Jurassic World: How does it compare?

Big, dangerous and heavy-footed, the fifth film in the monstrously successful Jurassic ranchise has a lot in common with its prehistoric protagonists — but is it worth a watch?

Chris Pratt in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Picture: Universal Pictures

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM

DIRECTOR: J.A. Bayona

STARRING: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jeff Goldblum

RATING: M

RUNNING TIME: 128 minutes

VERDICT: Genetically enhanced creature feature

RATING: THREE STARS

Big, dangerous and heavy-footed, the fifth film in the monstrously successful Jurassic ranchise has a lot in common with its prehistoric protagonists.

Fallen Kingdom doesn’t mess around with surprise plot twists or nuanced character development, but its visual effects are brutally efficient.

“Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur? You don’t really believe it. It’s like a miracle,” says Jurassic World’s former manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard).

It’s that same wonder that Steven Spielberg tapped into in his original, 1993 game changer. And which Colin Trevorrow revitalised — with significant technological advances — in his gargantuan 2015 reboot.

To keep things interesting, Jurassic World introduced a hybrid villain, Indominus rex, and anthromophised a velociraptor, Blue, with some help from Chris Pratt’s ex-navy animal trainer Owen Grady.

The predators have had an upgrade in the new film.

Fallen Kingdom ups the ante with a new, genetically enhanced super predator.

Director J. A. Bayona, whose last film was the under-appreciated Patrick Ness adaptation When A Monster Calls, uses the animal’s improvements — scientific and computer-generated — to his full advantage.

At one point, the Indoraptor, who is playing dead, smiles slyly — there’s almost a wink to the audience — before he eats a ruthless mercenary. And the flawlessly executed scene in which the creature stalks the film’s plucky young heroine, Maisie (Isabella Sermon), is worth the price of admission alone.

First, there is the chase through the corridors of her grandfather Benjamin Lockwood’s (James Cromwell) “haunted” mansion, then a stomach-churning reorientation to the Indoraptor’s point of view as he hangs from the moonlit roof.

The young girl hides under the bedcovers as his silhouette casts an ominous shadow across her room. The monster’s tapping talons channel straight through to our childhood nightmares.

Fallen Kingdom picks up three years after Jurassic World left off. The abandoned theme park is about to be razed by a cataclysmic volcanic eruption (in an eerie echo of current events in Hawaii where the film was shot).

The stuff nightmares are made of...

While chaos theory expert Ian Malcolm (an uncharacteristically humourless Jeff Goldblum) drones on about the ethics of genetic engineering to a senate committee that has been charged with deciding the dinosaurs’ fate, Claire and Owen join forces with Lockwood, co-creator of the original dinosaur-cloning technology, to rescue the creatures from Isla Nublar before they are wiped out all over again.

But they are double-crossed by a bunch of mercenaries and animal smugglers who intend to sell the creatures on the open market.

This culminates in a grotesque and gripping auction that is violently interrupted by the pugnacious Stygimoloch. All hell breaks loose.

The human actors are the supporting players in the Jurassic franchise.

But Pratt acquits himself well in the matinee idol role of Grady, and in her second slice of the action, Dearing has learnt from her past mistakes The character teeters around in 15cm-high stilettos in Fallen Kingdom’s overlong set-up — in a nod to the memes that made fun of the inappropriate footwear she wore in the first film — but Dearing swaps into a pair of sensible jungle boots for her trip to the island.

Opens Thursday

Elastigirl, voiced by Holly Hunter and Mr Incredible, voiced by Craig T. Nelson in Incredibles 2. Picture: Disney/Pixar

INCREDIBLES 2

DIRECTOR: Brad Bird

STARRING: Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson and Bob Odenkirk

RATING: PG

RUNNING TIME: 125 minutes

VERDICT: More Elasti-action, but fewer surprises

RATINGS: THREE STARS

“DONE properly, parenting is a heroic act,” says the fabulous, googly-eyed designer Edna Mode (writer-director Brad Bird) in Incredibles 2.

She’s sympathising with the Sisyphean task Mr Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) has had to shoulder after his wife Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) is called away on business.

Compared to the prospect of looking after his three children for a few days, saving the world from megalomaniacal villains seems like a piece of cake.

It’s hard to know whether to applaud the franchise’s belated celebration of hands-on fatherhood, or to admonish the filmmakers for being so extraordinarily slow on the uptake.

The reluctant, chisel-jawed househusband might reasonably argue extenuating circumstances — eagle-eyed observers have noted that the newspaper Mr Incredible was reading in the original film was dated May 16, 1962.

But like its 2004 forebear, this hotly anticipated sequel unfolds in a parallel universe.

While the architecture and interior design are appealingly retro, the technology feels contemporary, even futuristic.

But if you’re prepared to accept this slightly off-kilter version of the past-future, or future-past, where women remain part of the mid-century modern furniture, the family’s challenges prove strangely relatable.

Incredibles 2 is a solid enough sequel, but it doesn’t have the original film’s light, playful touch.

When The Underminer (John Ratzenberger) lures them out of hiding — superheroes have been outlawed for more than a decade — Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) seizes his moment.

The smooth-talking head of the giant telecommunications company persuades Elastigirl to be his poster woman in a rebranding exercise designed to make the flexible supermum and her kind legal again. Deaver has crunched the numbers, and Elastigirl is a good deal more cost-effective than Mr Incredible, who tends to rack up a much higher damages bill.

So while Elastigirl is off halting runaway trains and vanquishing hypnotic, hi-tech villains such as Screenslaver, Mr Incredible struggles with basic maths and his teenage daughter Violet’s boy dramas.

All of which would have been routinely diverting were it not for a scene-stealing performance from baby Jack-Jack, whose anarchic, newly-discovered superpowers offer an appealing, fantasy twist on an infant’s ability to turn a household upside down.

There’s a fun, Road Runner-eqsue sequence involving a mischief-making raccoon, and Jack-Jack’s relationship with the besotted “Aunty” Edna works a treat (she designs him a supersuit that can track him into the fourth dimension and puts out his angry flames with blueberry mousse).

The film’s bad guy is suitably shifty and the cast of supermisfits, including The Regurgitator, are a nice touch.

Incredibles 2 is a solid enough sequel, but it doesn’t have the original film’s light, playful touch.

Now screening

The cast of Tag. Picture: Warner Bros Films

TAG

DIRECTOR: Jeff Tomsic

STARS: Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner

RATING: M

RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes

VERDICT: Plays by the rules

RATING: TWO-AND-A-HALF-STARS

FORGET golfing weekends or fishing trips, the five high school friends at the heart of this ruthless action comedy have stayed in touch — quite literally — via a game of tag that has lasted for 30 years.

What was once merely child’s play has evolved into something more layered and complex, due in part to the characters’ shared histories. Now in their 40s, the annual, month-long contest reflects the men’s increased resources and accumulated life skills.

In the head-scratching opening sequence, Hoagie (Ed Helms) worms his way into a job as a janitor at the company run by his old mate, Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm).

He strikes while the corporate high-flyer is in the middle of an interview with a New York Times journalist (Annabelle Wallis).

When the two men team up to track down the third member of their group, she impulsively joins them, her curiosity piqued.

Wallis’ character, Rebecca Crosby, is presumably inspired by the reporter who wrote the Wall Street Journal story about a real-life group on friends from Spokane, Washington, on which this film is based.

Isla Fisher plays the ferociously competitive spouse of one of the taggers.

Jake Johnson’s stoner, Randy “Chilli” Cilliano, puts up a good fight in a bone-crunching, glass-smashing chase sequence that culminates in a death-defying leap from a fire escape.

Sable (Hannibal Buress), who is sprung in the middle of a psychotherapy session, proves to be an easier catch.

The elusive, ninja-like fifth member of the group — fitness guru Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner) — has never been tagged. He ups the stakes still further by threatening to quit after one last round and scheduling his wedding — to the beautiful, highly-strung Susan Rollins (Leslie Bibb) — for the nominated month.

Even Jerry’s fellow players accept that the big day itself, as well as associated celebrations, are off limits.

Rounding out the team is Isla Fisher’s ferociously competitive spouse. Although technically unable to play — members were picked long before she came on the scene — Anna cheers Hoagie on from the sidelines. Occasionally, she forgets herself and leaps in.

All of these characters play for keeps — it’s not entirely surprising to learn that Renner broke both arms while performing one bruising stunt. The filmmakers used CGI to remove his braces in post-production.

But while there’s something appealing about Tag’s aggressive physical comedy, the film’s premise is thin to the point of undernourishment. This is reflected in a forced and unconvincing resolution.

Opens Thursday

Originally published as Jurassic World: How does it compare?