Middling sequel

Rating: 5/10 (7 July 2015)

I was neither surprised nor disappointed by Jurassic World. It's very well done, no question. However, as with most sequels, it doesn't have that certain something that the original had. It does, however, have the formula that made the original so good. Therefore, the entire movie is largely predictable. We know who will be eaten, we know that the kids will end up out in the field with the dinosaurs, we know that the male and female (adult) leads will go off in to the sunset together even though there's friction in the beginning, and on and on and on...YAWN.
The one thing that the movie DID have that was worthwhile, I guess, was that Owen knew how to treat the raptors with respect and bond with them. That was the overriding message and they maintained it very well. Good moral message. Let the bad guy be the decoy and get eaten while you sneak out of the room, but, treat the animals like your buds. Got it.
There were some gems, of course. The final dino battle was good and had an interesting twist. I particularly liked how the T-Rex regarded the raptor as a kind of comrade in arms and then walked away. Nice touch, that. I half expected some kind of goofy love story to spring from it, and am glad that it took the high road, so to speak.
All in all, it's a worthy effort with some fun twists and turns that can derail the predictability at times. Ideally, if you were a kid when the original came out and now have kids of your own, then you'll have a great time because you'll know when you can leave to go to the bathroom (yes, it's that predictable) but the kids will be mesmerized by the dinosaurs. Win-win.