Jurassic World Dominion
starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy and Campbell Scott
screenplay by Emily Carmichael and Colin Trevorrow
directed by Colin Trevorrow
Rating: ♦♦◊◊◊
There are two trilogies here. First, the Jurassic Park trilogy, consisting of Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World (1997), and Jurassic Park III (2001). Then, the Jurassic World trilogy, consisting of Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
I stopped liking the Jurassic Park films when they transitioned to the Jurassic World story line, because the movie just became too silly. Of course, the idea of re-creating dinosaurs from DNA recovered from amber-encased mosquitoes was silly enough. But they were great stories because they were novel, and the computer graphics were great, if not often accurate. Now, the plots have gotten way sillier as the franchise was overtaken by a kitschy environmental message. I mean kitschy as in something considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way. It’s not that I disagree with environmentalism so much as that that’s not what I want in a movie about dinosaurs.
For the first time, Jurassic World Dominion unites the original cast of Jurassic Park (Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum) with the Jurassic World cast (Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt). The return to, or inclusion of, the original cast, the familiar characters, breathes new life into the series. I think the characters of Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Dr. Ian Malcom save the film. For many minutes I was prepared to stop watching. But my preference for these characters over the Chris Pratt-Bryce Dallas Howard characters stayed my hand.
Bryce Dallas Howard’s character, Claire Dearing, is the most despicable and stubbornly stupid character since Richard Attenborough’s Dr. John Hammond in the original films. Claire Dearing is even more despicable than Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong) who has been the mad scientist behind dinosaur genetics from the very beginning. Dr. Wu is sort of pitiable in that he’s trapped by money, ambition and pride into his vile work. But Claire Dearing is just an idiot coming and going, which is the worst thing of all. No matter which way she turns or what she does, she’s a moron.
As always with disaster movies, every possible thing that can go wrong does. The underlying fatal flaw that permeates all the Jurassic Park movies is human hubris, men (scientists and businessmen) wrongly thinking that they can control the animals. Or, failing that, that they can contain the situation after all hell breaks loose. Then, there is capitalist greed driven by the excessively audacious and optimistic notion that Science is on the verge of discovering new treatments for pernicious disease by studying paleo-DNA.
Alan Grant is like Indiana Jones, right down to his hat. Apart from the constantly re-appearing T-rex, Dr. Grant is the most popular character of the series.
In Jurassic World Dominion escaped, breeding dinosaurs are now inseparably established in our modern world. That means we have dinosaurs flying and running around in never-before-imagined environments and climates. Like, there are dinosaurs inhabiting the snowy forests. On the one hand, conservationists are trying to herd, collect, and relocate the animals to a sanctuary in the Swiss Alps. On the other hand, out-of-control and mercenary scientists and businessmen are pushing a lucrative black market in dino-DNA. It’s a formulaic mess. The trouble that John Hammond released with his Pandora’s box can’t be contained.
Don’t ever think that you’re actually in control. And, never think that for whatever reason you have the right to control others’ lives.