care for invulnerable characters? Scenes that were only few steps away from extensive memorability and greatness turned out to be almost meaningless, leaving the film to be merely a physical struggle from start to finish without any emotional connectivity. This was exactly why the Brachiosaurus' death staring at the vessels leaving with its mates was far less impactful than it could have actually been! With all these being said, the one-take Gyrosphere abscond episode underwater was phenomenally shot and brought to life! Also, venue for the climax was fresh.
In terms of exhibiting the ancient creatures, the makers have tried their best to show us species never before seen on silver screens. Juvenile Allosaurus, Baryonyx, Carnotaurus, Stygimoloch or the genetically-engineered Indoraptor, you name it. Old man Mosasaurus was given some screen time, along with evergreen crowd favorite T-Rex! Ankylosaurus, Triceratops and Parasaurolophus had a few cameos here and there. Not to forget, baby raptors on training footages were too cute! Even if all the aforementioned breeds were absent from the feature, it's still magical as ever to witness a long neck Brachiosaurus strolling in front of tiny humans.
The technical mastery displayed here was outstanding! Sharp sound design, gorgeous landscape settings, stellar visual effects, everlasting animatronics and punctuative camerawork were absolutely quality outputs! While the theme music's usage was nostalgically good, some of the background score choices weren't entirely suitable.