They now need the dinos to crack the jokes

Direction: J A Bayona

English (U/A)

Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniella Pineda

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the second installment in the Jurassic World trilogy is a much paler version of the earlier films in the Jurassic movie universe.

When Steven Spielberg made the first film in the franchise in 1993, the (pseudo) science was strong, the writing sharp, the characters lively, the jokes witty and the direction subtle. Fallen Kingdom has nothing of the sort to offer.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom takes us back to the mythical Isla Nublar island, where the cloned dinosaurs were originally created in Spielberg's film.

But not for long. An active volcano threatens to wipe the species out for the second time in history, and it is up to a bunch of stereotypes to save them.

So, Chris Pratt (a cross between Indiana Jones and Brenden Frazer from the Mummy), his ex-girlfriend Bryce Dallas Howard (good-looking social justice warrior), a scared nerd by Justice Smith (thrown in only for laughs) and a cute, tomboyish scientist Daniella Pineda (because the film needs some spice) pack their bags and get going.

Fallen Kingdom has got scenes the Jurassic movie universe has always had — multiple species of dinosaurs running through the island; dinos about to attack our heroes getting attacked by bigger dinos; dinos constantly creeping on you from behind; super-precocious children, etc.

It's just that the formulas are done to death and the writing makes no attempt to create fresh thrills. The musical score here is barely noticeable.

The script is at its laziest when it comes to the dialogues. It is so in keeping with the cliches of the adventure film that you will be able to mouth dialogues even before they are said.

One genuinely moving moment is the last shot we see of the mythical island and get a glimpse of how the dinosaurs' extinction may have looked like millions of years ago.

The scientific foundation of the original, admittedly bogus for fictional purposes, was a strong backbone to an otherwise unbelievable story. Fallen Kingdom couldn't be happier to do away with the science. Backbone? Pffft.

The most lively the film gets is in the comic scenes played out by the dinosaurs themselves.

From a goofy dinosaur banging its head and feeling woozy to another playing tricks on a guy with its tail before, of course, biting his head off, a sense of humour is a adaptive trait the dinos seem to have picked up to survive an otherwise sloppy story.

Let's at least hope the last film in the trilogy invests a lot more in the script than this one did.