Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Got out of the heat for some dino sequel fun at the show. This is one of those popcorn movies that delivers on entertainment as long as you go in with some lower expectations. I enjoyed it. It’s almost like 2 different films. The first 45 minutes is in Costa Rica with exploding volcanos and trees and lavas and giant waterfalls, while the 2nd half plays out like a William castle movie in a haunted mansion with dinos running loose. Not sure which was better. This installment pays quite a bit of homage to the original JP and you can pick those scenes out right away. That is however, one of the flaws in this movie as well as the franchise in a whole with all the deja vu action. You’ve seen a lot of this before. Chase, jump out, leap, eat & repeat. The question is how do they make this different or interesting and on a whole, the story is pretty sound and the director has some great shots in this. I thought there was enough to keep me engaged where even though I knew exactly what was going to happen next. I didn’t feel they needed a couple of the subplots such as a little girl who may or not be a clone, but I’m guessing we’ll be seeing her again and that will be a focal point in the next movie and there will be a next movie based on how this ended. I was disappointed that the JP John Williams music was absent save for a minor jingle on the piano. I missed that esp. since we had that music in our wedding ceremony.If you’ve seen the other JP movies, then you should see this one to round out your dino experience. It’s fun.

Rating (**1/2)