Review Detail

Hard to tell if the narrative really works on this one. As other reviewers have mentioned, it feels like you'd have to be familiar with both films (seeing each at least once, probably multiple times to really give the edit clarity), for the narrative jumps to work. However, having seen both these films multiple times, some of these narrative jumps from film-to-film are a bit jarring. So, I really am not sure they work either of the two ways. Additionally, the editing that occurred - mainly when transitioning from one film to the next (also occasionally when Jurassic World had been trimmed), was a bit awkward and further highlighted these narrative issues.

The first act was pretty strong, however. I loved the first cut between the two films (the Mosasaurus), and the next couple were pretty entertaining to see as well. But, for the majority of the middle portion, I realized I was kinda losing track of the two narratives, and it just sort of felt like I was watching one being interrupted by the other. The edit hadn't entirely lost sight of itself, but I couldn't help but find myself questioning it every so often. The climax was more of the same, though a bit amplified as we were dealing with so many characters and subplots at this point, as well as the same handful of a few characters jumping back and forth three years. I really loved the narrated "prologue" of sorts that preluded the ACTUAL prologue to Fallen Kingdom. That almost made me forget about the aforementioned issues - just almost.

All-in-all, this was a cool edit to check out but I think the concept was a little too ambitious for execution - it works better on paper than film. If you're interested in checking this edit out, you still should. It has it's flaws, as everything does, but it's still fun and while I wouldn't say it ENHANCES these two films, it's certainly a neat way to check both of them out - especially if you're like me and trying to get your money's worth out of them.