Review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

This is my first review of any movie on IMDb, so hold onto your butts. Let me preface this by saying I've enjoyed all the Jurassic movies, some more/some less, & this was no different, I'll admit I wasn't excited about the idea of a new Jurassic series, even though friends went to the cinema & gave JW a 10/10. I waited until it was on TV & kicked myself for being such a cynic. So this time I was determined to see JW: Fallen Kingdom in IMAX 3D at the local cinema complex. How was it? It does what it says on the tin. Owen & Clair are back with the addition of brief cameos from the original JW movie (as a little icing on the cake). It also pays homage to JP2/Lost World by being much darker in tone than JP/JW too. Is it just another rehash of JW? No, not in this viewers book. For starters it starts a lot darker than it's predecessor even if the opening is slightly reminiscent of the original JP movie. The main characters are a little different too in that Clair is the one who has the respect for the dinosaurs, whilst Owen wants nothing to do with them & has chosen a more solitary lifestyle building his cabin in the woods. Then there's a raft of new characters. Some to root for, some to boo & his at. There's some nice little touches with connections back to Hammond (& Attenborough) with the inclusion of Hammond's partner thus developing the past storylines of the original movie, & Iris (played by Geraldine Chaplin) that made me smile remembering Sir Richard's body of work. Of course there's a key inclusion of the kid, which the franchise should have just to remind us of that sense of wonder most of us have about dinosaurs. Another box ticked. SPOILER ALERT (ish): Isla Nublar goes "kablooie" reasonably quickly in a first act packed with great SFX, plot twists, & more nods of the hat to the originals. Again, box ticked (though sufficiently different to keep me engaged & give this viewer a warm glow). So how are the production team going to further this storyline? Well, without giving too much away... they just do. With some nice character development, a bit of social commentary (on modern day avarice & even some political questioning) the plot carries us along taking the viewer to a darker, more claustrophobic final act where the tension ratchets up in the face off between the good guys vs the bad guys. By now in the series we've come to side with most of the dinosaurs more than some of the humans, so it'll be no surprise that the bad guys get solidly dispatched in a climactic showdown, much to appreciation of the audience. There's even a couple of characters make it out alive that at the beginning I was convinced were destined to be dinosaur fodder. Now... is it as good as either JP or JW? That's for you to decide in the fullness of time, but for me it ticked the boxes, took the story in a forward momentum & satisfied my appetite for more dino films. I've given it 9/10 & not the 10/10 of either JP or JW - let's face it, we all expect sequels to be less satisfying than the originals (cough "Star Wars"). Would I watch it again? Absolutely I will. So if you like the Jurassic franchise I'd recommend going to catch it, especially in IMAX 3D. Just ignore the naysayers & make up your own mind if this one takes the series forward or tanks like a "Last Jedi" gasping for air.