Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom review round-up: The verdict is in for JA Bayona's dinosaur sequel
It's a mixed bag of reactions for the follow-up to the 2015 blockbuster
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Your support makes all the difference.The first reviews for the brand new Jurassic World sequel have been released.
Titled Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the film follows on from Colin Trevorrow's immensely successful first of the rebooted Jurassic Park trilogy which sees Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) return to the dinosaur-ridden Islar Nublar to save the creatures from an erupting volcano.
This, as director J.A. Bayona told us “hints at a short section of the movie,” is a precursor to a final act which merges gothic horror with scares evoking Steven Spielberg's original which turns 25 later this month.
It seems that while some critics have lapped up the film's thrills, others remain unconvinced by the latest big-budget attempt from Universal Pictures despite hailing it as a better film than Jurassic World. You can read a selection below for yourself.
The Independent - Geoffrey Macnab - 4 stars
"This is a summer popcorn movie with all the trimmings - action, cheesy in-jokes, startling visual effects and a storyline with a moralising, eco-friendly subtext."
The Guardian - Peter Bradshaw - 2 stars
"There are some reasonably entertaining scenes and set pieces, but the whole concept feels tired and contrived, and crucially the dinosaurs themselves are starting to look samey, without inspiring much of the awe or terror they used to."
The Telegraph - Robbie Collin - 2 stars
"Hollywood finds a way to make dinosaurs boring."
The Hollywood Reporter - John Defore
"While the movie courses seamlessly through different modes, it remains old-fashioned in its treatment of Howard's character, who mostly screams and runs while Owen gets things done. Claire has grown up a lot since her debut as Jurassic World's soulless corporate climber, but she remains a damsel in distress who (this time, as last) gets to perform a single far-fetched heroic feat when things are at their most dire."
Empire - Ben Travis - 4 stars
"The island is where Bayona’s disaster movie credentials come into play. He invokes the relentless intensity of The Impossible's harrowing tsunami in a thunderous stampede sequence as the volcanic eruption escalates, boldly providing the film’s biggest set-piece at the midway point. Such mass destruction is a new flavour for the Jurassic series, and Bayona wisely punctuates the bombast with human-scale peril."
IGN - Gav Murphy
"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens with one of the most exciting set pieces of the year and from there it barely stops for breath as we’re bounced from a huge, high-stakes disaster film to a claustrophobic gothic horror."
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is in cinemas now
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