Your reaction to FK is entirely dependent on what you want from the JP franchise

Agreed - the sense of wonder is gone.

But.... I guess they could have gone with 'dinosaurs are starting to multiply' sort of mystery - where you'd still get that epic music when they witness baby dinosaurs and stuff - and perhaps come up with some sort of horrific hybrid dinosaur which is a result of the breeding which goes on rampage in the second half of the film.

To this day though.... all of the films were horror driven - and it's not great horror either, since we already know who is hunting whom.

That's the problem. People think the Jurassic movies are about dino's in a park. It isn't. Its about science and the will and power of mankind to go too far with science, never learn their mistakes and eventually cause their own demise. That life will find a way and cannot be controlled.
That's Crichton. He just used that idea in a dino theme park story. What the Jurassic sequels need to do is find what Crichton means and thinks and use that in the sequels, which they did. Maybe not executed the best way, but they are paying a lot of attention to the details of Crichton's books and philosophy. Jurassic is bigger than just dino's in a park and its time people start to realize that.

I was giving it the benefit of the doubt and hoping that it would at least be as fun and well-made as Jurassic World. Bayona's direction I thought was solid, but the story just didn't work for me. And the overly dark visuals and tone--the same thing I didn't like about The Lost World--also didn't work for me. The look and feel I think was literally depressing.

As I said in the OP, I think it comes down to what do you WANT. If the horror aspect of the JP premise is what really appeals to you, then I could see how Fallen Kingdom could be a fun ride. But if not, this movie definitely will not deliver what you're looking for.

Frankly, I'm wondering if this franchise can really deliver a compelling experience without the park. I really like the park. I think they could make an entire movie inside the park where everything actually goes RIGHT and I think I'd have fun with it.

I agree that no film will ever be as good as the first one, if only because the premise and the quality of the effects in that film felt entirely new and fresh in 1993. How can you recapture that? I just don't think you can.

I have enjoyed the franchise as a whole. The Lost World I tend not to ever revisit, but at least it has the scene where the trailer gets attacked by the T-Rexes (even if it does go on a bit too long). JP3 I think is actually kind of underrated. JW is the second best and has the richest narrative outside of the first film, even if some of the plot silliness like weaponized dinos brings it down a bit.

But Fallen Kingdom . . . man. I just don't know. I was very much looking forward to it and felt so let down. I remember just being bored by it and, probably an hour and 45 minutes or so into the film just being like, "This fucking thing is STILL going on?"

It started out well. The first, I dunno, maybe 20 minutes or so was quite reminiscent of early Spielberg films. It definitely had that Amblin quality. But it devolved from there and once the plot twist about dude's trickery really comes into view I was just like, eh, boring. I think I would have preferred it if the movie REALLY WAS about relocating dinos to another island instead of about cartoon villains screaming "20 MILLIONS!!!" at an illegal dino auction.

I do think the film had some cool visuals and some cool individual scenes, and I liked the girl even if ultimately she didn't have a whole lot to do, and I thought the score was excellent. But the weird thing is that it felt to me like a lot of the best stuff didn't feel like it fit in this movie or even in this franchise. It felt like that stuff should be in some other, better movie.

I dunno. Maybe it will grow on me over time. I kind of doubt it, but that's what happened with JP3, so we'll see.