'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' beats natural selection, but barely

Three years ago, “Jurassic World” ended a nearly 14-year drought of “Jurassic” movies, bringing back the Mesozoic monarchs of Isla Nublar to amaze audiences, delight dinosaur devotees, market a mountain of merchandise, and freshen up the fossilized franchise. It was successful enough to warrant a sequel, partly because “Jurassic World” wasn’t half-bad as far as follow-ups go, and mostly because, well, dinosaurs.

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” picks up a few years after the events of “Jurassic World.” As the dinosaurs on the now-unkempt island face apparent extinction in the form of a recently activated volcano, the main characters from the previous film — the ones that survived, anyway — are rapidly reeled back into the wild world of megafauna, mud, and conveniently malfunctioning equipment that they left behind. As the film progresses, a sinister plot unravels, leading to a conclusion that was probably intended to earn the “Jurassic World” franchise its moniker.

If you’ve seen any of the “Jurassic” movies before, you already know what you’re in for. “Fallen Kingdom” is about as formulaic as these films come, combining nearly all the tried-and-tested elements that have made every installment before “Fallen Kingdom” a commercial success.

“Fallen Kingdom” also finds the time to incorporate a few new dinosaur species, such as the carnivorous Baryonyx, the ferocious Carnotaurus, and the hard-headed Stygimoloch, into the prehistoric-inspired playground occupied by Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Velociraptor.

“Fallen Kingdom” certainly has its moments. One would need to be completely devoid of any sense of wonder, for instance, to not be captivated by the moment a Brachiosaurus walks into the scene (no matter how many times it has been played out in previous “Jurassic” installments).

Suspense and excitement remain ever-present in the numerous will-they-make-it scenes that pit the humans versus the dinosaurs, despite the fact that we’ve seen them countless times before.

Furthermore, at the heart of “Fallen Kingdom” is a significant moral dilemma — one that dips not only into animal activism, but also into the implications of cloning and genetic research as well, legal and otherwise.

Photos from IMDB

Still, for a film full of danger and supposedly unpredictable monsters, “Fallen Kingdom” continues to play it safe in the same way “Jurassic World” did. From its ridiculously outdated depiction of dinosaurs (which could have easily been remedied at the very beginning of this pseudo-reboot, at least out of respect for real-world paleontology) to its chief antagonists’ laughably impractical and illogical attempts at devising ways to milk every single dollar they could out of these resurrected relics, “Fallen Kingdom” follows in the fossilized footprints of its predecessors, in ways both good and bad.

All in all, “Fallen Kingdom” excels at being “just good enough.” It’s a film that won’t make you regret paying ticket price, but will likely be just as memorable for you as the bowl of popcorn you absentmindedly finished while watching it.

If you like the “Jurassic” films, you won’t find much to complain about here… but you won’t find much to remember, either.

The ending certainly seems to promise an epic follow-up, though. And as a fan of this series and of dinosaurs in general, I sincerely, genuinely hope that the inevitable sixth installment will be the franchise’s biggest — and its last. — LA, GMA News