A Shift In The ‘Jurassic’ Experience

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom takes a shocking turn from the 25-year-old Jurassic saga. Directed by J. A. Bayona, the fifth edition of the Jurassic Park series excels at cinematic presentation with cleverly lit shots and carefully recreated details from the previous movie. As the setting shifts from the characteristic island to a massive bungalow, the action genre keeps adding elements of horror owing to Bayona’s experience. 

It is set three years after the disaster of Jurassic World amusement park when Owen (Chris Pratt) – Velociraptor Trainor and Claire (Bryce Dallas Holland) former operations manager of the park turned animal rights activist, have been hired by Mills to return to Isla Nublar, the abode of “bad memories” and rescue dinosaurs from an erupting volcano that will ensure the extinction of the last living (or created) dinosaurs. Mills works for a billionaire-now-philanthropist Benjamin Lockwood, who brings along a convoluted backstory on his wheelchair. A parallel storyline with him and his granddaughter seeks to provide an insider’s emotional view of genetic engineering, but is haphazardly placed and allows no breathing space to create any impact whatsoever.

Trademark ‘Jurassic’ Style Prevails 

The trademark -Dinos on the loose, people run, some get eaten- part lasts for an incredibly short amount of time as the movie desperately tries to shift the focus on the dilemma, ” do genetically created animals have the same place as the natural ones? Should dinosaurs be rescued or should we let God roll his plan?”But, it sadly lacks the required writing, screen time or sophistication. An attempt to steer the audience from the series’ signature awe, magnificence and terror of the ‘Dinosaurs’ to a larger and ideologically debated issue of genetic engineering and hybrid breeding is an interesting idea and that is all there is to be said about that.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy! Apparently Not!

As desperately as it strives to avoid the set niche of the series, the movie still manages to bring along the mistakes from previous films with hurried and incomplete premise set up, perfectly timed rescues, open threads in the plotline, apparent hatred for common sense, hungry, greedy, apathetic and unexplainably cruel bad guys, an unimaginative soundtrack and telltale characters. The CGI stars (which by the way did not get bigger and better) of the movie seem to be the only characters with consistency or capable of emotional engagement, as the newly introduced characters disastrously fail to connect with the audience or establish a personality.

Conclusion

To wrap it up, Jurassic World: Fallen kingdom falls short in terms of storytelling and audience attachment. But does a clean job of attention retention, with its captivating visual appeal and the luring, not so inconspicuous SFX.

If you are looking for a dinosaur movie, I would rate it a 7/10 for its Dinosaur-ness;

An 8.5/10 for the summer escapade and weekend jolly that it is;

An 8/10 as the forerunner of the final instalment of the planned Jurassic World trilogy;

A 6/10 as a part of the Jurassic Park awesomeness;

A 7.8/10 as an overall experience.