RECENTLY VIEWED: JURASSIC WORLD - FALLEN KINGDOM

I grew up on the Jurassic Park franchise. I was 18 when the first movie came out, and I have seen all of the sequels in theaters. This time around I took my son, who at 8, is not a real movie lover. He only likes sports movies, and he dislikes almost all cartoons. He is pretty mature 8 year old, but this movie is not for all kids. Most of his friends would not appreciate the movie. I jumped and was scared more than my son was! This latest sequel is a good movie, but maybe it is not a great movie. I understand where they are going with the franchise, but as much as I love these movies, I hope the next movie will be the end of the series.

Set on the fictional Central American island of Isla Nublar, off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, it follows Owen Grady and Claire Dearing as they rescue the remaining dinosaurs on the island before a volcanic eruption destroys it. Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, B. D. Wong, and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles from previous films in the series, with Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Isabella Sermon, and Geraldine Chaplin joining the cast.

Filming took place from February to July 2017 in the United Kingdom and Hawaii. Produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, Fallen Kingdom premiered in Madrid on May 21, 2018, and was released in the United States on June 22, 2018. The film has grossed over $932 million worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2018 and the 47th highest-grossing film of all time. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Pratt's performance, Bayona's direction, its visuals, and the "surprisingly dark moments", although many criticized the screenplay and felt the film added nothing new to the franchise.

The plot is simple: Four years after the Jurassic World theme park was closed down, Owen and Claire return to Isla Nublar to save the dinosaurs when they learn that a once dormant volcano on the island is active and is threatening to extinguish all life there. Along the way, Owen sets out to find Blue, his lead raptor, and discovers a conspiracy that could disrupt the natural order of the entire planet. Life has found a way, again.

I think I might be the only one who noticed the casting of Geraldine Chaplin as a housekeeper. She is the daughter of Charlie Chaplin, and she deserves bigger roles than she gets. Also I welcome Jeff Goldblum back to the series, but is he the only voice of reason on the planet? Having survived two other dinosaur attacks, he rightfully says let the dinosaurs die. Like Chaplin, I wish his role had been bigger than it was.

I like Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, but let's be frank - the dinosaurs are the stars! This film had more dinosaurs than ever before, and it is amazing how far the computer technology has come since the first film 25 years ago! Go see the movie for what it is, a fun romp that does not mean much. The series is getting a little bit tired, but I'll still go see a Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movie whenever it comes out...

MY RATING: 8 OUT OF 10

RECENTLY VIEWED: JURASSIC WORLD

Now that I have two young children, I have not seen a grown up movie in the movie theater since 2010's comedy Date Night. A lot has changed in five years and mostly the prices. So for Father's Day my wife talked me into going to see the new film Jurassic World. I went by myself, but I am glad I did. I saw the first Jurrassic Park movie in the movie theaters as a teenager, and I have seen each additional sequel as well, and I had to see this newest film.

This is the fourth installment in the Jurassic Park film series. The screenplay was co-written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly, and Trevorrow. The film stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, B.D. Wong, and Irrfan Khan. Wong is the only actor from any of the previous films to appear in the film. Set 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park, Jurassic World takes place on the same fictional island of Isla Nublar, where a now fully-functioning dinosaur theme park has been in operation for ten years. The park, however, plunges into chaos as a genetically-modified dinosaur named Indominus Rex breaks loose and runs rampant across the island.

Universal Pictures initially intended to begin production on a fourth film in 2004 for a summer 2005 release, but endured over a decade of "development hell" as scheduled release dates were pushed back several times while the script went through revisions. Steven Spielberg, director of the first two Jurassic Park films, acted as executive producer, as he had for the third film. Thomas Tull also acted as executive producer; his production company, Legendary Pictures, funded approximately 20 percent of the film's budget. The film was produced by Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, and was released by Universal on June 10, 2015 in European countries, June 11 in Australia, India and Malaysia, and June 12 in North America.

I was a huge fan of actor Chris Pratt from his television work on Parks And Recreations from 2009 to 2015. As for Bryce Dallas Howard, I actually saw her in the 2004 movie The Village. I was worried that this movie would be silly and repetitive. Even though this is the fourth movie in the series, it was just about better than the first one. There were lots of nods and references to the first movie, and one minor star BD Wong from this first movie actually had a huge role in this film. Very rarely can a sequel, some twenty-two years after the original brief life in a film series, but they managed to do that with Jurassic World. I don't want to reveal too many plot details, but I highly recommend this movie. I am lucky that I have a wonderful wife who would let me relive my child hood for at least 120 minutes to watch this great popcorn film...

MY RATING: 9 OUT OF 10