The Jurassic World franchise is making its triumphant return to theaters this week for its sixth and (supposedly) final film, Jurassic World: Dominion. To ensure that the franchise has the grandest sendoff imaginable, the film is set to bring back our heroes from the last few Jurassic World films, as well as the original trio of Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum from the original Jurassic Park trilogy.
Jurassic World: Dominion is being billed as the “Conclusion of the Jurassic Era.” This leaves us with a film that has a lot to explore and unpack during its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. So, is the film the return of the box office king? Or just proof that this aging franchise about genetically recreated dinosaurs should be left to go extinct? Check out our full review below!
BEWARE: *MINOR* SPOILERS LAY AHEAD!
Not What You Expect
First, you will be sorely let down if you are going into this movie expecting a massive payoff after that cliffhanger at the end of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). The story is not what you’ll be expecting. At. All. Contrary to all of the advertising and the massive marketing push, Jurassic World Dominion is less a movie about dinosaurs and more a movie that has dinosaurs in it.
Secretly, this is a movie about locusts. Granted, they are massive, genetically modified locusts that will be decimating crops (and by extension, the world’s food supply). But they are still merely big bugs, not much larger than a housecat. This movie also has a heavy focus on cloning and genetics in general, further exploring the revelation that Maisie Lockwood (introduced in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) is, in fact, the first human clone made using the same science and technology as the Jurassic Park dinosaurs.
So yes, while there are dinosaurs in almost every scene of the film, they are largely relegated to being set dressing. The larger story mostly ignores them unless they are attacking people.
A Jurassic Recap
At the end of Fallen Kingdom, Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) had released the remaining captured dinosaurs into the wilds of California to spare them a painful death and save them from sudden re-extinction. The new film picks up several years later, as the world has dealt with the aftermath and repercussions of dinosaurs being reintroduced into the food chain. Humanity finds itself knocked down a few pegs as these creatures spread through the world. Unfortunately, this is pretty much all covered in a series of clips slapped together into a NowThis video. They explain that most of the dinosaurs have either integrated into society or been captured and relocated to a safe and secluded facility in an Italian mountain range owned and operated by genetics company Biosyn.
While fans of the original Jurassic Park novels will immediately recognize that name, casual viewers aren’t likely to make the connection. In Jurassic Park, it was Biosyn director Lewis Dodgson (then played by Cameron Thor, now played by Campbell Scott) who was trying to steal dinosaur embryos from the park, with the help of Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight). Needless to say, Biosyn has some shady characters who have set themselves up in a position where it looks like they’re trying to help, but are actually reaping all the benefits for themselves.
So while we were led to believe we would be getting a film about dinosaurs loose in the larger world, what we actually get is a movie about locusts, a clone, and dinosaurs that are now relegated to a wildlife preserve in a mountain range where they are being studied by scientists and… hey, wait a minute! Isn’t that pretty much the same thing as having them on a secluded island? Wasn’t the whole point of Fallen Kingdom getting them out into the world instead of always having them stuck in one place?
People complained that there have been five films about dinosaurs on an island. So now they’ve moved onto a remote mountain range as if somehow that is a better choice. In the words of Tim Murphy, “We are back in the car. Again.”
Getting back to the story…
Audiences are reunited with Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), from the original Jurassic Park (1993) film, who has been called to investigate the increasingly problematic locust issue before they literally eat the planet into extinction. She pieces together that Biosyn is involved. Ellie decides to contact her old friend Alan Grant (Sam Neill) to travel with her to the Biosyn headquarters to try and find more evidence to back up her theory.
How will they get into Biosyn headquarters? Isn’t it one of the largest, most prestigious, and most secure scientific facilities in the world?
Conveniently enough (a little TOO convenient, maybe?), Sattler and Grant’s old friend Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) works there. He can get them in.
Meanwhile…
In the other half of our story, we learn that Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), and Maisie are living in the secluded cabin Owen was building at the beginning of Fallen Kingdom. The world has found out about Maisie’s status as a human clone. Several dangerous people are looking to obtain the secrets her DNA holds, so the trio has taken to hiding out and living a very private life.
While she opted not to go with them when leaving the Lockwood estate, Blue the Velociraptor has also taken to hiding out and living in the woods nearby. Blue has become a mother since we last saw her. She has reproduced asexually and has a child, Beta. Naturally, things are going a little too well. Since the plot needs to move along, Maisie is kidnapped by several shady characters who also manage to capture Beta.
Owen and Claire head off on a globetrotting adventure to find their adopted daughter, with Owen promising a very pissed-off Blue that he will bring Beta back. This leads to a weird subplot involving smugglers, the dinosaur black market, and the CIA, where (once again, very conveniently) several old friends are now working and able to lend a hand to help find Maisie.
As you probably already suspected, after several large set pieces involving rampaging dinosaurs, this hunt for Maisie and Beta predictably leads Owen, Claire, and their new pilot companion Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) to the Biosyn sanctuary. This is where our plots eventually intersect. We get a complete lineup featuring the casts of Jurassic past and present together for the first time. It is also where we are going to stop with plot discussion because you can probably gather most of where things go from here without us spoiling it further.
Lost In A Jurassic Way
Based on a script written by Emily Carmichael and Colin Trevorrow (who also directed and produced the film), Jurassic World: Dominion‘s story is all over the place. It is ridiculous that the story of the sixth film in the Jurassic franchise seems so absolutely directionless. It felt like the movie was made out of obligation to fans rather than for the sake of good storytelling.
The plot with locusts feels out of the blue. It exists solely as an excuse to drag old cast members back into the fold and to have them intermingle with the current franchise stars. This is all well and good but feels so forced at times, with many of the pieces falling into place just a little too conveniently for the story’s sake. While the dinosaurs are heavily present throughout the film, they often amount to little more than set dressing and barely factor into the plot. They became a weird third wheel to the story in their own film.
The story is very unexpected and a little convoluted, especially after all the setup they had to work off of from the end of Fallen Kingdom. At the end of the day, we are here to see a movie about cloned dinosaurs. So how much do we care? It was serviceable and got done what it needed to. Personally? I feel like they skipped a lot of “in-between” stories the Jurassic film series would have benefitted from. There was just too much to explore and touch in this film, and because of that, so much of it felt like we barely scratched the surface.
For example, Biosyn is a major antagonist in the Jurassic Park mythos. They were responsible for the downfall of the original park on Isla Nublar! But the films have never previously mentioned the company outside of that brief encounter between Lewis Dodgson and Dennis Nedry in the first film. Now they’re presented as heroes that are studying and relocating the dinosaurs for the greater good, but it isn’t subtle that they have their own nefarious plans in place. Their true intent is never really clarified or expanded upon. We don’t know if the company is really “the bad guy” or if it’s just Dodgson himself who is up to no good. This ambiguity makes it hard to feel like our heroes are accomplishing much by taking them down. Although, I guess saving the world from the locusts is probably for the best?
Character Issues Of A Jurassic Nature
That said, it is absolutely wonderful to get the original Jurassic Park trio back together on the big screen for the first time in just under three decades. There is no chemistry loss between the three of them after all of this time. Laura Dern and Sam Neill are the heart of this film and seeing the bookend to these characters’ stories are worth the price of admission alone. Jeff Goldblum gets all the best lines and steals nearly every scene he appears in with ease. However, that also quickly becomes one of my biggest criticisms of the film.
When we last saw Ian Malcolm in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, he was presented as an older, more subdued character. Whereas here, he is as charismatic as ever. Jeff Goldblum is essentially just playing Jeff Goldblum. This isn’t a bad thing, because it works. But it is generally inconsistent with where we last saw him. Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm is easily one of the most iconic characters of the entire Jurassic franchise. However, here, he seems to approach the role from a completely different direction and presents a new personality every time we see him (maybe this is just chaos theory at work?). That could also just be him working with what he is given, as he is not the only character with inconsistent character issues.
Once again we see the always enjoyable BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, a character who briefly appeared in the original Jurassic Park and who has had a recurring villainous role in the films. Except now, he’s not really a villain. He’s just this feeble old man who seems utterly broken. Could this be chalked up to his life’s work wreaking havoc on the world at large? Maybe. But it just feels like a completely different character than we’ve seen in the last few films (and in the Camp Cretaceous animated series).
Chris Pratt shows up and Chris Pratt’s his way all over the place throughout some stunning action sequences. I know everyone loves to hate on Pratt these days, but I still enjoy him in this role. It fits him like a glove. Does he elevate the material he’s working with? Not particularly. But he does fine with what he’s been given.
Then of course we have the unforgettable Bryce Dallas Howard. She manages to work her way up from damsel in distress to being the true lead of the film. Jurassic World: Dominion is very much Claire’s film, and it is fantastic to finally see her given the chance to shine. Claire has easily had the most transformative arc over the last three films, and Jurassic World: Dominion sticks the landing for her. Howard brings such heart and sincerity to the character who has gone from treating these dinosaurs like “assets” to being compassionate in her battle to save them and her adopted clone daughter.
It is cool to see all of these characters from the various Jurassic films all in one place together interacting with one another, though getting them all there felt pretty forced. The sheer amount of talent in this film is astronomical, so you can’t help but enjoy seeing things like Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Sam Neill’s Alan Grant gushing over one another’s accomplishments.
More Jurassic Thoughts
Outside the main cast, Jurassic World: Dominion is jam-packed with familiar faces from throughout the franchise’s history. We saw the return of actors Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, and Omar Sy, and even got references to a few that couldn’t quite make it back into the movie like Jake Johnson and Lauren Lapkus from the first Jurassic World (2015). My only regret is that they didn’t find any organic ways to fit in even more cameos (would it have killed them to throw in Billy Brennan during the scene at Grant’s dig site? I can’t imagine Alessandro Nivola is THAT busy).
While familiar faces are great, Jurassic World: Dominion also has some delightful new additions with newcomers DeWanda Wise as pilot Kayla Watts and Mamoudou Athie as Ramsey Cole, a BioSyn executive who isn’t quite who he seems. Both of them are clearly having a blast and bring some fun new energy to the cast. I just wish they had been given more room to expand upon their roles. Ramsey in particular feels very ambiguous in his intentions are never entirely explained.
But What About The Dinosaurs?
Diving into the real meat of the film, the dinosaurs still look absolutely breathtaking. We are introduced to a hefty number of new species with only a handful of recognizable species from previous entries. But you ask, “How does that work? We saw which animals got released into the wild!” You would be correct to think that way. This is largely explained away as “with the dinosaurs loose on the mainland, other people have experimented with making their own.” The movie runs with that concept and spits out at least 10 new species we have never seen in past Jurassic films. Most of these have been spoiled in the trailers, but there are still a few surprises up this movie’s sleeves.
As awesome as they are, the dinosaurs do start to feel repetitive after a while. While many of them are just set dressing for action sequences, they’re somehow less impressive. One species is only ever seen once (when it is announced by Grant, who points it out excitedly). Another shows up, serves its setpiece purpose, and then leaves of its own accord. These setpieces are great, but ultimately, some felt a little much, leaving half the movie feeling like a toy commercial in a way I haven’t experienced since Batman & Robin (1997).
This movie’s new “big bad” was the Giganotosaurus, which I wasn’t a fan of at all. While it is historically the largest apex predator that ever lived, the design feels lacking, and the existence of the creature felt forced. Every scene it was in could have easily just used the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The movie likely would have been better for it.
The spotlight seemed staunchly on the new dinosaurs. Our usual heavy hitters like Rexy (The Tyrannosaurus Rex who has been with us since the original Jurassic Park), Blue (the Velociraptor), and even the gargantuan aquatic Mosasaurus, are all demoted to “also appeared” status, relegating them to cameos.
There was a much stronger balance between practical and computer-generated (CG) effects this time, which was nice as the last two films relied heavily on CG effects. The puppet for Beta was adorable in all the right ways. Some of the others were just cool to see in a real space. Like the films in the first Jurassic trilogy, this combined use of practical and CG helped better realize these animals on the screen and made them feel real.
Not So Jurassic Ending
If this were a movie by any other name, or perhaps even with just a different marketing campaign, I don’t think the locust plot would be that bad. It worked for what it is. Hell, it would have made for a neat spinoff! But as the final film in a beloved series about dinosaurs running amok, it seems like a really weird choice.
Considering they had all that set up, why does it feel like the dinosaurs are just… there?
All of the interesting stuff seems to have happened in between this film and the last one (which, again, is why you’re left with this feeling that we skipped a movie in the middle). With the film opening and closing on these glimpses of a different world, the rest of the film simply skates around it. It feels very disingenuous. Trevorrow honey potted us.
As a longtime fan of the franchise and someone who unabashedly loves most of these films, it was astounding how many Easter eggs they managed to squeeze into this movie. There is an absurd amount of lore in the Jurassic Park series, and this film packs in lots of nods and references without it ever feeling like too much or winking at the camera.
Ultimately, this film is going to end up super divisive. You’re either going to love it or hate it, with very little middle ground. I loved it for what it was and tried not to hold what it wasn’t against it. Still, it’s hard not to feel swindled by a film that picked up after such a major cliffhanger that saw dinosaurs released into the wild to do as they please and then skips over every interesting idea that could have come from that.
This is supposed to be the “Conclusion of the Jurassic Era”, and feels very much like it’s a conclusion. But it also feels like an unearned ending that skipped a few chapters in the middle that would have provided a lot more context for the story that was being told. While entertaining, it is a disappointing sendoff for a franchise that was once the tyrant king of the box office.
Who knows? Maybe this won’t truly be the end of the line for Jurassic World? After all, “life finds a way.”
Rating: 6 Dinos out of 10
Universal Studios’ Jurassic World Dominion (2022) is in theaters now.
