Jurassic World finally follows the direction of it’s namesake by taking Chris Pratt and the dinosaurs out of the park and into the world in the sequel “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”. Taking place after the first film, the island which hosted the Jurassic theme park has since been abandoned. A team of mercenaries have been on the hunt for the Dino DNA on Isla Nublar and causes a chain of events that will change the world.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the 2018 sequel to 2015’s Jurassic World, it is produced by Legendary Pictures, and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is currently in select theaters, and will premiere country wide in the United States on June 22, 2018.

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Jurassic World returns with it’s title finally realized in “Fallen Kingdom”.

Three years after the events of the first film, the island which was home to the would be re-imagined Jurassic Park has been closed down and abandoned. Back in the US, a political debate rages on what to do with the revived dinosaurs: keep them alive and well, or continue to leave them to die as nature takes course and fixes the mistake made by John Hammond. When the Senate denies a proposed dinosaur rescue program approval, Claire puts it upon herself to save the dinosaurs with the aid of Hammond’s old partner in the cloning program.

Chris Pratt (pictured right) & Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles from the original Jurassic World.

THE GOOD: If you enjoyed the first Jurassic World and expected even a little bit more from it’s sequel, then odds are you’re going to get a kick out of ‘Fallen Kingdom’. While it doesn’t necessarily do a whole lot to distance itself from the first film, there are moments that lead to the progressing story the new trilogy wants to tell. The dinosaur scenes are as fun and visually pretty as they’ve always been even with the CGI being in heavy use. Chris Pratt & Bryce Dallas Howard’s on-screen chemistry is still very much intact and the two play off of each other very well. Some of the new side characters have their moments, but it feels like they take a back seat to the aforementioned Pratt & Howard most of the time. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom takes a rather surprising introduction into human cloning, which may have been the supposed end game for cloning dinosaurs. I’ll admit I didn’t really see this coming, so Maisie Lockwood being a clone was a nice surprise that could lead to a lot more in the sequel.

Though initially slow with it’s premise, Jurassic World 2 finally gets the dinosaurs out of the park.

THE BAD: It’s kind of a shame that most of ‘Fallen Kingdom’ is a bit too much of the same movie. We already know that there are humans who care for the dinosaurs, and humans who view them as nothing but tools, regardless of how they want them to be used. We already know that the theme park still has the dinosaurs on it, and we know how valuable the Indominus Rex DNA is to science. Then there’s the mercenary plot that just doesn’t really go anywhere. so much so that they have limited screen time compared to the other characters. The film doesn’t really get into original territory until the final act.

Fallen Kingdom is better than the first if only for the fact that it actually follows its premise.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a solid effort, but it doesn’t really get going until the final act. If you’re only in for the dinosaurs and the enjoyment of the previous film then there’s a lot of that here. When ‘Fallen Kingdom’ finally flexes it’s creative muscles on the final act that’s when the film really gets somewhere, but it’s over before you know it. Otaku Dome gives Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom a 70.