Jurassic World Dominion (2022) Movie Review
Watching the new Jurassic World movies feels like some sort of sin considering how iconic the original Jurassic Park (1993) movie is. I had suffered through the previous two Jurassic World movies so I felt an obligation to sit through this one. However, when I heard members of the original cast including Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and (the Queen) Laura Dern would be making an appearance, I was a little excited to see it.
Jurassic World Dominion takes place four years after Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Dinosaurs are now a regular part of life as a human. We see a montage of dinos and humans coexisting – sometimes peacefully and sometimes not so peacefully. Giant corporation BioSyn Genetics capitalizes on this strife and begins keeping dinosaurs at a sanctuary and research facility in the mountains of Italy. Owen (Chris Pratt) is still a dinosaur wrangler but this time there’s an absurd scene of him chasing down a herd of dinos on horseback. It’s honestly one of the oddest things I’ve seen in a while. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is smuggling baby dinosaurs out of BioSyn labs to let them live a cage free life. They live in a remote cabin with Maisie (Isabella Sermon) who they have adopted.
When giant locusts begin depleting hoards of crops in Texas, paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) is called to the scene for her expertise. I will say, there was something very thrilling seeing Dern step out of her car in a similar outfit to Jurassic Park. That one scene alone made it worth seeing this movie. Of course, she goes to visit Dr. Grant (Sam Neill) and asks him to come with her to the BioSyn sanctuary in Italy. Their old friend Ian (Jeff Goldblum) has invited her and it’s the perfect opportunity to get some answers about the invasive locusts, which have been developed by BioSyn.
Claire and Owen also wind up at the BioSyn sanctuary as they search for Maisie who has been abducted along with Blue’s baby, Beta. In case you don’t remember, Blue is one of the velociraptors that Owen “trained” in the previous movies. Of course things go haywire at the BioSyn sanctuary and an evil plot is brought to light. At the sanctuary, B.D. Wong makes another appearance as Henry Wu and has a somewhat interesting character arc that makes him a bit redeemable. We also have some new faces that are worthy of mention. Mamoudou Athie plays Ramsay Cole, right hand man to the head of BioSyn. DeWanda Wise plays Kayla, a badass pilot who is contracted by BioSyn to ferry their illegal merchandise. She assists Claire at a black market for dinosaurs and although their meet-cute feels a tad forced story-wise, Kayla is a fun character who is more than capable of handling herself in the dino world.
As per usual Jeff Goldblum delivers some of the best lines in the movie. My absolute favorite was, “Jurassic World? Not a fan.” The way Goldblum delivers it reeks with the type of elitism that comes from being in a classic and iconic film and snubbing the horrendous reboot that cannot hope to compete. The other gem from Goldblum is the deadpan “You made a promise to a dinosaur?” It just encapsulates the absurdity of the direction of these movies and I laugh every time I think about it.
All in all Jurassic World Dominion is slightly better because the original cast joins in on the fun. But it’s still over the top and involves several large dinosaurs battling it out which to be honest always feels kind of dumb. Let’s hope this will be the last of these movies for a bit (or maybe forever?). We can all surely agree that the original Jurassic Park is the best one. Let’s just leave it at that.
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You’ve seen the other two Jurassic World movies
2. You want to see the original cast of Sam, Laura, and Jeff back in action
3. You like watching large CGI dinosaurs fight each other
