Ever since Avengers Infinity War people were asking where Ant Man (but mostly Hawkeye) were. Well he was off having a more small scaled adventure pun intended.

The cast is just as enjoyable as they were in the first one. Paul Rudd is still likeable as Scott Lang and when Janet van Dyne possesses his body it’s hilarious.  Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas as the Pym family are still really good too. I will admit that the romance between Scott and Hope is really underplayed. There’s not really that much chemistry between them and they feel more like action partners rather than a couple. Michael Peña is still great and funny as Luis and Ghost while not the strongest MCU villain does have understandable reasons for her actions. The comedy is also really funny. The way they use shrinking makes up for good jokes like the building suitcases or the hot wheels cars. It’s really creative and fun.

Marvel movies are known for having great actions scenes Ant Man and the Wasp’s action scenes seemed weak in comparison. The car scene was kind of cool but it felt more like something that would happen in the middle of the movie rather than near the end. The climax is also nothing compared to the first film’s climax which took place in Cassie’s room. I think another reasons the action is weak is due to the story being clunky at times. It felt like action set pieces put together in not the best in terms of structure. My brother also had a similar problem with the pacing.

The whole movie is more lighthearted and fun that is until the post credit scene. Spoilers: Scott heads into the quantum realm to gather quantum energy but ends up stranded because the Pym family disintegrating due to Thanos’s snap from Infinity War. Ever since I was Infinity War I predicted something like this would happen and I was right. It also raises questions like how are the Avengers going to meet with Ant Man or how will Scott get out of the quantum realm.

I’m not really surprised that Ant Man and the Wasp is my least favorite MCU movie of 2018, not that it’s bad, it’s more of in comparison. Ant Man and the Wasp is honestly the most fun compared to the other darker MCU movies of 2018. I think the first one is better but this was a fun sequel with a smaller scale again pun intended.

Verdict:
+ Comedy
+ Great performances
+ Port credit scene
– Clunky story
– Underused romance
– Weak action

Score: B+

If you were to mention the words Universal Studios to me, what’s the first thing that comes to mine? If you said Minions your wrong. The answer is Jurassic Park one of my favorite movies of all time. Jurassic World while not as good as the first one, it was cool to see the park actually running. Now we have Fallen Kingdom.

Chris Pratt is just Chris Pratt. That’s not a bad thing since he still puts a lot of energy into playing Owen Grady even if sometimes he seems too similar to Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy. While the protagonist is good the villains however, not so much. Eli Mills is just your recycled greedy businessman villain and Ken Wheatley is just your basic mercenary villain. Even the new dinosaur the Indoraptor looks and acts like a smaller black version of the Indominus Rex which wasn’t even interesting in the previous film anyway.

Fallen Kingdom also marks the volcanic end for the main setting of the series Isla Nublar. There’s a great little scene when the characters escape the lava on a boat and look back and see a brachiosaurus (the first dinosaur seen in the series) looking at them and then disappears in the smoke. It’s really sad to see a location we’ve known for 25 years (compare it to seeing Hogwarts burn in lava). Isla Nublar may be gone but Lockwood Manor where the rest of the movie takes place is an interesting set piece. Having it surrounded by mostly forest and taking place at night helps give it a fun isolated and creepy atmosphere to it. However, as much as it is a cool location it is home to some problems with the movie.

Spoilers: Benjamin Lockwood’s granddaughter Maisie Lockwood turns out to actually be a lone of his deceased daughter. It’s a really odd plot twist. Adding cloned humans to the series feels like the series is jumping the shark. What’s also odd are some of the character’s choices especially at the end. Maisie decides to set the dinosaurs free into the country. The reason she does this is because of this line “I had to. They’re alive, like me.” She does realize that by setting the dinosaurs free could risk in damage and even death.

I wasn’t surprised that I found Fallen Kingdom not as good as Jurassic Park or the first Jurassic World movie (FYI I have not seen the other sequels). If you’re a fan you’ll like it fine. I’m not really interested in what happens next but hey, Jeff Goldblum once said “life finds a way”.

Verdict:
+ Bittersweet goodbye to Isla Nublar
+ Chris Pratt
+ Lockwood Manor
– Character choices
– Clone twist
– Generic villains

Score: C+