Film Review: "Jurassic World: Dominion"

The summer of 1993 in cinema was a special time thanks to the release of “Jurassic Park.” Steven Spielberg's classic redefined the rules of what a summer blockbuster could be. Its success led to spawning five sequels which forced me to ask the question: why haven’t they been better? Jurassic World: Dominion, unfortunately, continues the trend of making a story so ridiculous, that you mourn for what came before. Set four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, Dinosaurs and humans are sharing the world. This makeshift coexistence could break at any moment thanks to other forces with their own agenda.

To explain the intricacies of the plot would show just how ridiculous this film is. The overarching problem with all of these sequels is that they lose sight of what made the original great.  The wonder of these characters seeing real-life dinosaurs is traded for effects and unrealistic action sequences. This lunacy is exacerbated by the paper-thin characters from “Jurassic World.” Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas-Howard, and Isabella Sermon are such poorly written characters. Each of them fits an archetype that is so stale, that they feel like cardboard cutouts of real characters. Having sat on the film for a few days since my screening, I can’t tell if it’s the script that’s the problem or their performances. It’s especially difficult to decipher when the action sequences feel like nothing more than clamored together VFX.

Intercut throughout the film is a variety of international locations with dinosaurs. One sequence involves the new cast traveling to the country of Malta and Pratt riding a motorcycle with Velociraptors. As he navigates the busy streets with dinosaurs in toe, we’re supposed to have the same wondrous feeling of that 1993 film. What we’re actually left with is headache-inducing camerawork, with no inherent logic. That’s not even including the makeshift “family” of the new characters, which never once feels genuine. This is due to the dynamic that sets us up for the first third of the film. Spoiler alert!  for “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” will be revealed below.

A crucial “reveal” of that previous film is that the character of Maisie Lockwood (Sermon) was embedded with the DNA of dinosaurs. This puts the characters of Claire (Howard) and Owen (Pratt) into the roles of parents. What this includes is some of the most cringe-inducing dialogue from Sermon that is laughable. It’s supposed to establish real forms of tension but just feels pathetic. This makes the lengthy amount of time we spend with these characters feel never-ending. Especially when you have the presence of the original legacy characters, Laura Dern, Sam Neil, and Jeff Goldblum.

Anytime this original trio is on screen, together or separately, elevates the movie from a complete disaster. Their chemistry picks up immediately where it left off, even if the dialogue doesn’t always land. My problem is that their fun moments are intercut with lengthy portions of the new characters. There’s a balance of tones and different stories that eventually intersect, but that just doesn’t work. The closest we ever get to the feeling of the original film involves the ridiculous and silly third act. It’s not great but serves audiences with a sense of fun we’ve been missing for the previous two hours.

Hearing Goldblum through quips, alongside Neil and Dern is absolutely joyous. Even their chemistry with the new characters gives a sense of fun. Granted, it’s undercut with a dinosaur action sequence that’s nothing more than effects slamming into each other. The few joyous moments in “Jurassic World: Dominion” aren’t enough to recommend seeing it on the big screen. Watching these actors back in these roles is never boring, but just doesn’t have the joy of the original. Throughout its two-and-a-half-hour running time, the story did nothing more than make me pine about what came before. There are mild thrills to be had, but nothing to recommend about seeing it on the big screen.