Film Review: “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”
JA Bayona drives dinosaurs into the future with the help of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard
Sequels are tough. No matter how you put it, sequels (and second seasons) will always be the hardest type of film to pull off. A director is typically, setting himself up for failure. The audience wants something bigger that the original film, but not too different. They want new characters and new stories, but don’t want to leave the old characters behind. The studio enters the game of a balancing act, only this act costs hundreds of million of dollars. This is mostly the reason why sequels (espically Hollywood sequels in the last ten years), aren’t normally as successful as their predecessor. Luckly for us, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” isn’t one of those films.
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” takes place a few years after 2015’s “Jurassic World” (probably 3 years keeping with the modern day timeline). In those years, the park has been shut down (shocker) and abandoned. We quickly learn that the volcano on the island is due to erupt in the near future, killing every dinosaur inhabiting the island. A private company, wanting to save the dinosaurs, contacts Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard, who has had a change of heart since we last saw her and runs a Save the Dinosaurs non-profit) and Owen (Chris Pratt) to help them get as many dinosaurs safely off the island.
From the outside looking in, Fallen Kingdom is a science-fiction-action sequel to a reboot, but once you’re watching the movie, it becomes a connection to what Jurassic Park/World was and what the franchise could become.
Director JA Bayona (“The Impossible”, “A Monster Calls”) perfectly directs this film. It has the right amount of action, comedy, suspense, and horror that flawlessly blends into entertaining summer blockbuster. It still has the intense moral dilemmas and philosophical questions that’s associated with the franchise, but Bayona (and writers Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow) expand on those questions. Here the question starts out as: do dinsours deserve the same treatment as every other endangered species? Or should we just turn our backs away and let dozens of species, become extinct just becuase a fraction of them, can be dangerous? But Bayona only use those questions as a starting point. They’re just jump-off points for the story, reminding us of the world we just entered before he quietly updates it for the modern world. It’s also nice to know that Bayona and the creative team knows what this movie is. They’re not planning on being nominated for awards for this movie, it is by no means a potential Best Picture nominee. They wanted to make a fun popcorn movie for the summer, and that is exactly what they did.
Bayona also directed an extremely well paced film. Everything moves effortlessly as we change locations, plot points, and characters. The audience is always interested and engaged, even when one’s favorite character or plot point isn’t on screen which is a talent and skill that very few directors have and shouldn’t go unnoticed. Bayona also knows how to properly blend several genres in the film. There are moments where the film is supsensful and scary that younger audiences will want to cover their eyes. Then there are moments that are action-packed with impressive stunts and funny jokes and then there’s great character building scenes as well (which are normally cut in these big action movies but not here). Bayona smoothly transitions from scene to scene and genre to genre with complete ease that the audience doesn’t notice at all.
Throughout the film, the audience gets transported to serval locations with a talented ensemble that mixes and matches throughout the entire film. This isn’t like the latest “Avengers” movie where one team is in one location and another team is somewhere else with their own plotline. Here, characters meet, split-up, and meet again while helping each other out, and to the credit to Bayona and the cast, works perfectly. Every actor adapts well to their new scene partner and surroundings while also staying true to their characters.
But the heart and soul of this franchise is the magical team that is Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Owen and Claire which Bayona doesn’t completely understand. As I said before, the characters mix and match throughout the entire film, so Pratt and Howard are separated for a decent amount of time telling their part of the story. Individually, both actors are great in their roles. It’s obvious that both actors are committed to their parts and believe in their character and story. But when Pratt and Howard are together, sparks fly. They are one of those movie pairs that just work like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. They’re funny, sexy, bounce off each other well, but most importantly they make a great team that the audience believes in. The reason these films are so successful is because the audience connects with their story and roots for them as a team. Dinosaurs are dinosaurs at the end of the day. It’s 2018, anyone can make a movie about dinosaurs eating people, but only a few people can center that idea around characters that have real, believable arcs that learn lessons and grow as characters (and a great partner to support them/learn from).
JA Bayona had an extremely hard job that hundreds of directors fail at: make a successful sequel (to a reboot of a beloved franshise) and he raised above. Not only did he create an entertaining movie with suspense, violence, maturity, and heart. But he also drove this franchise into the future with a near perfect set up for the next installment. A third Jurassic World film has been in development since the public learned that a sequel was being made. I don’t know how Colin Trevorrow (who directed the original “Jurassic World” and will be directing the third installment) is going to top this one, but if there is one thing I do know, it’s that the park may be gone, but the magic isn’t going away anytime soon.
