First Take: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom- just think of a T-Rex making a bed

SYNOPSIS:

When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen and Claire mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event.

Hollywood seems to be going on a mega nostalgia trip of late, with every franchise imaginable receiving a reboot- but when Jurassic World came out back in 2015, it set the standard for connecting 2 generations of cinemagoers together. Unsurprisingly the latest addition to the franchise is fantastic, and it works incredibly well as a standalone film.

Taking over the helm of the film from Colin Trevorrow (who was a little busy working on Star Wars: Episode IX… before he got fired) is J.A Bayona, a director who has form with big natural disaster pictures in the form of 2013′s The Impossible as well as heartwarming tales like 2016′s A Monster Calls, and he is able to take the nostalgia and blend it with new plot details, crafted very well in a script from Trevorrow and Derek Connelly, to create a 2 hour 8 minute film that appeases long time fans of the series, as well as newcomers seeing what all the fuss is about. It’s shot brilliantly by Oscar Faura, and yet again, Michael Giacchino’s score (that is simply puntastic with its track names) is just fantastic.

Performance wise, once again Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are a very likable pair of leads, and joining them in supporting roles is Rafe Spall, Justice Smith (who provides a lot of the film’s comic relief), Toby Jones, BD Wong, and the film’s main selling point: the return of Jeff Goldblum as Dr Ian Malcolm (which is ultimately a very small cameo)- the whole cast are able to take this story forward, but once you take away the nostalgic factors, it’s very formulaic in terms of the set-up for 2021′s sequel that will finish this new trilogy of films.

THE VERDICT

As a stand-alone film, Fallen Kingdom is for this a good point for this generation to get aboard the Jurassic Park fandom, but aside from the incredible CG and some brilliant performances, it’s obvious where Universal and Amblin want to take the franchise, especially after seeing what Fox did with their Planet of the Apes trilogy. But for a night (or morning in my case) of good big screen fun, this is the perfect film.

RATING- 4/5