Tyrannosaurus wrecks

Despite good looks, winning leads and some exciting action sequences, the latest instalment in the Jurassic Park franchise fails to evolve much beyond its equally small-brained predecessor...

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Dir JA Bayona, US 2018 On UK release

In 2015, Jurassic World divided audiences and critics between those who enjoyed it for what it was, namely a visually entertaining popcorn flick seasoned with nostalgia, and those who felt it was sorely lacking in terms of the heart that made the original film compelling beyond its superficial appeal as a dinosaur rampage movie.

With director JA Bayona receiving substantial praise for past efforts like The Orphanage as well as the more recent A Monster

Calls, there was no doubt that the director would bring at least a degree of visual competence to the Jurassic World sequel.

And it does indeed start very well with a thrilling and atmospheric opening sequence that gives the viewer a taster of Bayona’s talents as a visual storyteller as well as serving as a paraphrase of the extended ending of the original Jurassic

Park, which never made it beyond the storyboard phase back in the day. While it takes a while, such sequences soon prove to be plentiful, which will undoubtedly thrill many viewers. However, some may find Bayona’s approach too tonally distant from the original, as the Spanish director brings an almost gothic fairytale flavour to several of these set pieces.

As we are reintroduced to the protagonists of the 2015 film, the plot (what there is of it) begins to unfold. Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire and Chris Pratt as Owen are both natural and likable, but neither is afforded much character development. And except for the expositiondumping we get – a few archive clips of Owen documenting how he formed a bond with his velociraptor Blue when she was merely a cuddly little ball of razor-sharp teeth, claws and killer instinct – nothing else is done to explore the bond between man and prehistoric beast; and that is an awful shame, as it would have given the film a distinctive, if silly, charm that dinosaur enthusiasts would have thoroughly enjoyed. Likewise, nothing is done to further explore the relationship between Owen and Claire; they have no interesting exchanges once the action kicks into gear, resulting in non-existent character arcs for a duo that has plenty of potential. New characters are also introduced without taking more than the absolute bare minimum of time to flesh them out, resulting in a handful of underdeveloped supporting characters reminiscent of the equally bland supporting cast of Jurassic World. As a result, there is a sinful waste of talent all around. This leaves the viewer unable to invest in any of the human characters, and by proxy the various plot twists and, indeed, the film premise as a whole, as one eventually begins to realise that Jurassic World:

Fallen Kingdom has little more to offer than a string of unevenly executed action set pieces.

While the film is undoubtedly leagues better than the eternally abysmal Jurassic Park 3, it still feels like a hollow shell that captures none of the magic of the original, just as it also completely wastes the potential offered by cast members such as Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall and Toby Jones. Arguably, Jurassic

Park was also a relentless thrill ride with seemingly never-ending perils for our protagonists to face, but what made the viewer engage with that film was the combination of the marvellous technical achievements of Stan Winston’s team and the humanity that Steven Spielberg so competently injected into the 1993 original.

What we are left with this time around may be equally relentless, on a purely superficial level, but there is nothing here for the viewer to engage with emotionally, making Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom regrettably disengaging – even for someone like yours truly, who never outgrew her obligatory childhood obsession with all things dinosaur.

Bayona brings an almost gothic fairytale flavour to these set pieces