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iariaI liked it okay. Less so then the first one. It was even more ridiculous.
+ I liked the addition of other creatures. I wish we'd had more of the octopus because I feel like it wasn't used to it's full potential. Meanwhile, I kind of loved the non-dinosaurs even if they make no sense*. I loved how it added a threat on land as well as sea. The scene of confused terrified people running both out of the water and into the water to escape separate threats was great. If I were the cast I'd be way more worried about these prehistoric creatures because I find it hard to believe that they only happened to come up on this one island.
*So they've been around since the dinosaurs, unchanged? Okay, it could happen. Except that survival involved a complete change of environment where they as a species changed from semi-aquatic to living in the deepest part of the ocean. And remained unchanged by that. And upon given freedom to return to land are somehow able to do so???
+ As often happens in sequels they felt the need to go over the top which left me often going 'I don't know if I can buy this even with my brain turned off'. I was willing to go with the silliness of the first, this one was too much.
+ Jonas had even more plot armour then the first.
+ I enjoyed the Jonas/Jiumeng bickering.
+ Jiumeng was very likeable. I liked his love for Haiqi and belief in her but I was with Jonas and totally thought he was going to get eaten. Not sure I believe they can be tamed/trained.
+ The whole helicopter escape was nonsense but I enjoyed it. Mac confusing Jiumeng into being the decoy, Jiumeng's fight with the creatures, Mac's commentary - it was fun.
+ I liked that a bunch of time was spent in the trench because I like deep sea stories/horror but I wish there'd been more creature encounters.
+ Jonas as Meiying's step-father was nice and I liked their relationship.
+ Even if they couldn't get the actress back I'm annoyed that they killed Suyin off. Just have her be off-screen!
+ I was also a little annoyed that both surviving male supporting characters returned but neither of the female ones did.
+ I was not expecting to get a villain couple, and while they really only had two short interactions, I loved them. Their happiness at seeing each other when he arrived at Mana One and the way he picked her up and swung her around with the smiling kiss was sweet! Then when Driscoll promoted Jess Montes was so happy for her! After her death we get his scream of grief once he was safe and then crying during his phone call to Driscoll.
+ The return of Pippin and her survival with her owner once again was nice. Why not.
+ Driscoll was far too dumb. First, I really don't get why she'd even go to the island instead of staying in her nice safe office? Sure, she thought the only issue was the megs and as long as you stay on the island that's safe enough. But what purpose and advantage does her physically going to the confrontation with Jonas and Jiumeng bring her? Nothing! Second, her sending the pilot out of the copter to check out the noise, knowing there are carnivorous creatures attacking people on the island, instead of telling him to take off literally makes no sense.
+ How the hell did Mana One miss a whole mining operation happening under their noses? How did Driscoll even get that all down there?
+ Jonas sending Meiying off alone once on land, even if it was a specific location, instead of one of the adults staying with her didn't make much sense to me.
+ I liked the addition of other creatures. I wish we'd had more of the octopus because I feel like it wasn't used to it's full potential. Meanwhile, I kind of loved the non-dinosaurs even if they make no sense*. I loved how it added a threat on land as well as sea. The scene of confused terrified people running both out of the water and into the water to escape separate threats was great. If I were the cast I'd be way more worried about these prehistoric creatures because I find it hard to believe that they only happened to come up on this one island.
*So they've been around since the dinosaurs, unchanged? Okay, it could happen. Except that survival involved a complete change of environment where they as a species changed from semi-aquatic to living in the deepest part of the ocean. And remained unchanged by that. And upon given freedom to return to land are somehow able to do so???
+ As often happens in sequels they felt the need to go over the top which left me often going 'I don't know if I can buy this even with my brain turned off'. I was willing to go with the silliness of the first, this one was too much.
+ Jonas had even more plot armour then the first.
+ I enjoyed the Jonas/Jiumeng bickering.
+ Jiumeng was very likeable. I liked his love for Haiqi and belief in her but I was with Jonas and totally thought he was going to get eaten. Not sure I believe they can be tamed/trained.
+ The whole helicopter escape was nonsense but I enjoyed it. Mac confusing Jiumeng into being the decoy, Jiumeng's fight with the creatures, Mac's commentary - it was fun.
+ I liked that a bunch of time was spent in the trench because I like deep sea stories/horror but I wish there'd been more creature encounters.
+ Jonas as Meiying's step-father was nice and I liked their relationship.
+ Even if they couldn't get the actress back I'm annoyed that they killed Suyin off. Just have her be off-screen!
+ I was also a little annoyed that both surviving male supporting characters returned but neither of the female ones did.
+ I was not expecting to get a villain couple, and while they really only had two short interactions, I loved them. Their happiness at seeing each other when he arrived at Mana One and the way he picked her up and swung her around with the smiling kiss was sweet! Then when Driscoll promoted Jess Montes was so happy for her! After her death we get his scream of grief once he was safe and then crying during his phone call to Driscoll.
+ The return of Pippin and her survival with her owner once again was nice. Why not.
+ Driscoll was far too dumb. First, I really don't get why she'd even go to the island instead of staying in her nice safe office? Sure, she thought the only issue was the megs and as long as you stay on the island that's safe enough. But what purpose and advantage does her physically going to the confrontation with Jonas and Jiumeng bring her? Nothing! Second, her sending the pilot out of the copter to check out the noise, knowing there are carnivorous creatures attacking people on the island, instead of telling him to take off literally makes no sense.
+ How the hell did Mana One miss a whole mining operation happening under their noses? How did Driscoll even get that all down there?
+ Jonas sending Meiying off alone once on land, even if it was a specific location, instead of one of the adults staying with her didn't make much sense to me.
