Jurassic World: DominionOVERVIEW | Jurassic World: Dominion has a pretty good amount of action, thrills, screams and even a handful of jump scares in there with a lot of nostalgia and modern fandom united to bring us a new approach and look at dinosaurs and modern day life! | ||
 | DIRECTOR Colin Trevorrow |  |
| STUDIO Universal | ||
| GENRE Action, Adventure | ||
| MPAA PG-13 | ||
| RELEASE DATE June 10 2022 | ||
Jurassic World: Dominion Movie Review | You ever wonder what modern day life would be like if dinosaurs still roamed the earth? Well, Jurassic World: Dominion gets a little bit into that. This installment of the dino series takes place 4 years after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ( 2018) where a whole bunch of dinosaurs escaped a facility and into the wild. Don’t worry, if you don’t remember what happened, the movie shoves a “YouTube-esque” re- cap of those events in your face to kick off this movie, so, if you forgot – don’t worry! They got you!
You’ll have to watch the rest of the movie to see how things play out, of course! Now, first and foremost, if you’re looking for substance, subtle social commentary, life lessons or what not – this movie is definitely not the one for you. It’s very on the nose with its attempts at social commentary, “co-exist with mother nature, whether that is natural or genetically modified/ man made. Animals should be respected. Care for our environment,” etc., etc, but beyond that I wouldn’t look too deeply at this and take it for what this movie is: an action movie with dinosaurs! RAAWWRR! So dawn your vintager Jurassic Park t-shirts, attire or memorabilia and get your expectations right from the get-go. You’ll have fun!
I remember watching the original Jurassic Park and then its sequel, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, as a child in movie theaters and then at home on VHS, in fact I even remember walking around the house pretending to be a T-Rex, tiny hands and everything, roaring at my mother as she yelled at me to come eat dinner, so believe me when I tell you that I’m a fan! Of course, I have always wondered what life would be like if dinosaurs still roamed the earth alongside humans in a human-dominated world. Jurassic World: Dominion plays like one of those movies that feels like it took bits and pieces from my own imagination and into a movie, so JW:D offers a little of an imaginative look at that type of life.
Jurassic World: Dominion has a pretty good amount of action, thrills, screams and even a handful of jump scares in there with a lot of nostalgia and modern fandom united to bring us a new approach and look at dinosaurs and modern day life! There was a particular scene at about the mid-way point that certainly had me almost on the edge of my seat with an adrenaline pumping chase/action sequence that played like once of those chase sequences in a James Bond or Jason Bourne movie, so that was cool! Funny moments, interactions and lines for sure, with lots of nods and homages to the original Jurassic Park movie. I mean, you’ve got some of the original cast members like Sam Neil, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum reprising their roles as Drs. Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler and Ian Malcolm respectively so it’s got a little bit of that throwback feel for those of us that grew up watching the originals as a bit of fan-service and I’m totally ok with that! They made this flick fun!
We also get our Jurassic World cast members back, Chris Pratt as Owen Grady, Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing, Omar Sy as Barry Sembene and even Isabella Sermon as Maisie Lockwood and this kind of brings together and meshes the different generations of the first “Jurassic Park” movies and the “Jurassic World” movies to wrap it all up. Multiple storylines take place in this installment that ultimately come together for a greater purpose and I’ll admit that the story certainly feels a little loose and sloppy with plot holes and throw away characters that served as Dino-fodder, but that was fine with me! They deserved it anyways! Like I said, the movie was fun!
Jurassic World: Dominion gives us plenty of dino action and plenty of new and crazy dinosaurs to keep us distracted from the weak storyline and weak social commentary. Let’s face it, there isn’t anything super substantial in this movie, at least that’s how I felt walking out of that theater. But it was plenty of fun! Is this movie breaking box office records on opening night and opening weekend? Probably not! As I said, get into the Jurassic spirit, dawn your Jurassic Park gear, get your family together and take your younger kids and siblings to watch this movie because it was indeed fun! Was it the best of the Jurassic movies? Nah. Heck no! The Lost World was good probably one of the better sequels for any franchise. In fact, I’m pretty sure the director Colin Trevorrow watched The Lost World on repeat, like I did as a kid, and brought that very idea of “I wonder what life would be like if that T-Rex actually escaped into San Diego county and never got caught…” and ran with it to develop and bring us Jurassic World: Dominion. I’m just saying!
I’d give Jurassic World: Dominion a good 7 out of 10 just for entertainment and thrill value. Great real-life animatronics paired with some decent CGI helps bring this movie from a 6 to a 7 out of 10 for me. Storyline and characters were definitely the weakest, but it was fun to toy with the idea of dinosaurs and humans living along side each other. So, go out there and have fun! Take this movie at face value and just have fun with the family on opening night/weekend! Heck, I’d give you major cool points if you even threw on your inflatable T-Rex costume and sign some Jurassic World: Dominion posters on opening night or something! Better yet, have the whole family dress up as T-Rexes and raptors!
Lastly, I know science tells us these things, but in my mind, dinosaurs don’t have feathers! Insert “pouty face” emoji. But I’m no archaeologist or scientist. I’m just a movie enthusiast!
Jurassic World: Dominion premiers this Friday, June 10th in theaters everywhere. Go and have some fun and be safe!
Javier Aguirre
