Continuing on shortly after the events from Jurassic World, the abandoned dinosaurs on Isla Nublar are facing another threat in the form of unethical and irresponsible humans and a very active volcano. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) now heads the Dinosaur Protection Group along with Zia (Daniella Pineda), a paleo-veterinarian who’s never seen a dinosaur in real life – how does that work? – and Franklin (Justice Smith), the IT technician who’s stereotypically not keen for the great outdoors. Their campaign for saving dinosaurs fails as the U.S. senate decides that the impending volcano eruption is an act of god and that they shouldn’t intervene.

But luckily for Claire and her team, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) and his assistant Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) approach her with a plan to relocate some of the dinosaurs. They need her to gain access to the computer system in Jurassic World to pinpoint dinosaurs and for her to convince Owen (Chris Pratt) to track down Blue, the sole remaining and highly intelligent velociraptor that he raised and trained. They arrive at Isla Nublar to find mercenaries led by Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine) already at work and all is not as it seems. I didn’t see that coming at all, no siree! Just like I didn’t see it coming in the previous Jurassic movies. 

I wasn’t a fan of the first Jurassic World film. Don’t get me wrong it was entertaining but it left me asking a lot of questions. What was the point of the plot? How did they regain control of Isla Nublar after the first containment breach in Jurassic Park? Is Isla Sonar still a thing after Jurassic Park III? Why would Dr. Henry Wu (B. D. Wong) continually create dinosaurs that he knows he can’t control like the Indoraptor? How is he not dead? More importantly, how is B. D. Wong ageing so well? For a character who has such an integral part in the whole franchise, we barely get any scenes with him. We don’t even know what motivates him to continue splicing dinosaur and animal genes together. But if you put all that aside and they’d better explain it in the next and last movie of the trilogy, I actually had a lot of fun watching this.

I would equate watching this movie to a Disneyland rollercoaster ride. Its got ups and downs with jump scares and heart breaking scenes, but no loop the loops so as to not actually scare the begeezus out of you or make you sob uncontrollably. The scene where they leave the Brachiosaurus and the rest of the dinosaurs on the island to perish managed to make me feel horrible as a human being. Most of the dinosaurs on the island can’t actually swim, they’ll either be burned alive and suffocate to death by the volcano or drown in the sea. You realise that even the most giant and deadly of creatures are no match to the cruelty of humans. This is perfectly personified by Wheatley who has a penchant for collecting dinosaur teeth for his own sadistic pleasure. Asshole. So much so that normally, I would never root for a dinosaur like the Indoraptor but I did this time and so would you. Mr Lockwood’s granddaughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon) provided some well needed innocence in a plot that could’ve otherwise been too straightforward. Also Franklin’s high pitch screams did a great job in setting a fun and humorous tone for the entire movie, reminding us that the movie isn’t taking itself too seriously and that we shouldn’t either.

This film would never be as impressive as the originals, I mean, the scene with the kids and raptors in the industrial kitchen was the stuff of my childhood nightmares. I still tense up whenever I watch it. I didn’t have very high expectations for this instalment after the first one but I can see where they’re trying to go with it. It’s all just a build up to the finale. Hopefully they’re able to clarify a few things. I don’t know about you but I need to know what Dr. Henry Wu’s deal is.