JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM
An intense, surprisingly funny dinosaur adventure with a moral center.
Should You Watch It?
This is an extremely entertaining roller coaster ride. It delivers constant action, genuine chills, surprising humor, and serious questions about mankind messing with nature, creating monsters, greed, and government mismanagement.
The movie also has a strong moral and redemptive center. It considers whether people should preserve living creatures they wrongly created and warns against playing God. The violence is often intense, but the film is surprisingly clean in its presentation, with very little graphic blood and gore. Still, the foul language and nonstop peril may overwhelm younger children.
If your family includes teenagers who can handle intense monster-movie thrills, WORTH THE TRIP — TEENS AND ADULTS.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESClaire and Owen return to the island where Jurassic Park was located, just as a suddenly active volcano threatens to destroy it. Claire has access to computerized genetic tags that could help locate and rescue the dinosaurs.
But a foundation trustee has a different plan: auctioning the dinosaurs to the highest bidder. Claire, Owen, a dinosaur veterinarian, and a young computer hacker face a battle against time, greed, dangerous creatures, and people determined to use the dinosaurs for their own purposes.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this film delivers the full entertainment package. The action is adroit, the acting is good without taking itself too seriously, and the music by Michael Giacchino is superb.
The movie can be read as an intentional spoof of classic monster movies, with humor that evokes scenes from those films. Some viewers may find the action predictable, but others will enjoy the way it telegraphs its punches. The result is an intense, funny, highly entertaining popcorn movie.
The Worldview
The film strongly condemns mankind’s attempt to control nature and create monsters. It repeatedly raises the question of whether people should be playing God, while also arguing that life is worth preserving, even when that life is the result of misguided human creation. The story echoes the concerns of Frankenstein and includes references to Almighty God, an act of God, God redressing the balance, redemption, and salvation.
The movie also condemns greed and government mismanagement. Its villains want to sell dinosaurs to individuals and governments, and the story contrasts a good capitalist grandfather with evil greedy capitalists. Environmentalist elements and light references to evolution are also present.
The film’s central tension is nuanced: should dinosaurs capable of destroying mankind be allowed to die, or should they be saved because they are living beings? Its strongest moral insight is that human power carries responsibility. Scripture gives that responsibility a larger frame: “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Strong moral worldview and perspective, with very strong references to Almighty God, an act of God, God redressing the balance, redemption, salvation in the context of the storyline, with a very nuanced battle between destroying the dinosaurs who could destroy mankind and saving the dinosaurs because they’re living beings, plus villains are motivated by greed and are selling the dinosaurs to individuals and governments, a statement condemns greed and government involvement in the problem, and some environmentalist elements, light references to evolution, and contrasting capitalist good grandfather with evil greedy capitalists
Foul Language
12 obscenities and two profanities, one light and one exclamation using the word Jesus from Chris Pratt
Violence
Lots of action violence with very little splatter of blood and gore, but the dinosaurs are always killing the villains and other dinosaurs, man’s arm bitten off, dinosaur falls and gets impaled, animals get killed, volcano explodes, building collapses, people drown, cyanide is released, lots of disastrous situations
Sex
No objectionable sexual content, but there’s one kiss and one cuddle
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
Brief wine drinking
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Dishonesty, disloyalty, theft, illegal trade in dinosaurs, genetic manipulation and creation of new species, cloning.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The film asks whether people should play God by creating and controlling life. What limits should human power have, and why?
Genesis 1:26–28 · Psalm 24:1Greed drives people to treat living creatures as products. Where do you see the difference between wise stewardship and selfish control?
Genesis 2:15 · 1 Timothy 6:9–10The story weighs the danger of preserving creatures against the value of preserving life. How should Christians think about mercy, responsibility, and consequences together?
Micah 6:8 · Luke 14:28The movie connects disaster with humanity’s disruption of the natural order. What does Scripture teach about creation’s goodness and its brokenness?
Genesis 1:31 · Romans 8:19–22The Final Word
This is a superbly entertaining, morally serious monster movie with relentless thrills, some foul language, and plenty of death and mayhem. For teenagers and adults who can handle the intensity, it is WORTH THE TRIP — TEENS AND ADULTS. For younger children or sensitive viewers, choose a gentler adventure.
