The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Graphics can’t save a movie, even when the film has a legacy like the Jurassic Park series. Indeed, just because the dinosaurs look cool, does not mean the film is cool; it just means that the graphics team are doing their job.

Picking up where its predecessor left off, the dinosaurs now live on an island that a volcano is going to wipe out, humans are deciding whether to save the dinosaurs, or let them go back to extinction. The original scientist involved with the species, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), asserts to Congress that they should be left to die for the good of humanity. However, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), a former partner of Malcolm, decides to save the creatures and create a sanctuary for them. Lockwood recruits Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) to rescue as many of the creatures as possible before the volcano destroys them. But, when they are double crossed and the dinosaurs are taken back to main land to be sold, they are in for more trouble.

The flow of the plot is not at all smooth and is essentially structured as though the filmmaker was looking for an excuse to move from one action sequence to the next. The action sequences are cool and the danger is enormous but, as a whole, not the most polished of plots.

The film tackles several themes like whether or not humans ought to be playing God, the sanctity of all living creatures, humans living with their mistakes, and more. The film, however, presents these potentially great themes in a jumbled-up manner.

This maybe because it seemed like the entire point of the film was to have audiences be like “Ohhh scary dinosaurs, awesome.” But, other than that, most of the other aspects of the film suffered.

The chemistry between characters was disastrous; Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard had the on-screen chemistry of two siblings forced to kiss, and the chemistry between these two main actors and supporting actors, including Daniella Pineda and Justice Smith, was palpably artificial.

Individually, some cast members performed better than others; Howard took more charge than in previous films and her character’s genuine empathy for the dinosaurs was excellently conveyed. Pratt was a marionette going through the motions of action, but his emotional portrayal was weak if not nonexistent. Smith accurately conveyed a scared out of his mind scientist, but he missed several comedic opportunities (this may have also been the fault of the director). Pineda also adequately portrayed her badass dinosaur veterinarian role and was perhaps the most at ease of all.

To compensate for the lack of chemistry and the mediocre acting, music composers of the film’s soundtrack had to bring out the big guns to muster up some drama, but that backfired as the music was too much and often felt silly.

If it weren’t for the dinosaurs the film would definitely flop; the dinosaurs win and humans mostly failed. All that being said, it is still an enjoyable and thrilling movie, especially if you are a major Jurassic Park fan. You should know, however, that the elegant brilliance of Steven Spielberg’s first film is well gone by now.