Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

image for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Short takes

Not suitable under 13; parental guidance to 14 (very scary and violent scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
  • a review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 24 June 2018.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 13 Not suitable due to very scary and violent scenes.
Children aged 13–14 Parental guidance recommended due to very scary and violent scenes.
Children aged 15 and over Ok for this age group, although some may find it scary.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Action violence
Length: 128 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom takes up four years after Jurassic Park was closed and the dinosaurs were relocated to Isla Nublar. Unfortunately for the dinosaurs, a volcano has erupted on the island destroying much of it and threatening the dinosaurs with extinction. Politicians debate the ethical issues of letting nature take its course or trying to save the dinosaurs. The decision to let nature take its course wins but Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) the former founder of Jurassic Park contacts Claire, (Bryce Dallas Howard) who used to be employed at the park, knowing she will do all she can to save them.

Claire reunites with ex-boyfriend Owen (Chris Pratt) to return to Isla Nublar. Owen takes some convincing but wants to save his beloved Blue so agrees to go. They take with them a vet, Zia (Daniella Pineda) and student Franklin (Justice Smith). Unbeknown to them, Lockwood’s accountant Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) is plotting to capture the dinosaurs and sell them on the black-market to make his fortune, using Claire and Owen to help find them. Once Claire and Owen arrive on the island, not only are they in danger from the dinosaurs, but also from the mercenary soldiers employed by Mills.  From there it is a horrifying and blood thirsty race against the volcano, the dinosaurs and the soldiers. They eventually make it back to the mainland but there things turn even worse.

Mills holds his auction of the dinosaurs to the high rollers but things get completely out of control when Owen releases a triceratops from its cage. Chaos ensues and the chase is on again to escape the dinosaurs’ wrath. Lockwood’s granddaughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon) gets involved in trying to save the dinosaurs but finds herself in a most terrifying situation. Stalked by both Mills and the artificially created Indoraptor, Maisie finds herself living a nightmare. She does however, prove most useful to Claire and Owen.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Ethical use of science; Cruelty to animals (dinosaurs); Preservation of endangered species

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is much violence in this movie from start to finish, with graphic scenes depicting dinosaurs attacking humans, eating them whole and/or dismembering them, ripping each other to pieces in fights, being burnt alive by the lava, as well as the use of combat rifles, tranquiliser guns, and hand-to-hand fighting. Some examples include:

  • a man is being rescued by a helicopter and is hanging on to a rope ladder when a massive dinosaur leaps out of the water, grabs him off the ladder and eats him.
  • A roaring dinosaur jumps on to Owen and a soldier shoots it dead. The soldier then shoots Owen with a tranquiliser gun.
  • A live goat is fed to a dinosaur.
  • The Indoraptor, ‘the most dangerous creature to ever walk the planet’, is cruelly tested with laser beams to make it go wild and display its worst behaviour.
  • When the triceratops is let loose, fights break out among the crowd; soldiers start fighting with tasers and other weapons.
  • The Indoraptor bites a man’s arm off and then eats him alive.
  • Zia lets Blue out of his cage and he accidentally steps on a gas canister, setting off explosions.
  • Blue and the Indoraptor chase and fight each other.  This ends when one of them gets impaled on long spikes.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • This whole movie would be terrifying for children in this age group (more details of some scenes below)

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • This whole movie is likely to be terrifying for children in this age group (more details of some scenes below)

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • The dinosaurs are very realistic and are quite terrifying by their sheer size, aggressiveness and their loud roaring.
  • The scene set on Isla Nublar is with loud thunder cracks, lightening, heavy rain and lava exploding everywhere.
  • Claire and Franklin are trapped in a burning building.
  • When Owen comes round from the tranquiliser, he finds a triceratops standing over him. He can’t move and the dinosaur just slobbers his tongue all over Owen’s face. Owen also needs to get out of the way of the lava which burns his arm.
  • Claire and Franklin have to escape from the lave exploding all around them while being chased by a very angry dinosaur.
  • Claire and Franklin, running away from the lave flow, manage to get into a round vehicle which rolls over a cliff edge into the water and are nearly submerged underwater. In a suspenseful scene Owen has to try to free them from the vehicle before it’s too late.
  • Blue is seen strapped to a table, bleeding and struggling in pain.
  • Zia extracts the bullet from Blue by cutting into his skin and Blue is seen crying. Franklin gets splattered in blood.
  • A caged dinosaur nearly grabs Maisie’s throat. Mills discovers her there and locks her in her room.
  • A live goat is fed to a dinosaur.
  • Maisie is distraught to find her grandfather dead in bed.
  • A mercenary soldier likes to extract the teeth of dinosaurs with nail pliers, while they’re sedated.
  • In probably the most horrifying scene in the movie, the Indoraptor stalks Maisie, who’s hiding shivering under her bed covers. She sees the shadow of the Indoraptor through her window and then sees him start to climb through her window.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Many children in this group would be also be scared by the above scenes and parental guidance is needed to determine whether their child might be affected by the horror in this movie.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • MacBook
  • Budweiser.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Some mild flirting and a kiss between Claire and Owen.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Social drinking in a pub.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Jesus
  • Oh my God
  • holy shit
  • pissed off
  • hell
  • arsehole
  • son of a bitch
  • bloody.

In a nutshell

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a violent, highly suspenseful, and fast action movie. The movie is intense and terrifying which won’t disappoint Jurassic Park fans who will know what to expect. The plot is quite thin however, with an in-depth story line traded off for an increase in the level of violence. Because of its terrifying scenes, the movie is not suitable for children under 13, and not recommended for the 13 to 14 age group. Some older viewers may also find it very scary.

The main messages from this movie are about the need to treat animals ethically and whether humans should interfere with natural processes in order to save endangered animals.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • bravery
  • teamwork
  • compassion
  • selflessness
  • conservation.