Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom Review: A Jurassic Disaster

In 2015 the movie world returned to that little park filled with dinosaurs After years of hibernation the Jurassic Park series made its return with the fourth installment in the franchise: Jurassic World; and what a return it was as the summer blockbuster was a success both critically and financially. So because of its success, it came to no surprise that Jurassic World would garner a sequel, and sure enough the adventure would continue three years later in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Taking the helm from Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow this time was director J.A Bayona; although Trevorrow remained on the film as an executive producer and a writer. So with an exploding island as well as a new hybrid, Fallen Kingdom looked to up the adventure for the series and while some may have found this exciting one Film Adventurer did not. See I had a different experience with Jurassic World as I found the blockbuster to be stupid for all the wrong reasons. However just because that experience was a poor one did not mean that the sequel would be the same. Oh how wrong I was.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom centers on Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) who return to the island in order to save the raptor Blue, and the rest of the dinosaurs,from extinction. If you have seen any trailer for this movie then odds are you know how this story plays out. Having a predictable plot is not always a bad thing as long as its executed decently.Sadly this was not the case for Fallen Kingdom. The story structure was inconsistent as it rushed through the first act then dragged itself through the remainder of the film to the point where any intriguing aspects were hardly investing due to excessive padding. This was evident in splitting the story up into two areas with the Owen and Claire’s adventure being one part and the mystery of the Indoraptor being another. Although both sides eventually converge they did very little keep this adventurous tale...well adventurous. It did not help matters that the plot was contrived as it relied heavily on conveniences and its sense of continuity was horrendous. Another glaring issue was the story’s use of themes such as nature vs nurture. While this could have been a captivating element for the plot, the movie barely touched on it leading to this theme be nothing but an afterthought. I tend not expect much out of a Jurassic Park tale but I do hope that it has some semblance of storytelling to it; but that is not the case for Fallen Kingdom’s plot as its sense of adventure goes up in flames along with the convenient volcano.

Pete's Dragon Review: Disney Remake Is A Charming Yet Tame Experience

Disney have been busy as of late with the likes of their retelling to their animated classics. This trend of films has been successful for the studio with movies such as The Jungle Book being a hit earlier this year. So perhaps it is easy enough to believe that Walt Disney would develop a straight up remake to one of their films. Such is the case for the latest adventure from Walt Disney Studios: Pete's Dragon. Pete's Dragon is based on the 1977 film about a boy named Pete who befriends a dragon that only appears to the young orphan. Judging from the remake's trailers, it would appear that the 2016 film would follow in similar footsteps to its predecessor; albeit with its own sense of direction. So is this remake a magical time at the movies or is Pete's Dragon unable to soar to great heights?

The film's story centers on Pete (Oakes Fegely): a boy who gets lost in the woods after an accident killed his parents. Yet Pete was able to survive thanks to meeting a dragon that he calls Elliott. For six years Pete and Elliot lived happily in the woods, but all of that changes when Pete encounters the forest ranger Grace Meacham (Bryce Dallas Howard). After Pete gets hurt, Grace takes the boy back to town where she hopes to find out more about Pete's background. With Pete not around Elliot finds himself in trouble when the hunter Gavin (Karl Urban) discovers the dragon and decides to catch Elliot in order to get famous.