Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom film review – Dinosaur hit lacks the Jurassic spark

The giant creatures have finally been left to their own devices but when an active volcano begins to erupt, an elderly conservationist hits on a rescue plan.

This is Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), the previously unmentioned business partner of Jurassic Park founder John Hammond (Richard Attenborough).

He wants to relocate the creatures to a different idyllic island before they become extinct again.

To mastermind the evacuation, he hires slick CEO Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) whose sharp suits and English accent mark him out as a potential villain. But gung-ho theme park manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and dashing dinosaur whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) ignore the warning signs and sign up for the mission.

Predictably it all goes disastrously wrong. And after a thrilling volcano explosion, the film relocates to a vast stately home in America where it quickly becomes clear that the dinosaurs are now much closer to home than expected.

The adventure film quickly and slightly jarringly turns into a Gothic horror. Eli plans to auction off the rescued dinosaurs to wealthy criminals to fund a nefarious plan that he cooked up in the mansion’s basement.

Owen and Claire gatecrash the auction and after rescuing Lockwood’s granddaughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon) they find themselves being stalked by a hyper-intelligent, new dinosaur hybrid called the Indoraptor. But we’ve seen the dinosaurs in a domestic setting before.

Some of the best moments of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original involved the CGI monsters chasing human heroes in the theme park kitchens.

Director JA Bayona (who made Gothic Spanish horror The Orphanage) all but cuts and pastes some of Spielberg’s most memorable scares, like a scene where Maisie pulls a hatch door shut to escape a flaying talon.

It is a respectful homage but a little short on surprises. And when the scaly monster starts working out how to open doors and stage ambushes, it feels like the Spielberg tribute has turned into a 12A version of Ridley Scott’s Alien.

However, Jurassic Park’s “theme park goes wrong” conceit was worn out and the CGI dinosaurs were beginning to lose their impact so the genre switch was a decent idea. And Bayona summons some creepy moments as our heroes are chased through the mansion’s labyrinthine passages. Crucially there is also a sprinkling of humour.

Pratt has fewer sharp lines than in the previous outing but his wisecracks still puncture the tension at the right moments.

A strong ending and a couple of brief scenes with Jeff Goldblum’s scientist suggest another turn lies ahead and there is a hint that it will follow the plot of the recently rebooted Planet Of The Apes trilogy.

Hopefully that will be enough to give the series some bite.