When a new installment to the Jurassic World franchise hits, you must see it in the theater. Seeing something like this for the first time from home will underwhelm and annoy unless one is a fanatic of the series. But even then I wouldn't call it a guarantee.
For more personal enjoyment, occasionally I will go into films with very low expectations. And this one fit that particular mold. Perhaps because I thought the first Jurassic World was so good (quite possibly better than the original) that there was just no way Fallen Kingdom was going to outdo it. As far as personal tastes go, my suspicions were correct.
The premise for this one is simple. Save the dinosaurs. By any means necessary.
It's not that didn't like what I saw, I did, but only a few sequences. Sloppy writing and underdeveloped action really took me out of it. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard turned in decent enough performances. But everyone else...was kinda...just...there. I found myself hating Franklin (Justice Smith) because while he was the one of the bunch (there's always one) that doesn't want to be there, the lines he was given were stereotypical to a nauseating degree. Every time I saw him, I threw my shoes at the screen. By the time I got to Act II, the entire row I was sitting in was out of shoes. I attribute that more to lazy writing than poor acting. But Justice does have some work to do. I also felt that veteran actors James Cromwell and Rafe Spall were depressingly underused. Both solid in their own right. Don't get me started on the laughable contribution made by Jeff Goldblum, Ted Levine, Toby Jones, and BD Wong. With the exception of Wong, those are some big hitters playing cartoon caricatures of themselves. I get it, it's a movie about dinosaurs, but sometimes, just sometimes, if everyone is playing their role "straight" it can pay off...big time. Think Jaws.
So, see this one in the theaters. If for nothing else to support cinema. But, unless you're me or the owner/operator of this site, save your money when the Blu-ray comes out and just watch reruns of it on TNT.
Crypt-Teaze Contributor
Sean Ellis
