Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Review

I’m here Peeps, as promised.

WARNING: 1) Spoilers (obviously) so don’t read on unless you’re sure (I’ll try to leave some surprises out just in case…but still there will be spoilers.) 2) This is going to be longer than my average post, so you may want to grab a cuppa first!

I’m kind of in shock. I was literally like a kid at Christmas on the way there, genuinely felt my tummy was in knots and was worried that something would happen to prevent me seeing it (urgent call, car breakdown etc.) I’ve been waiting since before Christmas for this…that first trailer got me hooked… so I have emotionally invested in this and what an emotional rollercoaster it was!

Overall, I enjoyed it. You HAVE TO watch it if you’re a fan of the franchise, but if (somehow) you’ve never seen any of the others it would still stand alone as a good action film without needing the reference to the others.

Generally speaking, it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be (phew! I am a wimp and it was 3D so kinda glad about this). Every discussion video about it on YouTube (and I’ve watched plenty of them) was focused on the fact that Bayona is a horror director and that this was a 12A rated film. There were a few moments, but I think most of them have been in the trailers and I don’t think it’s any gorier than the other films in the franchise.

It still deserves its 12A rating though for the emotional trauma and darker themes in it. It most definitely is worthy of Spielberg’s name. There is more than one discussion about Maisie’s family history and why she’s not got any parents, so that definitely needs an older audience. The dinosaurs going into the water with the gyro-sphere (shown in the trailers) was upsetting enough, but the bit after made me sob like I was watching ET or The Land Before Time! 😦 Probably not the bit to watch if you’re a keen animal rights activist!

In true Spielberg (and Jurassic) style there were a few laughs and loads of ‘aawww’ moments too. There are lots of cute baby dinos in it; the Raptor squad, the baby Triceratops and some cute adult ones too.

The film was brilliant technically-speaking, by far the best CGI and animatronics we’ve seen in the franchise; There was one bit in the water and once in the bedroom scene (with the Indoraptor opening the door) where it wasn’t quite right but other than that we were totally immersed.

I know at the 25 year anniversary of JP they showed the guests the first 7 minutes of film…genuinely they don’t know any more than the rest of us going in! The first few scenes in the dark and the rain are moody and brilliant: They look more like the main T-Rex climaxes in JP and Lost World! But this scene reveals very little about the plot and the characters for the rest of the film. A good way to get people talking and excited but wouldn’t have given away much. In fact, the film as a whole had a lot of action early on.

So the things I liked about it were: (Spoilers ahead)

• Technology and action-packed…just a different league to what they could do 25 years ago.
• As with the first JW film, it is believable because that is exactly what greedy, immoral humans would do with rare animals and genetic advances.
• The intensity of emotion and plot-line…totally lured in.
• The nods to all the other Jurassic films! There are tons to spot (and I’m not talking about the upside down Jeep and the amber cane in the trailers). There is one scene where Maisie very much reminds me of Lex in the first film, I loved that!
• Even though I’ve seen every trailer and discussion video I could, there were still surprises, some expected things did happen (lie the Indoraptor being killed and Mills getting his comeuppance) but not quite in the way you expect.
• The variety of dinosaurs we see…and the screen time they get! I was pleased that the cute little Stygimoloch wasn’t just a quick bit of comic relief (he was in about 4 scenes) although he was still fun and cute
• The girly-screaming IT guy in the trailers was much more interesting than you first think he will be.
• Chris Pratt is seriously fit…he spends a lot of time running, climbing and fighting in this, due credit to him. Fight scene in the auction by the way; totally entertaining and makes Owen the undoubted hero. 🙂
• That Paleo-vet is awesome! Her attitude to the bad guys and her love for the animals make her a cool female role model!
• Most importantly (BIG SPOILER) Rexy and Blue survive! 🙂 There are several moments when you think they haven’t though…more tugging on the heartstrings. 😦

** Not related to the film itself, but a large portion of my enjoyment came from the company of my daughter, the awesome little local cinema and my favourite snacks. 🙂 ❤

What I didn’t like so much:

• The death of and cruelty to lots of dinosaurs. 😦 I cried more than once (and unusually for me, I wasn’t the only one!) It is a complete emotional rollercoaster, so much so that a friend who’s seen it already asked me last night what I thought and I had to say I didn’t know! The trauma clouded out all the special effects and such from my mind until I’d had a few hours to process it all.
• The Lockwood Manor section of the film is a little long, I’d like to have seen more outside.
• The real-life Chip Hazard character didn’t get dealt with quickly enough.
• There’s a scene near the end that calls Owen’s hero status into question…I don’t like that, but someone else did the right thing, thank goodness! (If you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I mean.)
• The Indoraptor introduction could have been much scarier if they hadn’t shown that scene in a trailer (looking up at it in the cage from like an under-its-chin angle). I like trailers and how stuff is done and finding out what else the cast have been in, but even I thought that was a spoiler.
• Lego spoiled the Indoraptor death by releasing the Lockwood Manor set weeks ago (thank you to the YouTuber who shared that ) but it doesn’t happen in quite the way expected, so that was a relief. (I was under the impression going in that Claire causes it…she doesn’t.)
• I don’t know if I like this or not, but it doesn’t end with a Rexy roar. She does do it and it is after a victory, but not right at the end…

 

So where do we go from here? We already know Jurassic World 3 is set for June 2021 and given the end few scenes of this film, Maisie (who will have grown up by then) and Blue could be major players in it.

I said in 2 Months To Go!! JWFK that I hoped they wouldn’t kill Rexy and Blue off, or at least not until the last film (I don’t want them to, but killing Rexy off in the last film would have some poetic justice about it as she would be in first and last films).

Given that Blue is more the focus of the JW films, I hope they don’t just kill Rexy off-screen. I also hope they don’t ruin 2 perfect trilogies by making more after JW3 like they did with Planet of the Apes and Toy Story. Just NO.

It’s still possible I could get the scene I want with raptors in the areas where the dig-sites were in JP and JP3 🙂 (Pretty please Mr Spielberg?) I guess I’ll just have to wait 3 years to see!!

Thanks for reading all my Jurassic World posts, especially this looooooong one. (The rest are on my Random page under ‘entertainment’ if you’re brave enough to read some more!)

So I guess that’s all, for now, Jurassic fans…at least until the DVD comes out! 😉

Anna x

 

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