Dinosaurs. They roamed the earth two hundred million plus years ago, were wiped out in a mass extinction, and have fascinated us since the first fossils were discovered in the early 19th century. The term “dinosaur,” meaning “terrible lizard,” was coined by Richard Wright in 1841. Later, fossil records showed that birds are actually feathered dinosaurs bringing the prehistoric beasts into the modern animal world. It didn’t take long for them to become enduring parts of popular culture. Dinosaur skeletons are major attractions at museums around the world. Their large size and monstrous nature have ensured their regular appearance in best-selling books and films. The word has even been incorporated into the common vernacular, as in, “they’re a dinosaur band, time to retire.” Nothing exemplifies the grasp of dinosaurs on our imagination like the Jurassic Park movies. Where does your mind go first when you think of dinosaurs? I’ll bet it’s the T-Rex from Jurassic Park.
The Jurassic Park film series is based on the Michael Crighton novel about a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. The first film, directed by Steven Spielberg, hit the theaters in 1993, and brought the re-creation of dinosaurs to an unimaginable level with animatronics and computer-generated imagery. With its cutting-edge technology, cheesy, quotable one-liners (“When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go”), and memorable performances by Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Wayne Knight, it’s undoubtedly one of the most impactful, jaw-dropping films of all time. Julianne Moore and Goldblum star in 1997’s Lost World (based on Crighton’s sequel), while William H. Macy and Tea Leoni take the lead on the last of the initial trilogy, Jurassic Park III (this, and the subsequent films were not based on books.)
The second trilogy, Jurassic World, debuted in 2015 with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard as lead actors working at a new dinosaur park on Isla Nublar. The 2018 sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, focused on relocating the island’s dinosaurs from a volcanic eruption to a new sanctuary. However, instead of being relocated, the dinosaurs were transported for sale to the black market. Some caged dinosaurs escape, and the film’s last scene shows them roaming the wilderness and outer urban areas. Thus, the setup for the trilogy finale – humans and dinosaurs coexisting around the world.
Jurassic World: Dominion picks up four years later with a jolt, call it Jurassic Park: The Deadliest Catch. Back on land, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) is rescuing caged dinosaurs and partner Owen (Chris Pratt) is doing the same out in the wild. They are raising their cloned daughter Maise (Isabella Sermon) when she gets kidnapped for her scientific and financial potential, sending her parents on a wild chase. Velociraptor Blue’s cloned baby is also taken. This storyline, like the movie itself, has its letdowns and positive moments. The chemistry between Claire and Owen still can’t ignite and Maise’s (granddaughter of Jurassic Park founder Benjamin Lockwood) character is underdeveloped. The Malta action is exhilarating and comes with a chase sequence right out of Bourne/Bond, but with dinosaurs doing the pursuit. The dinosaur black market scene will have you looking for Jabba the Hutt.
The anticipated reunion of original Jurassic Park characters Dr. Ellis Sattler (Laura Dern), Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is fleetingly fun, but quickly fizzles out. Goldblum can still deliver those straight-faced bizarre one-liners, but Dern and Neill are stuck in a “will they, won’t they,” cycle of romantic uncertainty. Perhaps most disappointing is that the two paleontologists are not with the dinosaurs, but at the BioSyn compound; a company that has bio-engineered a locust plague to take over the world. Campbell Scott plays the tech guru well, one soft-spoken moment he’s highlighting the humanity of the company’s environmental initiatives, the next he’s destroying the world’s food supply.
Two characters provide fresh faces for Dominion: Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie, Black Box) is the CEO’s matter-of-fact assistant with dubious loyalties. Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise, She’s Gotta Have It) is an obliging, daredevil cargo pilot. These characters, especially Kayla, interject some new, unexpected energy into the plot.
Jurassic Park: Dominion is a lot. A lot of sound, vision, storylines, reunions, and running time (2:26). There are also nods to Jurassic Park lore, including, similar cringe-y lines, the jeep trying to outrun the dinosaur through the forest, and a certain can of Barbasol shaving cream. What there’s not a lot of are dinosaurs. While they’re certainly visible in many shapes and sizes, they are often in the background and part of the daily routine. There are frightening human-dinosaur encounters, but they lack life and death danger. Maybe this is what happens when dinosaurs and humans coexist. We are not in awe of them any longer. The future of the Jurassic Park series is uncertain, but one thing’s for sure, we will always be captivated and terrified by dinosaurs. I see a Jurassic Park: Worlds Collide in our future.
D² Rating ◼◼◩☐☐
Trivia: What is Bryce Dallas Howard doing in her famous scene from the film, The Help?
Answer: Eating housekeeper Minnie’s (Octavia Spencer) chocolate pie…or at least she thought she was eating chocolate pie. Her realization that she’s actually eating a shit pie is one of the priceless scenes in modern movie history.
Trivia: Who is Chris Pratt’s father-in-law?
Answer: Arnold Schwarzenegger.