Jurassic World: Dominion review

JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION: 

AN IMPROVEMENT OVER THE LAST FILM, BUT THIS SIXTH DINO ADVENTURE IS MORE OF THE SAME! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Isabella Sermon, DeWanda Wise, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, and Laura Dern in Jurassic World: Dominion

 

            The dinosaurs have taken over our world in Jurassic World: Dominion, the sixth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise and follow-up to 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. You’d think after all that chaos that went down in the original Jurassic Park movie, people who would have learned their lesson that maybe recreating dinosaurs is a horrible idea and yet, here we are at part six. 

            Quick thoughts on the earlier films, first one directed by Steven Spielberg was an absolute game-changer when it was released in 1993 with groundbreaking CGI and special effects that still look incredible today while also having an engaging story and memorable characters along for the ride. The sequels on the other hand…not so much, but the first Jurassic World from 2015 was a perfectly decent follow-up. 

            Now after the completely bonkers disaster that was Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, we have Jurassic World: Dominion, with Jurassic World director, Colin Trevorrow (Reality Show, Safety Not Guaranteed, The Book of Henry) returning to direct and Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation, The Lego Movie 1 and 2, Marvel Cinematic Universe) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Spider-Man 3, Terminator: Salvation, The Help) from the Jurassic World movies joining forces with Sam Neill (The Hunt for Red October, The Piano, Event Horizon), Laura Dern (Mask, Blue Velvet, Little Women(2019)), and Jeff Goldblum (The Fly (1986), Independence Day 1 and 2, Thor: Ragnarok) from the original Jurassic Park films. Kind of like the Jurassic Park equivalent of Spider-Man: No Way Home the more you think about it. 

            I can say that Jurassic World: Dominion is…better than Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and it does have some neat things going for it. Story wise on the other hand, wow this one is pretty bad! 

            The film is set four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar and now dinosaurs and human beings co-exist with one another. Raptor whisperer Owen Grady (Pratt) and former Jurassic World manager Claire Dearing (Howard) have adopted Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) (The clone of Benjamin Lockwood’s granddaughter from the last movie who set the dinosaurs free…yeah, remember her?) and Owen’s trained velociraptor Blue is now a mother with a baby raptor nicknamed Beta. 

            However, when yet another dinosaur testing organization emerges and targets Maisie for unknown reasons, this gets the attention of not just Owen and Claire, but also former air force pilot, Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise-She’s Gotta Have It, Knucklehead, The Weekend) and the original consultants of Jurassic Park, Dr. Alan Grant (Neill), Ellie Sattler (Dern), and Ian Malcolm (Goldblum) as the new must join forces with the old in order to save Maisie and stabilize the balance between humanity and prehistoric creatures. 

            The film also stars Campbell Scott (House of Cards, Damages, The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2) replacing Cameron Thor from the original film as Dr. Lewis Dodgson, BD Wong (Seven Years in Tibet, Mulan, Mr. Robot) reprising his role as Dr. Henry Wu, Omar Sy (The Intouchables, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Inferno) reprising his role as Barry Sembène, Mamoudou Athie (The Get Down, The Front Runner, Cake) as Ramsay Cole, and Daniella Pineda (The Originals, Cowboy Bebop (2021), Mercy Black) and Justice Smith (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, All the Bright Places, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) reprising their roles as Dr. Zia Rodriguez and Franklin Webb. 

            Overall, Jurassic World: Dominion has its moments, and it is neat to see the Jurassic World characters and the original Jurassic Park characters interact with one another, but it once again falls into same traps as all the other Jurassic Park sequels (Familiar story, rehashed plot points, dumb sh*t, marketing campaign that’s a complete lie) resulting in another subpar Jurassic Park sequel. It’s a shame because you can tell the filmmakers were trying to make a better movie than Fallen Kingdom as it has a more traditional Jurassic Park climax instead of Jurassic Park turning into a haunted house film, and it does attempt to explore Maisie’s backstory as a clone, which was so poorly-handled in the last movie, but the character is so bratty and unlikable (Mostly because of the Fallen Kingdom ending) that you don’t really have much of a connection with her and it just makes you wish you could throw her to the dinosaurs. 

            Another huge problem besides the narrative is the surprising lack of dinosaurs in this Jurassic Park sequel. This film takes the Transformers route and makes the humans the main characters while all the dinosaurs are secondary and aside from scenes involving Blue and the baby, you don’t get as much as you’d hope, but when the dinosaurs are onscreen and causing a ruckus, it’s a lot of fun with the highlight being the Pratt on a motorcycle chase in the middle of a city and avoiding the dinosaurs, it’s a genuinely exciting sequence. 

            All the acting is great and as I mentioned before it’s exciting to see Pratt, Howard, Neill, Dern, and Goldblum in the same room together, and it isn’t just a random cameo this time. Jeff Goldblum once again has funny and charismatic lines as Ian Malcolm and unlike in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, he doesn’t overstay his welcome. 

            But what good is some fun character moments and exciting dinosaur action when the script surrounding it is one big pile of…well, you know? Better than Fallen Kingdom, but still a far cry from the landmark we got in 1993. 

            If you’re a fan of the franchise and just looking for a fun, mindless, idiotic popcorn movie that follows the same formula as the earlier sequels that somehow digs even deeper into pure stupidity as it goes on, Jurassic World: Dominion succeeds at that. However, if you’re looking for something on par with the original Jurassic Park movie, you should just put the movie on at home because this is a long-running franchise that has run out of ideas, ranges from generic dinosaur adventures to pure idiocy, and desperately needs to go extinct.