Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the best of the sequels to Jurassic Park so far. If that sounds like a backhanded compliment, that’s because it is. The mediocre script (courtesy of Jurassic World creative team Derek Connelly and Colin Trevorrow) hamstrings J.A. Bayona’s striking direction and the film’s talented cast.

Years after the closing of Jurassic World, the volcano on the island of Isla Nublar, the home of all surviving dinosaurs, threatens to erupt. Former Jurassic World operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is tasked with relocating the remaining dinosaurs by the former business partner of Jurassic Park founder John Hammond, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell). She assembles a team comprised of dinosaur trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), paleoveterinarian Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda), and IT technician Franklin Webb (Justice Smith), to carry out the rescue.
Of course, things start going wrong almost immediately, in exactly the ways you would expect it to. It’s a Jurassic Park movie, so you’ve got to have shady businessmen, monologues about the ethics of genetic experimentation, and dinosaurs killing people. The venerable T-Rex saving the protagonists by killing a threat, then triumphantly roaring is apparently so incredible that they felt the need to have it occur twice this time around. Engaging characters and clever jokes can make a flimsy plot compelling, but you won’t find either here. The characterizations are paper thin and most of the gags barely register as jokes. It’s actually impressive how badly Connelly and Trevorrow squander Chris Pratt’s comedic abilities. The script’s shortcomings extend to the villains as well. The antagonists are so incompetent, and their plans so poorly thought out, that I’m not sure how we’re supposed to believe that they survived into adulthood.

Unlike its predecessor, Fallen Kingdom has the visual style to make up for some of the deficits in the perfunctory screenplay. Óscar Faura’s cinematography is vibrant and foreboding, making great use of ash, fire, and shadows. The opening scene and the island escape, in particular, contain some truly memorable shots. The many sequences of dinosaurs stalking and attacking humans and other dinosaurs give Bayona plenty of opportunities to show off his talent for crafting suspense. The action scenes are remarkably tense, even if they do demonstrate a disregard for the laws of physics. The eruption sequence, in particular, massively downplays the heat of lava and the speed of volcanic ash. In the Jurassic Park universe, lava appears to only be about as hot as a seat belt buckle left out in the sun.
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a modest improvement for the franchise, but the jumbled storytelling does its damnedest to ruin whatever enjoyment you might derive from the viscerally entertaining action and the charismatic cast. The series has to stop being beholden to the formula established 25 years ago. Showing us the same things that happened in Jurassic Park in a mildly different context is not enough to recapture the magic of the original. All of the sequels are just permutations of the same ideas, recycled into increasingly incoherent remixes. The dinosaurs deserve better.

Grade: C

After a decade and a half, the Incredibles have returned, picking up exactly where they left off. The considerably more detailed animation is the only indication that fourteen years have passed since we last saw the Parr family. Thankfully, Brad Bird’s writing and directing are every bit as strong as they were in The Incredibles, resulting in an immensely enjoyable superhero adventure.

After badly damaging their home city in their battle with the Underminer, the Incredibles (and their friend Frozone) are hired by tech moguls Winston and Evelyn Deaver, played by Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener, respectively, to rehabilitate the public image of superheroes by wearing body cameras while fighting crime. Being the most tactful fighter of the bunch, Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) is chosen to pilot test the program. In a series of battles, she attempts to thwart the plots of a mysterious new supervillain, known as the Screenslaver, who can control the minds of anyone who watches their broadcasts. The inventive use of superpowers, gorgeous animation, and propulsive energy in their confrontations make for some of some the most spectacular set pieces in recent memory.

Meanwhile, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) battles a moody teenage daughter, an infant with dozens of uncontrollable superpowers, and algebra. The film covers a lot of ground. The film flirts with some trite clichés about men being incompetent buffoons when it comes to childcare, but wisely focuses most of its humor on the inherent difficulties of child raising, and how superpowers can exacerbate any problems. The storylines involving his elder children, Dash (Huck Milner) and Violet (Sarah Vowell), are unremarkable, but an increasingly exhausted Mr. Incredible trying to handle the baby Jack-Jack’s ever-expanding array of powers provides the funniest moments of the movie, with a lengthy slapstick sequence involving a raccoon being the standout.

The film’s script also briefly addresses a common criticism of Brad Bird’s previous films, particularly The Incredibles and Tomorrowland. They have been criticized for espousing the belief that special people are superior to the masses and deserve special treatment. Without spoiling any plot details, Incredibles 2 provides some nuance to this philosophy through the motivations of the Screenslaver. It doesn’t go so far as to completely refute the notion of exceptionalism, but it’s a more complex presentation of the ideology expressed in Bird’s films.

The animation in Incredibles 2 is simply sublime. The action is frenetic, with inventive and impressive use of superpowers, but never incoherent. The rest of the animation is up to the same quality as the awe-inspiring action sequences. The combination of art deco architecture and sleek technology is even more notable in Incredibles 2 than in The Incredibles. By setting most of the film in a vast cityscape, the retrofuturistic visual style is constantly on display, which enhances the feelings of nostalgia and old-fashioned optimism that permeate Bird’s script. Not to mention the facial animation, which is the most expressive of any Pixar film.

All in all, Incredibles 2 is a great animated children’s film and a great superhero film, but it falls just short of its classic predecessor. Poorly fleshed out villain motivations and the older children’s lackluster storylines prevent it from resonating as well as the original. The film’s shortcomings only highlight how strong the rest of the movie is. Elastigirl’s clashes with Screenslaver is both a dazzling display of superheroics and a charming expression of re-finding one’s professional passion while Mr. Incredible’s attempts to take care of Jack-Jack are constantly laugh inducing. So much of the film is wonderful that the flaws are only minor quibbles.
 
Grade: A-