Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Sometimes movie critics are idiots. This movie earned some
negative reviews and an underated 51% from Rotten Tomato. Critics said there
was more dino chasing and poor character development. This is the fifth movie
of this franchise; the audience has a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Critics need to manage their expectations. This is not a great movie but for
the genre it is still entertaining. There is action, rampaging dinosaurs, villains,
lingering romance and comic relief. A
common element of these movies is duplicity; some seemingly good guy with ulterior
motives . From an evolutionary perspective these films are about what can go
wrong will go wrong. This perspective takes over the movie and causes mayhem.
It is an old formula but it works.
On one level this is a simple movie. You have a good idea
which bad guys are going to be dino chow. Their anticipated demise keeps your attention.
You also have a pretty good guess which dinosaur is the good or bad.
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard have good chemistry and are
nicer to each other in this film. There are some funny scenes mostly from a new
character played by Justice Smith. His character shrieks a
lot as do the others. Another hallmark of these movies are kids. Isabella Sermon plays Maisie, the
granddaughter of Sir Benjamin Lockwood (former partner of John Hammond).
Aside from running away from dinosaurs and shrieking,
there is a subplot regarding her which comes in a bit late and is a throwaway. A
greyer Jeff Goldblum has brief appearances
in the beginning and ending of the movie, mumbling his dour predictions. Geraldine
Chaplin has a small roll as Maisie’s nanny. The woman is ageless, she still
looks 100 years old.
For fans of this franchise this is a fun movie. Critics need to
lighten up This film is not aiming for the Oscars, rather its target is the box
office. The film cost $170m to produce and has an international box office north
of $1b. With this type of revenue sequels are hard to resist. What will be
cloned next, cavemen?
