The latest instalment in the dinosaur franchise offers little sign of life and needs to be consigned to extinction.

I saw the original Jurassic Park in 1993 in the cinema. I’ll never forget it. It was mind blowing in almost every way possible. The story, the music, the visual effects – even the very idea of it.

The latest film seems so far removed from that now it’s almost just sad to see it.

We return to the franchise with the impacts of the Jurassic World – Fallen Kingdom still being felt around the world. Dinosaurs now roam free causing havoc and the stars of the rebooted franchise Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) are living in the woods with Maisie (Isabella Sermon) – the cloned daughter of Benjamin Lockwood.

And off we head into an overly contrived plot of genetically developed giant locusts, dinosaur black markets, a sinister genetics organisation, so on and so on.

The biggest selling point of the film is the reuniting of the original 3 main stars – Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill. And that does create some nice moments, but boy does the film try to labour them.

The film is the 6th in the broader franchise and it tries hard to nod to as many former elements as it can. So many moments feel like a wink to the audience as it links back, especially to the original film. But in truth, it’s hardly a greatest hits of these films and more a weak replica.