Jurassic World: Dominion has its fun parts. The film is fun to watch when the characters are running away from dinosaurs and trying to survive. Unfortunately, the story is all over the place. The original Jurassic Park story was about man trying to control nature. This tale gets lost in the weeds of several different environmentalist points and relies on mega-science to explain everything away.
So, some of the original cast returned for this chapter. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum were all fun to see, but their presence in the film doesn't seem justified. Their characters are seemingly included to try to save the franchise from the previous lackluster outing.
The nostalgia film is a difficult one to create successfully. Look at the difference between The Rise of Skywalker and Top Gun: Maverick. The latter created a brilliant story and peppered it with nostalgia. The former used it as a bludgeoning tool because they didn't earn through a creative story.
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard were entertaining. The latter's performance with running away from dinosaurs is a highlight of the film. She's the new Tom Cruise; she is always running.
The best performance, however, comes from DeWanda Wise. She had most of the best laugh lines (along with Goldblum). Her character was grounded, badass, and funny. I'll take it in an action flick. During one scene, she ran away from a dinosaur (spoiler). Her reaction was the most realistic I've seen in a Jurassic Park film. I leaned over to my wife and said, "relatable."
I thought the film was going to pose an interesting question about invasive species, an environmental issue that is little discussed but rather significant. I thought that the conversation between that and the recreation of dinosaurs would lead to an interesting moral dilemma. Instead, the film heaped every possible environmental issue into the film with little to no nuance. By dumping all environmental issues into one basket, the film offers nothing in comparison to the original Jurassic Park.
The original was effective for a couple of reasons. The first is that, yes, dinosaurs create spectacular suspense. They still do. The other reason is that it asked a difficult question about playing god and controlling nature. It focused solely on that issue. Focusing on one question makes that question significant. Focusing on them all sounds like appeasement.
So, all and all. Dinosaurs=Fun. Story=Sad.
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