Jurassic World: A New Age

Four years have passed since the destructive volcanic eruption on Isla Nublar - four years in which dinosaurs have spread all over the world. So that the animals can continue to live undisturbed, even without becoming a danger to mankind, billionaire Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) has founded a dinosaur refuge with his company to house T-Rex and Co. But Dodgson has completely different goals. Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who now live in seclusion, must learn this when their foster daughter, the clone girl Maisie (Isabella Sermon), is kidnapped, as is Raptor Blue's baby. While Owen and Claire embark on a dangerous journey to retrieve the two abductees, renowned scientist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) turns to her old friend and colleague Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to investigate the appearance of mysterious giant locusts. The trail also leads them to Dodgson's research station, where they meet up with their old companion Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Will they all be able to join forces to thwart Dodgson's diabolical plan?

"Jurassic World: A New Age" is supposed to be the very big climax of the "Jurassic Park"- and "Jurassic World"-trilogies. At last, the heroes from the original meet those from the new films. In addition, the story wants to break new ground by moving away from the dino islands to the whole world, where the dinos have now spread again. Sounds like a mega-spectacle, right? Unfortunately, the result is only marginally satisfying. Yes, as a fan of the first hour I was very happy to see Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler again. And also, that Jeff Goldblum was again allowed to say a bit more in this part than in the last film only two sentences, pushed the right nostalgia buttons with me. The whole thing has only two problems:

On the one hand, in the scenes with the old guard, in which you then also get to hear short set pieces of the great score by John Williams again and again, it became clear how much better the original trilogy is (despite part 3). The characters are more interesting, the music is better, and especially the story of the original is leaps and bounds better than anything the "Jurassic World" movies had to offer, despite cutbacks from the novel. And while we're on the subject of story, we come to the second problem: what's been cobbled together here for the "epic finale"is just not really good.

Chris Pratt isn't allowed to do very much more than his obligatory dino-tamer gesture, Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire is a bit tougher than before, but still remains one of the characters in the franchise that was written to be particularly one-dimensional, and Omar Sy is absolutely undersold in his brief guest appearance. The fact that in addition the really good sequence, which was released a few months ago and was advertised as the opening sequence of the film, is now missing in the finished film, is also not exactly helpful to build a consistently positive overall impression.

Some effects are really good and here and there the action is also right. But from the grand conclusion of the series (what this film will ultimately be guaranteed not) I just expected more. It is somehow a pity that the animated and rather tailored to a younger audience Netflix series hits the tone of the original better and tells more exciting stories than the million-dollar movies of the "Jurassic World" series. As with "The Fallen Kingdom", my main disappointment at the end was the unrealized potential of this series. I was not badly entertained by "Jurassic World: A New Age", but I simply expected much more. And that's why I only give it one: With cutbacks worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp