So walking out of the theatre after watching “Jurassic World: Dominion” all I could really ask myself is why? Why did they make the choices they made? Why did these talented actors sign on? Why is this the ending to one of the most iconic film franchises ever? This review will contain spoilers.
I guess I need to get my biases out of the way first. The original “Jurassic Park” is my favorite movie of all time. Ever since I was a kid, the film has spoke to me in a way that no other movie has. The look, the characters, the writing, the effects, the dinosaurs, it all just clicked with me. It seems like co-writer and director Colin Trevorrow is also a big fan of the original, because he can’t help but show in some sort of visual or dialogue callback to the 1993 classic, and it becomes distracting.
The movie tries its best to make you think of the original. The film brings back Dr. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler to be our protagonists, almost making Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howards’ characters seem secondary. Sure, they get around the same screen time as the veterans, but the actual overarching plot of the film is pretty much focuses on Grant and Sattler. I mean, Pratt and Howard aren’t even aware of the main villain of the film until the very end.
Speaking of the main villain, that is another big point of confusion for me. You see, they bring back Dodgson, the minor character from “Jurassic Park.” You know, the guy who gives Wayne Knight the Barbasol can? This minor character plays a gigantic role of this film, and he serves as the big bad of the finale to the whole franchise. Him and his army of Locust, which are actually the villains.
Dinosaurs are surprisingly tangential in this film for a movie in the Jurassic Park series. Sure, there are a lot of them in this movie, but the main focus of the plot are genetically engineered Locust, who are eating crops and are causing a global food catastrophe. You would think the movie would center on the fact that dinosaurs now roam the earth freely, but humans have actually accustomated quite well to the invasion of the gigantic prehistoric beasts. In truth, the dinosaurs in this movie could be replaced with any predatory animal or monster, and I don’t think the plot would radically alter.
At the end of the day, this film is simply not good. The plot is sloppy, the characters barely change, every character seems to be able to teleport anywhere at any moment, and there a whole host of other problems. Honestly this is my least favorite Jurassic Park movie, I think your time is better spent on any of the other ones, or better yet, the fantastic original.
Alex Cutler
Executive Editor/Intern