I always feel like I should be more excited for a Jurassic film than I actually am. The first Jurassic Park is iconic, a perfect family film in many many ways that hits across the board, something every sequel has failed to live up to. Jurassic World managed to revitalized the franchise by following the trend of bringing back a franchise by essentially copying the original, but adding a modern twist and it does work, and is probably the best of any Jurassic Park sequel. Fallen Kingdom had an enjoyable first half of the film, but then took a weird twist in the second half, just an idea that didn’t work for me, but at the very least was setting up what we wanted, Dinosaurs out in the world let loose.
Jurassic World: Dominion now has Dinosaurs out in the world where humans are having to adapt to living with them and their constant threat. A new organisation Biosyn has emerged and created a sanctuary for the animals and keep them from harming the natural balance, but they will need Blue and her new baby, as well as the first human clone, Maisie (Isabella Sermon), who is being protected by Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard).
It’s very interesting to me that Colin Trevorrow returned to direct this film. He successfully relaunched this franchise with Jurassic World and got the ball rolling, but didn’t return to Fallen Kingdom, due to his previous engagements with Star Wars Episode 9 before he got removed due to creative differences. Since then his script for his Star Wars film was leaked, with many fans of the opinion that it’s better than what we got with The Rise of Skywalker. So for Trevorrow to return to this franchise that he left it’s easy to compare the 2 different trilogies. The Star Wars sequel trilogy didn’t have a plan leading to The Last Jedi which set up many things fans didn’t like so left them go back to something safe with TROS. Was there a plan for the Jurassic World films? I don’t think so, I feel like both these reboot trilogies are very similar. A safe first film which fans lapped up and broke many records, a sequel with a mixed reception dividing fans followed up with a third fim, helmed by the director of the first that rewrites things from the second and tries to give fans what they want but fails to deliver.
I’ve got a few big problems with Jurassic World: Dominion, the biggest being it’s failure to deliver on the most exciting things that was set up in the previous film, the Dinosaurs being out in the world. Without going too much into spoilers, the focus isn’t anywhere near enough on the Dinosaurs, the thing that audiences want to see. Instead they bring in a new threat, which is barely part of the story, and almost serves no point.
The original cast return for the first time all being together since Jurassic Park and are they the highlight of the film? Absolutely, I never disliked Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt in these films but they firmly take the backseat to the original cast of Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill and Laura Dern. The orignal three don’t get enough play together and I wish they had a bigger adventure together but everytime they’re on screen they light it up, they’re story is the most interesting part of the film, and yet it barely involves the Dinosaurs.
The story is the big thing I have a problem with, no plans means the team comes in and starts writing with an idea and will then just change stuff to what they like, and if they didn’t like what was set up before they just drop it or change it to their will. You wouldn’t think this film was written by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow who wrote Fallen Kingdom, and they both have credits on the first Jurassic World, so it must have been planned to an extent and just wasn’t good, or at least wasn’t thought about further ahead until they started writing each one. I think the franchise is just at it’s best when it’s focusing on the park and the smaller stories, and smaller stakes rather than a vast world threatening story.
Overall, Jurassic World: Dominion continues the trend of these films not knowing what to do properly once they get the dinosaurs off the island. A bizarre film that has a lack of focus and has it on the wrong things. Another franchise that seemed to not have a plan from the beginning and panicked abit. There isn’t an immediate future planned for this series, but it is inevitable it will return in some way of form in a decade or so I would imagine.
What did you think of Jurassic World: Dominion?
Where do you think the franchise could go next?
Flooders Films 
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