Fallen Kingdom puts the Jurassic franchise back on track

Although it was a game-changer in film making terms the Jurassic Park franchise has been a victim of its own success. The first three films – and it’s hard to believe that Jurassic Park is 25 years old – were a throwback to the Cinema of Attractions: we went simply to see the dinosaurs. The human cast were just so much window dressing.

Any time the real world tried to intrude in the subsequent sequels, the results were disappointing. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) features some of the poorest work Steven Spielberg has done as a director when he brought a T. Rex to San Diego. The least said about Jurassic Park III (2001) and its whistling dinosaur skulls the better.

The new trilogy, which began with Jurassic World (2015), is a clever and so far successful attempt to address the issues of the first trilogy, apparently using a template established by the new Planet of the Apes franchise.

Jurassic World was essentially a soft remake of Jurassic Park, this time with giant dinosaurs and a new species of super-predator. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom takes us beyond that in showing us a world where dinosaurs are now a commonplace. Indeed so established have they become that when a volcanic eruption threatens their home on Isla Nublar it is perceived as a potential ecological disaster. There are protests and demands that something must be done.

When these pleas fall on deaf ears it is up to our returning heroes Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard to save the day with a rescue scheme funded by a billionaire recluse who was the former partner of Jurassic Park founder John Hammond. They are however being duped and this is all part of a bigger evil scheme to sell off the dinosaurs to the highest bidder for various nefarious schemes.

None of this information spoils the film; it’s all in the trailer. Although my doubts from the trailer about why you would want to pay millions for a dinosaur are not allayed by the film. What would you do with it? There are vague notions of super dinosaur armies but this whole section is best left unexamined.

Once again the film turns on getting the dinosaurs off the island and the successful difference here is in the choice of director. J.A. Bayona is ideal for this film. He’s done the spectacular stuff with his tsunami movie The Impossible (2012) and the spooky horror stuff with The Orphanage (2007). He is in his element.

The first third of this film zips along at a ferocious clip since Bayona plainly can’t wait to get them off the island, although he does allow us a moment of pathos for the end of Isla Nublar. Then we are into what is essentially an ‘old dark house’ suspense thriller but with added dinosaurs which works very well. The decision to use physical dinosaurs in many of the scenes gives the film added threat and makes the creatures more menacing.

This is probably the first plot-driven Jurassic movie in that the dinosaurs are not treated as spectacle. Bayona has a lot to cram in and there are times when it feels a little over-stuffed even though some of the ideas are interesting and worthy of further exploration. Consequently Pratt and Howard don’t have a lot to do except run hither and yon but there is some nice villainy from Toby Jones and Ted Levine and it’s always nice to see Geraldine Chaplin. She is something of a lucky charm for Bayona having been in all of his features.

By the end of the film good has triumphed, evil has been vanquished and the bad guys have all met satisfyingly horrible ends.

But we are now left with a world much changed and consequences will have to be dealt with – not least in that bit from the trailer you had forgotten about. The implication is that we will be back in Planet of the Apes territory for the third one and, to be honest, I’m intrigued so see how this turns out.