Fallen Kingdom is a different beast to 2015's Jurassic World. If you're looking for another take on The Lost World sub-genre of movies, you're not going to get it.
Instead of taking its cues from the likes of King Kong, Fallen Kingdom is closer to the Universal horror films of the 1930s and 1940s. Like the hybrid monsters of which the Jurassic World films are so fond, Fallen Kingdom splices DNA from the likes of the Dracula, Wolf Man, and Frankenstein movies.
There are also strong traces of the Island of Dr Moreau, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes added into the mix.
There are a couple of nice story choices in the film. There's a degree of predictability - or perhaps that should be inevitability - but that wasn't unwelcome.
It has a darker feel than the other stories - some of the deaths feel nastier and I wouldn't say it was the dinosaur film you want to take your toddlers to see, but like the previous films it leaves the blood-letting off camera for the most part.
As to where on the spectrum of the films it sits for me, I still haven't made up my mind. The original Jurassic Park has never been bettered, and it still hasn't, and I have a fondness for the first Jurassic World particularly with the bright optimism of its early scenes that Fallen Kingdom doesn't possess.
There are elements of the film that some will take issue with - there's a choice made by one of the characters while escaping from a dinosaur that made perfect sense to me, particularly in light of the aesthetics of the story being told, that will probably annoy more than a few. The action is also more of the comic book variety than some of the more grounded stunts of the original Jurassic Park.
But for doing something different, for me it's a welcome addition to the extended tale. It gives Bryce Douglas Howard a chance to show off her action hero skills. It made me chuckle a few times (particularly with one of the news report's scrolling captions). And I think I might want to see it again.
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