--- title: "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" year: 2018 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom" fi1m_score: 58 critics_score: 55 critics_reviews: 19 published: "2026-09-19T16:32:08.752237+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T16:32:09.095199+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) Directed by J. A. Bayona · 2h 09m · MPA PG-13 · Adventure, Science Fiction, Thriller **Fi1m score: 58** · Critics 55 from 19 reviews *In a sentence:* The island blows up in the first hour and the film spends the second hiding under a bed > J. A. Bayona shoots the eruption and the old house with a horror director’s patience, and in stretches this is the handsomest the series has looked. The script gives him cartoon villains and a plot that keeps stopping to sell things. ## Synopsis Since the park on Isla Nublar fell, its dinosaurs have been left to themselves, and now the island’s volcano is waking up. In Washington, Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) tells a Senate hearing to let them die. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who now runs a dinosaur protection group, is summoned to the estate of Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), John Hammond’s old partner, where his manager Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) offers her a rescue: eleven species, shipped to a sanctuary before the mountain goes. She needs Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), who is building a cabin and would rather not, because only he can find Blue, the last of his raptors. With Franklin Webb (Justice Smith) and Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda) in tow, they land as the ground starts to shake. ## Review The fifth of these films hands the reins to J. A. Bayona, the Spanish director of *The Orphanage* (2007) and *A Monster Calls* (2016), and asks him to do two things in 129 minutes: get the dinosaurs off an erupting island, then shut them in a country house with a child. He does both about as well as they can be done. The script, by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, is the trouble, and it is trouble in nearly every scene where somebody speaks. It opens well. A submarine crew lifts a bone from the flooded lagoon at night, in rain, while something large moves under them, and Bayona stages it as a straight creature feature. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) tells a Senate committee the animals should be left to their volcano. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), now lobbying for the other side, is fetched to the Lockwood estate, where the dying Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) and his manager Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) want her to save eleven species and one raptor in particular. Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is building a cabin and has to be talked into it. The island hour is the spectacle, and Óscar Faura, Bayona’s regular cinematographer, gives it weather: ash on the lens, lava lighting faces from below, a glass ball rolling through a stampede while the camera stays with the two people inside it. Then comes the pier. As the boat pulls out, a single brachiosaur stands at the end of it in the smoke and calls after them, and the film holds on her until the ash takes her. We were moved more than we expected to be and a little annoyed about it, because the film had done nothing to earn that feeling and got it anyway, on one long shot and Michael Giacchino holding his brass back until the last few seconds. The second hour goes indoors, and Bayona is at home there. Andy Nicholson builds Lockwood’s mansion with a dinosaur museum in the cellar, a lift, a dumb waiter and a child’s bedroom with a roof outside it, and the film uses every one of them. The new animal, a black, long-fingered thing called the Indoraptor, is introduced by a tapping claw, and its slow approach across a moonlit bedroom to Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) is the scene people will talk about on the way home. We held our breath through it. Sermon is watchful and unfussy and the best of the human performers. Faura lights the house with lightning through tall windows and keeps the creature in silhouette for as long as he can get away with. Then somebody speaks again. Mills wants to sell the animals to the highest bidder. Ted Levine plays a mercenary who pulls a tooth from every dinosaur he catches, for a necklace. Toby Jones plays the auctioneer in a bad wig. All three are greedy in the same way and say so out loud. The auction stops the picture dead so that men in suits can bid on a pachycephalosaurus, and it was here that we were bored, and then cross about being bored in a film with this much money on the screen. Pratt and Howard are handed a break-up and a reconciliation and play both as if catching up on a programme they missed. Justice Smith’s Franklin is there to scream and Daniella Pineda’s Zia to swear, and both do it well enough to deserve more. Geraldine Chaplin passes through as a housekeeper called Iris and is given nothing. Bernat Vilaplana cuts the set pieces with more patience than these films usually allow, holding a shot while the claw comes round the door; between set pieces there is nothing to cut to and the film lurches from speech to speech. Giacchino’s score is quiet on the pier and loud nearly everywhere else. Sammy Sheldon puts Howard in boots this time, which the last film did not, and everyone has noticed. Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film had one idea, that people would build this and it would go wrong, and it trusted the idea and the animals. *Fallen Kingdom* has four or five, animal rights, cloning, the arms trade, a dying founder, and raises each for a scene before throwing it another dinosaur. It is more interested in the film after this one than in the film it is. It is still the best-looking entry the series has had in years, and a ten-year-old will be frightened in the right places and no further under the 12A. Watch it for the second hour and do not listen too closely. *Fi1m score 58, published 19 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews split down the middle, leaning slightly warm. Most critics agree that director J.A. Bayona is the film’s main asset, bringing gothic horror and a surer hand with set pieces than the previous entry managed; the volcanic eruption and the Indoraptor stalking a mansion draw most of the praise. Several call it an improvement on Jurassic World, and a few note better work from the leads, Bryce Dallas Howard in particular. The reservations gather around the script. Critics find the human plot slight, predictable and heavy with exposition, and several complain that the second half shrinks into a haunted-house chase after a large-scale opening. The spread is wide, from a firm recommendation at Deadline to a handful who think the franchise itself is worn out: IndieWire and The Wrap find the spectacle stale and say a new director cannot rescue it. Even sympathetic reviews admit the film spends much of its time setting up the next one. ### Reviews we read (19) - **Empire**, Ben Travis (70/100, inferred): The critic praises director J.A. Bayona for injecting gothic horror tension and big-scale set pieces into the series, particularly the volcanic eruption sequence and Indoraptor scares, while noting improved character work for the leads. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review/) - **Sight and Sound**, Kim Newman (70/100, inferred): With J.A. Bayona directing, the dinosaurs finally leave the island for an enjoyably sinister new setting in a spooky old house, bringing gothic glee and actual villains who are satisfyingly dispatched. The family-friendly franchise tone occasionally cramps the director's style, but the change of locale and focus on villains marks a welcome shift. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review-dinosaurs-go-gothic) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, John DeFore (70/100, inferred): The critic finds this a stronger entry than the prior film, with Bayona bringing classic monster-movie energy and treating the dinosaurs more like characters while shifting much of the action into a spooky mansion setting. He praises the visuals, pacing, and thrills but notes some old-fashioned handling of the female lead. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review-1117350/) - **Total Film** (70/100, inferred): The critic notes franchise fatigue in the first half but highlights strong set-pieces in the second, especially the volcano sequence and the Indoraptor's gothic mansion scares, crediting Bayona for bringing soul to the dinosaurs. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review/) - **Radio Times**, Huw Fullerton (★★★): The film is a fun romp with unusual new ideas, pleasant characters like newcomer Maisie, and plenty of dinosaur action, bolstered by strong set pieces from director J.A. Bayona. However, it functions more as a stepping stone to set up the next film, leaving this entry feeling slight and unsatisfying despite its ambitions. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review-a-stepping-stone-towards-a-bigger-better-and-more-interesting-story/) - **The New Yorker** (60/100, inferred): The film follows Owen and Claire as they attempt to rescue dinosaurs from a volcanic island, but human villains feel minor. Bayona delivers one standout suspense sequence with a child and a giant claw, though the franchise's demands limit him. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom) - **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (50/100, inferred): It is an improvement over the prior entry thanks to Bayona’s confident direction of destruction and horror scenes, but remains ho-hum and predictable overall. The move of dinosaurs to the mainland and some adjustments to characters provide minor pleasures, yet the series fails to evolve meaningfully. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review-20180605-story.html) - **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (50/100, inferred): It is the first entry to pretend to be more than a ride by incorporating topical conspiracy elements, but the dinosaur action still rules though not enough; Bayona keeps it moving competently but the script weighs it down into a so-so ride. [Read](https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review-chris-pratt-1202829194/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (45/100, inferred): The film is merely serviceable despite some genre flourishes and a gothic mansion set piece. The critic singles out its overlong, video game-like scenarios and on-the-nose political satire for complaint. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/10/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review) - **The Times**, Tom Shone (★★): The sequel starts strong but gets smaller, with the volcano as the best performer and a finale reduced to a mano-a-dino chase. The critic complains about the halting plot and gothic trimmings that fail to elevate the material. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/article/mcqueen-and-jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-8k5xb6tbd) - **Evening Standard**, Matthew Norman (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an improvement over its predecessor but still calls the franchise irretrievably dull, criticising the hackneyed script, lack of tension, and absence of humour while noting some effective dinosaur empathy shots. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdon-review-its-time-this-dino-bore-franchise-became-extinct-a3858456.html) - **IndieWire** (30/100, inferred): The review criticizes the film as formulaic and ludicrous in its CGI dinosaur elements, arguing that the franchise's repetitive approach to spectacle and plot has worn thin despite the new director and setting shifts. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/jurassic-world-the-fallen-kingdom-review-1201971471/) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the dinosaurs still hard to resist after 25 years, praising how director J.A. Bayona spreads the mayhem more intelligently than in prior entries. The action sequences once the dinosaurs are unleashed are described as top notch and entertaining. [Read](https://deadline.com/video/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review-chris-pratt-bryce-dallas-howard-sequel-video/) - **Collider**, Haleigh Foutch (B): The critic praises director J.A. Bayona for bringing back awe, wonder, and horror elements to the franchise through strong visuals and set pieces, while also noting improved performances especially from Bryce Dallas Howard. The film is seen as a fun, pulpy, and absurd evolution of the series despite some logic issues and heavy CGI. [Read](https://collider.com/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Matt Edwards (3/5): The film takes the franchise in a slightly different direction with strong action set pieces and striking visuals from director Bayona, though the story feels slight and the dinosaurs lack scale. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review-2/) - **Digital Spy**, Matt Chapman (60/100, inferred): The blockbuster shifts from explosive action to a haunted house/slasher tone in the second half, which slows the pace and feels repetitive, resulting in an enjoyable but less biting franchise entry. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a858028/jurassic-world-2-fallen-kingdom-review-evolution-trailer-chris-pratt-bryce-dallas-howard/) - **Polygon**, Matt Patches (55/100, inferred): The critic finds the action sequences and Bayona's direction exciting and pulpy, especially the dinosaur-focused set pieces and kaiju-style moments, but criticizes the script's overreliance on human drama, twists, and exposition that drag down the fun. Overall, it falls short of its potential as a silly blockbuster due to the human elements. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/2018/6/20/17484284/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review/) - **/Film**, Josh Spiegel (4/10): The critic finds the film knows the notes but not the music of the original Jurassic Park, with stupid characters and poor script choices throughout. Bayona's direction of the mansion action sequences is praised as an improvement over the prior entry. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/559060/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-review/) - **The Wrap**, Dan Callahan (30/100, inferred): The critic faults the film for treating its action and suspense sequences without enthusiasm, rendering even iconic hiding-from-dinosaurs moments hackneyed and expected. The overall result is a dull sequel that drains the excitement from the dinosaur premise. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom-film-review-chris-pratt-jeff-goldblum/) ## Details - **Director:** J. A. Bayona - **Director:** J. A. Bayona - **Writer:** Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow - **Cinematography:** Óscar Faura - **Editor:** Bernat Vilaplana - **Music:** Michael Giacchino - **Production design:** Andy Nicholson - **Costume design:** Sammy Sheldon - **Producer:** Belén Atienza Azcona, Patrick Crowley, Frank Marshall - **Cast:** Chris Pratt as Owen Grady; Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing; Rafe Spall as Eli Mills; Justice Smith as Franklin Webb; Daniella Pineda as Zia Rodriguez; James Cromwell as Benjamin Lockwood; Toby Jones as Mr. Eversoll; Ted Levine as Ken Wheatley - **Runtime:** 2h 09m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 22 June 2018 - **Genres:** Adventure, Science Fiction, Thriller - **Budget:** $170 million - **Box office:** $1.31 billion - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJD7jZqZEk ## Where to watch in the US - Hulu: streaming, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Disney+: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Jurassic Park* (1993), Fi1m 91: The one that trusted a single idea and two animals, and still frightens. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/jurassic-park.md) - *The Orphanage* (2007): Bayona’s first house, no dinosaurs, and the same patience with a closed door. - *The Host* (2006): A Korean creature feature that remembers monsters are funniest when families are involved. - *Tremors* (1990), Fi1m 82: Cheap, quick and cheerful; the humans are the point and the creatures the excuse. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/tremors.md) - *The Innocents* (1961): For the haunted-house half: children, a big house, and something in the dark. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/jurassic-world-fallen-kingdom