MPAA Rating: PG-13/ Genre: Sci-Fi Action/Stars: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott, Justice Smith, Scott Haze, Dichen Lachman, Daniella Pineda, Kristoffer Polaha, Elva Trill, Dimitri Thivaios, Varada Sethu/Runtime: 146 minutes
I think it best to start this review off by letting you in on a little secret dear reader: I love the original Jurassic Park. Sure there may be a few teeny tiny hiccups in it, but the characters are fantastic, the story is riveting, the moments of suspense are genuinely terrifying, the action appropriately thrilling, the work behind the camera is phenomenal, and the visual effects are one of the finest examples of movie magic we have or will ever get period. Of course, as movie goers all know there were a pair of sequels released in its wake and my reactions to those two is very much the definition of a mixed bag. This is because while I will always be one of a select group who will defend the merits of The Lost World: Jurassic Park from 1997 right down to the bitter end, I can also make it perfectly clear right now that I absolutely and irrevocably hate Jurassic Park 3. Indeed I hated it when it first came out, I hated it while I was growing up, I hate it now, and I will most likely go on hating it because truth be told it is an abomination of a film and the less praise afforded it the better if for no other reason than it caused the whole franchise to go dormant for a solid 14 years. Fortunately for franchise fans in 2015 we got the beginning of a new trilogy in the form of Jurassic World and thankfully it managed to bring this long-dormant series back from the brink of extinction. Of course this was quickly followed up by its own sequel in 2018 that, naysayers aside, is actually not that bad of a film despite liberally borrowing a few key elements from The Lost World. This of course brings us now to the slice of cinema I am reviewing today in the shape of Jurassic World: Dominion and I can already tell you that the grade it currently has on Rotten Tomatoes from critics really is a shame. That is because it may be a mess in a lot of ways, but Jurassic World Dominion is also a fun wrap-up to this sequel trilogy of the Jurassic Park franchise to say nothing of one that does a fairly decent job at taking key thematic concepts, certain characters, and even the warm nostalgia present in a full circle. Indeed much in the same vein as its immediate predecessors, this slice of cinema is one that functions at the peak of its prowess when it makes the choice to embrace aspects of the original that the fans adore even if these tributes do sometimes get in the way of this film’s own narrative it is operating with. Even with that in mind, however there is no denying in this critic’s mind that the people both behind and especially in front of the camera have done a good job at trying to take this whole series and wrap it up in a way that is organic to the world that has been established by these films.
The plot is as follows: Picking up a solid 4 years after the events of Fallen Kingdom, Jurassic World: Dominion gets underway as we see that we are now being placed in a world where our dino chums are now literally free to traverse the planet and engage in as much chaos and/or anarchy as possible while the people denizens who are lucky enough not to become part of the prehistoric critters’ daily menu do their best to work with this new reality to the best of their ability. Or at least that’s how things used to be. I say used to be because something seriously buggy is afoot in this new world. Namely that a new species of locust that has been created utilizing some very ancient genetic material has started to explode from a population perspective. Now normally this wouldn’t be a cause for alarm to anyone who either doesn’t hate bugs, doesn’t hate locusts, wouldn’t view such an influx as the second coming of one of the Biblical plagues Egypt was stricken with back in the day, or all of the above. However when these same locusts are going through grain at such a rate that global famine let alone destruction are now becoming more and more likely by the day….you can kinda start to see why mankind might not take too kindly to these bugs after all. Yet while we see that there are many theories as to where these buggy menaces are coming from, we see a certain environmental scientist by the name of Ellie Sattler is starting to strongly suspect that a certain businessman by the name of Lewis Dodgson, based on a piece of evidence sent her way by a very familiar chaos theory expert named Ian Malcolm, is behind this nefarious swarm. However in order to find out more we see that Sattler soon decides to talk to an old friend, a certain paleontologist by the name of Alan Grant, to see if he will aid her in gathering more evidence. At the same time, we see that former raptor trainer Owen and his girlfriend/former Jurassic World manager Claire have been dividing their time between combating nefarious dino poachers and also keeping their surrogate daughter Maisie away from the public eye for reasons already explained in the previous installment. Unfortunately this doesn’t quite work out well when the poachers are able to kidnap both Maisie as well as the returning Velociraptor known as Blue’s newborn for reasons thus seeing Owen and Claire embark on a global adventure in order to find them and bring them back home. We soon see that both of these missions will lead their respective parties all the way to a research facility that is operated by Dodgson’s company BioSyn. A facility which incidentally takes the form of a huge mountainside valley filled to the brim with dinosaurs and which, for all intents and purposes, seems to be a lovely little locale that also has the extra benefits attached of being as isolated and regimented by fairly skilled and knowledgeable people as possible. Suffice it to say that with all of these positives you’re most likely wondering what in the world could go awry with such a terrific place? Well let me see if this answer makes sense: this is now the 6th entry in the Jurassic Park film franchise. There were five other movies before this. Therefore I think it’s safe to say that if you go back and watch even one of those I’m sure you’ll begin to get just an inkling of a possible answer to that question……
Now in the aftermath of giving away the director baton for the last one, we see that Colin Trevorrow has come back to wrap up this trilogy he started back in 2015. Thankfully in that regard we see that this film is, by and large, a homecoming to the original narrative even if it’s one that still is left grappling with the choice to set dinosaurs loose across the planet. Thankfully, this slice of cinema makes the choice to work with this action which I can understand might sadden those wanting a “typical” Jurassic Park film. Even with that in mind however, this film does deserve props for finally showing audiences what all of us were cautioned about all the way back in the first one. Namely that sooner or later the dinosaurs would escape and if we didn’t get onboard with it, we would be screwed. When looking at it through that prism, this is a fairly brave and on point wrap-up even if you aren’t able to accept watching the dinos interacting with people let alone the “modern world”. Also the pair of dilemmas that see the new and old casts assembled might seem a bit forced, they also thankfully don’t deter just how it can be to see stuff like a team-up moment between Grant and Owen or moments that are throwbacks like Claire and Ellie needing to restart the power. Sure this film skims over certain things like how about 30 dinos were able to have such a huge population explosion and make their way around the planet in a 4-year span. Perhaps the most crippling element however is the fact there are moments where, rather than the decent-size group of dinos we are anticipating, we only get a few in a narrow space. A problem that incidentally is fairly pronounced in the final action beat of the film. Indeed it is a complication that really does hinder the director from being able to showcase the scale from the very first Jurassic Park let alone his first entry from 2015 and instead comes dangerously close to what audiences got in Jurassic Park III.
Fortunately, Trevorrow does make up for this by giving some truly good resolutions to a few narrative threads still left dangling from Fallen Kingdom. As a result, this film actually helps that film feel more organic to this trilogy than previously thought especially for how it helps some of the more absurd ideas in this actually stick. It should also be said that Pratt and Howard are on point once more with their portrayals of Owen and Claire though in all fairness Howard gets more to work with especially when it comes to the character and her relationship with Maisie. Speaking of Maisie I also feel that the actress playing her, Miss Isabella Sermon also does a great job her at taking one of the more….unique curves from the last one and transforming it into a genuinely gripping performance and narrative arc that does a wonderful job of really put in a new light what these films have conveyed about the power and potential perils of utilizing genetic technology. Not only that, but if I’m being honest the arc involving Maisie is way more intriguing than the genetic tech gone awry one which is what sees the OG trio of Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm respectfully come back into this. Thankfully, their arc in this might be ehhhh, but the original trio do manage to make their return here as delightful as fans wanted it to be. Indeed every single one of them is able to slip with no problem back into their character and yes there are some throwbacks with them, but by and large they don’t really distract from the grand scheme of things. We also see that there is also a new character in this who is a wonderful addition in this in form of a sarcastic yet skilled pilot by the name of Kayla Watts played phenomenally well by DeWanda Wise. Indeed I really enjoyed the work put into this character that it is a shame this might be this character’s only appearance in the franchise unless they expand it again in the near future. Now as for the dinos in this, I can safely say that this slice of cinema not only brings back some iconic ones from the first film, but also brings some new ones into the fold as well. No the new dinos on the block don’t factor all that much into the film, but they do make for riveting new entries to the JP catalogue. Finally, you should know that yes there is a dino battle in this at the end, but sadly it is nowhere near as exciting as when Blue, Rexy, and the Mosasaurus teamed up to take down the Indominus Rex at the end of the first one back in 2015 though not for lack of effort.
All in all I can’t lie to you dear reader: I find myself at a bit of a crossroads when it comes to this slice of cinema. The reason is because truth be told I may have written a lot about this movie, but at the end of the day it really doesn’t matter what technical merits the film has going for it, how good the performances by the cast are, or even any issues I may have had. Rather I think what ultimately matters here is if this slice of cinema manages to fulfill its ultimate objective which is to entertain you, the viewer. With that in mind, I can safely say that the answer to that question is very much a wonderful yes. Yes there are some distinct choices within the narrative that may make some of you raise an eyebrow or two to name but a few issues. Yet I would like to point out by the same token this is not a movie that, like Jurassic Park III from 2001, is not half-assed in any shape or form to say nothing of just existing seemingly for the sake of making its cast and crew some quick money. Instead, this is one that does seem to have a degree of genuine heart and passion behind it on the part of not just the crew, but also its cast as well. Also I know some people will be quick to say that this third film resembles in some ways another recentish third entry from another newish trilogy of films that went from 2015-2019 respectively. With a monsoon of respect, I would just like to take the time to politely refute that. For one thing, this slice of cinema actually utilizes its legacy characters a lot better than the third entry in that trilogy did and for another yes this one has what that trilogy did in the form of the first entry’s director coming back to helm the third entry after letting someone else helm the second one. However this one’s director doesn’t immediately set out to dismantle anything and everything that audiences took issue with or found even remotely divisive from the previous adventure. Instead, he simply takes what happened in the last one in stride and moves forward from there with the story he is wanting to tell in this one. Yes you can say that is an unfair comparison because this trilogy, unlike the other one, actually utilized scripts written by the first film’s director throughout and that’s fair. With that said though, that does also suggest that perhaps the studio in charge of the other trilogy I keep mentioning should have hired their first film’s helmer to do the same. Anyway you choose to look at it however this slice of cinema is by no means a bad movie nor is it a slice of cinema that is anywhere close to the level of greatness achieved by the first film (though to ask for a follow-up movie in this series to aim for that is one goal that is perhaps a bit unfair). Rather, it is an engaging and just plain fun summer popcorn movie with a wonderful cast, fairly good work behind the camera especially from the visual effects department and really that’s all it needed to be plain and simple. Make of that what thou will. On a scale of 1-5 I give Jurassic World: Dominion a solid 3.5 out of 5.
