solid-rock800

I always loved this movie and just rewatched it for maybe the 3rd or 4th time, haha. It holds up well. Amanda Bynes does physical comedy so well, and all the different characters and jokes come together in these oddball ways that are just funny. Very goofy, awkward, and well-written.

And anyone who says they can't suspect disbelief in Byrnes playing a dude just needs to chill and enjoy the ride!

Honestly, some people are being too hard on this movie. Sure, nothing will ever be as good as the original. But I honestly thought this was the best installment in the franchise since the first one.

It had some really genuinely scary moments, the acting and pacing were good, the score was good... most of the characters were likeable, and thankfully they didn't force some big final dino-battle like they did in the last few. I like that they finally got to work in elements from the books and prior movie ideas that never quite made it, and see them work out. It's easily leagues better than anything in the main Jurassic World trilogy.

My biggest beefs were that some of it looked too CGI-ish; I miss having more animatronics. Some of the backgrounds were showing the CGI look too. Also, I felt the family was a tad superfluous, and the teenage daughter was annoying. But in my opinion this is where the 2 stars get knocked it'd; it was definitely not enough to ruin my enjoyment of the movie.

I saw this movie back when it was in theatres, and watched it again recently. And there's a lot to like about this one! The acting is pretty good, the effects are done well, the story and characters are interesting. The action is done well too - action scenes are choreographed well, and they're used appropriately - they fit with the pacing, they're not unnecessarily long, etc.

If you're a fan of the games, there are also lots of fun little call-outs you'll enjoy. But you don't have to have played to enjoy the movie - my dad watched it with us, and he hates video games and doesn't usually watch fantasy stuff, but he really enjoyed it and wishes they made a sequel (as do I).

My biggest criticism is the pacing is a bit off in the beginning; it jumped around a lot unnecessarily and you could tell there was a lot of interesting background info that was skimmed over. That setup probably could've done better.

But on balance, this was an entertaining and interesting movie, well worth a watch.