I also noticed that the CGI for all the creatures has a rather rubbery texture, making them feel even more alien and less like actual animals. If you’re expecting something with the sense of wonder of Jurassic Park, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Some people might be ok with this but I feel the fun of Dinosaur movies is actually seeing more accurate reconstructions of real dinosaurs. They’re these strangely proportioned CGI lizard things that look more like something that got rejected from a Monster Hunter game. What is a problem is how ugly these creatures look and the fact that some of the dinosaurs aren’t even real dinosaurs. Now I could go on about how all the Dinosaurs are therapods or how despite decades of proof Hollywood still refuses to put feathers on them but these aren’t that big of an issue. That being said I do have an issue with the Dinos themselves. I also like that they’re not indestructible, and can be taken down with bullets so the characters can do more than just run away. The ancient reptiles are fast and have a good sense of viciousness that makes it fun to watch Mills shoot at them.

In all fairness to the movie, the dino fight scenes are pretty well done. Of course, this is an action movie and the most important part is the action: watching Adam Driver drive away the Dinosaurs so he can in turn drive his ship off the planet. Like the writers are putting in moments they feel they have to include because they’re expected to be in these kinds of action stories but without really understanding why they’re important. It honestly feels like the movie is going down a checklist. You don’t really feel the connection between the characters though because of how quickly each scene is over and done with. Once the duo is journeying they have your standard father-surrogate daughter bonding scenes: she tries to prank him, they rest by the river, and there is a lot of time dedicated to reminding you that Mills has a daughter that he needs to get back to. The fact that it moves at such a brisk pace means that many of the emotional beats don’t have enough time to sink in and you don’t feel the intended impact. It wants to get you to the dino fights as soon as possible which is good since that’s what we’re here for but also comes with some detriments.

It moves at a fast pace, after quickly establishing Mills’ backstory with his daughter before quickly cutting to his ship crashing down. The plot is a very standard action survival movie.

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