Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) | J.A. Bayona

This 5th entry in the Jurassic franchise sets the story following the closure of Jurassic World, where its dormant volcano, Mt. Sibo, has become active, threatening all life on Isla Nublar. Humankind debates whether the clone dinosaurs should be saved or return to extinction. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) has become a conservationist advocate for the Dinosaur Protection Group, feeling an overwhelming responsibility to save the dinos she once considered merely a commodity.  After John Hammond’s billionaire associate Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) is on his deathbed, his assistant, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), pitches a plan to Claire to fund the relocation of the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar to a sanctuary island. Claire gathers a team including velociraptor whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), super-hacker Franklin Webb (Justice Smith), and paleo-veterinarian Zia Rodriguez (Daniela Pineda). The team is stunned to discover find mercenaries on the island gathering dinosaurs to bring to the mainland for greedy, nefarious purposes.

Jurassic World (2015) | Colin Trevorrow

Siblings Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) are sent on vacation to visit their Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is the manager of operations at the Costa Rica island resort known as Jurassic World, a tourist attraction funded by mega-billionaire named Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) that takes its basic idea from the original Jurassic Park but seeks to do the formula right (i.e., more profitably). In addition to the assortment of dinosaurs, the corporation is looking into creating their own hybrid dinos through experiments in genetic engineering that are sure to draw in even more interested visitors year after year.  Their biggest creation is the Indominus Rex, a creation that splices the T. Rex DNA with a hodge-podge of other predators of various strengths, that just might be the most deadly creature that has ever roamed the Earth.  (I suppose it’s not a good sign that ‘indominus’ is Latin for ‘untamable’.)

Navy vet Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is a behavioral research consultant and talent trainer at the facility, looking into the ability of these dinosaurs to learn from human instruction, and he’s especially made progress at whispering to velociraptors, which may prove to be a much-needed thing now that Indominus Rex has gotten out of its cage and is prepared to hunt and kill whatever it can on the island, which ultimately could mean the slaughter of 20,000 visitors trapped in the theme park. Colin Trevorrow directs.