‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Review: Caution This Movie May Cause Heartburn
Jurassic World Dominion, starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, DeWanda Wise, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum, premieres on June 10th.
Nearly thirty years ago, an awe-inspiring film premiered that birthed a new generation of budding Paleontologists and fully knit itself into the genetic coding of the future of pop culture. Jurassic Park is the blueprint that built the Jurassic World trilogy, and like Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) I don’t really like what Jurassic World has become.
For the closing act of a trilogy, Jurassic World: Dominion does a surprisingly decent job at providing satisfying closure for its main characters—there are no heart-wrenching deaths or painful endings. This isn’t Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but not angering the majority of your fanbase, does not a good movie make. Apathy is almost worse than being angry. At least anger stirs the soul.
Four years have passed since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and the world is slowly trying to come to terms with living alongside dinosaurs following the destruction of Isla Nublar. We learn, through a cheeky Now This news segment, that living with dinosaurs is easier said than done. We can hardly live alongside the wildlife currently cohabiting with us on this planet, how could we live with apex predators? And it’s not even the dinosaurs that will do us in! It’s the billionaires and bugs! Same difference. Unfortunately, this is a thread that is never fully followed up on—even though it’s one of the more intriguing concepts presented in Jurassic World Dominion.
Instead, we’re reunited with Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) who has gotten involved with dangerous rescue missions to save dinosaurs from inhumane conditions, circumnavigating the structures put in place by the government to bust these illegal operations. Another really compelling plot, which ties into cohabiting with dinosaurs—but again, it’s never fully explored. Claire is still with Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), who she lives with in a remote cabin where they’re raising Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon). It’s an idyllic life filled with run-ins with Blue and her new baby, a teenager pushing her boundaries, and dangerous poachers that threaten to upset the life they’ve built for themselves.
Elsewhere, a hoard of genetically engineered locusts—yes, you read that right—are swarming the bread bowl of the United States, posed to send the nation, and possibly the world, into a catastrophic and deadly situation. These ancient, genetically modified locusts are hungry for everything except for the Monsanto crops—I mean the Biosyn-modified crops. Naturally, this sounds like the type of situation that one should call a Paleobotanist in to investigate and that means calling in the old guard.
Dr. Ellie Settler (Laura Dern) arrives on the scene, ready and raring to get back in the game. She’s single, her kids are grown-up, and she’s very keen to rekindle whatever she had with Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) thirty years ago. Their sizzling chemistry is everything that Claire and Owen wish they could’ve conjured up across three films (you tried, Bryce, this isn’t your fault). In a middling film that limps its way to the finish line, Ellie and Alan are the blazing flare gun, guiding the film towards a satisfying conclusion. Jurassic World Dominion may have forgotten what Jurassic World was doing, but it never forgot what Jurassic Park was doing.
Without spoiling the actual plot of Jurassic World Dominion, which would take a considerable amount of time to actually unravel and make complete sense of, the film introduces a handful of new characters that overshadow its “lead” Owen Grady. Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) crosses paths with Claire and Owen in a dicey situation, and she proves to be a true friend and impressively skilled pilot. Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie) is another unexpected ally, and one that proves pivotal for Ellie and Alan’s venture to Biosyn. Should the franchise continue to explore what it would be like for humans to coexist with dinosaurs, they would make fine additions to that journey.
Jurassic World Dominion succeeds because of the nostalgia of seeing Dr. Settler, Dr. Grant, and Dr. Malcolm working together again, but ultimately their storyline does nothing to improve upon the ideas presented in Jurassic World. They remind audiences that this trilogy’s duo were a failed attempt to replicate the magic of Jurassic Park, and in a film that seems dedicated to feeding the audience this idea of recreating the past but with new, better genetics, it’s laughable. And given some of the dialogue in the last act of the movie—Jurassic World Dominion is aware that it will never compare to the original story. And tragically, this film does a complete disservice to Dr. Malcolm, saddling him with cringey dialogue and turning him into a bit of a joke.
The dinosaurs are impressive, though I never did figure out which one was supposed to be the Joker. Most of the more entertaining moments with the dinosaurs were callbacks to the original films—almost shot for shot. There’s a world of untapped potential with dinosaurs, but Jurassic World Dominion just shook the box instead of opening it and finding new toys to play with. The locusts provide some entertaining moments, which may or may not have sparked the title of this very review.
If you’re looking for two and a half hours to kill with some mindless pseudoscience, impressive dinosaurs, and the culmination of thirty years of waiting, Jurassic World Dominion is your best bet. If you’re looking for a follow-up to a classic, beloved, movie—fly on over to Top Gun: Maverick, which is a movie that is surprisingly filled with heart and a keen understanding of how to deliver nostalgia to a new generation.
Final Verdict: B-
