We're granted some clumsy exposition and an overly long set-up at the film's start, but once the journey actually begins, it's rather exciting till it's end.

I loved that Mills and Koa spoke different languages and thus had to communicate mostly non-verbally. It added a great deal of weight to their interactions and emphasised just how much trust and emotion can be built and shared without words.

Many small character moments are shown throughout the film and they do end up building to a sweet, heartfelt conclusion, but Beck/Woods' script didn't really tie these individual moments together very well.

The screenplay needed some more work to clean up the often wooden dialogue and to build a thread that the movie's individual scenes could follow. Because with how simple this film's plot is, it really shouldn't feel like it's meandering as much as it is.

But what I mostly came for is the dinosaur action. Like I said earlier, it takes too long to get to these parts, but when they do come they're worth the wait.

Each dinosaur encounter is unique in how it's dangerous and how it can be handled, which kept the action fresh. And each of these sequences is also appropriately directed, with the characters' positions made clear and their peril understood.

I had a good time with this film. It's got its moments when it really shines, though I wish it had been rewritten so it could have been truly memorable.