the first "Jurassic World" was, quite simply, not a good ride. "Fallen Kingdom" is an improvement, but it's the first "Jurassic" film to come close to pretending it isn't a ride at all, and as a result it ends up being just a passable ride
JA Bayona's adventure boasts some passable set pieces, but the plot is contrived, the characters fatigued, the cliches abundant -- and the beasties t-rexecrable
in the wake of the box-office lunacy that drove "Jurassic World" to become the fifth-highest grossing movie of all time, "Fallen Kingdom" is a frustrating display of overconfidence
Fallen Kingdom is not less stupid than Jurassic World, and it does not especially recapture the glory of Spielberg's first movie. But the brave, ridiculous forging of its own weird path makes for its own kind of fun
Bayona not only nods to the history of classic monster movies and the legacy of original Jurassic's Steven Spielberg, he brings his own experience to bear, treating monsters like actual characters & trapping us in a vast mansion that's as full of secrets
absurdly entertaining; preposterous-but-effective, the fifth installment in the life-finds-a-way saga even has a sense of humor about itself... Fallen Kingdom's is damn near perfection
by Peter Bradshaw [The Guardian ]
