Spoiler-Free Review of Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom

Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom is the latest addition to the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise, and strikes an uneasy balance between retreading old themes and covering new material.  There are the dinosaurs; there are the heroes and the villians; there's even a child cowering and quaking while a dinosaur approaches.  It's all there - if you've seen and enjoyed the previous films, you'll enjoy this one too.

Universal Pictures

The story moves at a very good pace - yes, there are the slower, plot-development scenes where the villains outline their master plan, and the heroes trade jokes and contemplate the future of dinosaur-kind.  I won't share too much of the plot, but Owen and Claire are persuaded to return to Isla Nubar when it's discovered that it's an active volcano and all the dinosaurs are going to be killed.  The return to the island is filmed particularly well, as we see a Jurassic World that has fallen into disrepair, death and decay, in stark contrast to the lavish bright colours we saw in the previous film.  The aftermath of the Indominus's rampage is visible everywhere (including in some very neat detail shots).

The visual effects of dinosaurs plus volcano are extremely well executed, and there is the usual quota of running, shouting, chasing, and hiding, all delivered at breakneck speed. In fact, it's so fast that you may miss one or two of the plot developments, but fear not, there's plenty of chance to catch up.  The entire second half of the film takes place off the island - so this is unlike most of the previous films.  Yes, there are comparisons with The Lost World, but this film has a lot more about it than that.

Is the film scary?  Yes.  There are plenty of suspenseful moments... teeth and claws appearing slowly out of the murky darkness; rustling trees getting closer - all that stuff.  This is more scary than the high-speed dinosaur vs human or dinosaur vs dinosaur stuff - and there's plenty of that too.  There are two extended scenes in the second half where one particularly nasty dinosaur starts stalking its human prey, but apart from that there's not much that we haven't seen before.

Is it gory?  No.  Despite a body count that puts it on a par with the other films, there isn't much visible blood - one character has his arm bitten off, and the amount of blood is almost too small to be plausible.  There's at least one death on camera, but it's out-of-focus and in the background.  I took two children - aged seven and nine - with me, and the nine-year-old was upset by some of the tragic scenes, but neither of them were particularly scared.

All-in-all, I liked this film: it is exactly what you would expect, with some interesting twists.  I know it's had mixed reviews, but it does a good job of staying true to its roots while expanding the wider storyline in a number of unexpected ways.  The speed at which the film moves through the plot, with some serious and irreversible actions, means that this is - in my view - more than just another sequel and is not as derivative as some make it seem.