“I was four years old when the first one came out”, said the guy in front of me. The lady behind us said that she’d seen all of them and then went on comparing her favorite characters. As a family, we’ve seen Jurassic Park a handful of times, and I’m old enough to have driven myself to the cinema to see it when it came out. Our kids say that they’ve seen some of the other Jurassic films, but I know that the only other one I’ve seen the final half-hour of Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World. As the sixth film in the franchise, Jurassic World Dominion comes out, it serves as a mixed bag but is also a satisfying end to the series, let me explain.
To an extent, the Jurassic films are review-proof; consider it the older, more sophisticated sibling of The Fast and the Furious. There are large segments of folks who will rush to say the film is the greatest thing since (insert your favorite movie here) ((it isn’t)), or the worst thing since whatever film you really didn’t like (it isn’t). Instead, Jurassic World Dominion is a summer popcorn film that aims to be basic entertainment and succeeds.
It’s like Jason Bourne, with dinosaurs. That’s how I described the second third of Dominion. This is the part that you’ve seen in the trailer where they’re on an island setting with tan buildings everywhere. That was filmed in Malta and does as much in planting seeds for a visit there as they do hope for a great movie. This is where it’s important to say, much like the Fast & Furious films, you need to check your movie expectations, hat of realism or critical sensibilities at the door.
Obviously, dinosaurs being controlled by a laser pointer to target potential prey, the uncanny ability to time a kidnapping to a pilot with a heart of gold, and in general, dinosaurs walking around us- require the subject to be taken with a grain of salt. However, from the little I saw of Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World, it embraces the weakest link that was in the series. Dinosaurs that live on a deserted island are boring. Dinosaurs that live amongst humans are fun and much more monstrous.
The bits that I saw from the very poorly titled, Jurassic Park III, alluded to the fun that could happen when dinosaurs are let loose upon modern, non-island civilization. Since then, moviegoers have come to expect monsters, kaiju, and Kongs of all manner dropping into their city life. Welcome to the party Jurassic land. It’s about time that you got off of the island and let the dinosaur out of the bag.
It’s when the monsters roam free and do what dinosaurs do best, that Jurassic World Dominion is at its best. The cave sequences with the spinosaurus are fun, age-appropriately scary, and do the trick. Likewise, the dinosaurs in Malta are fun to watch and the chase sequence is breezy, just leave the logic side of your brain at the door for this one.
There are also lots of obvious hat tips to the Jurassic movies. The vintage cast, especially the dialogue from Jeff Goldblum is welcome and provides many of the laughs. The new cast is fine, and the addition of DeWanda Wise is fabulous and breaks the levity that Chris Pratt’s character failed to bring. Be on the lookout for the ‘son’ of Wayne Knight’s character from the first film, as well as, a couple of other verbal, and physical cues from that.
We saw Jurassic World Dominion with our ten-year-old and it wasn’t too much for him. There were bits of violence, but it was nothing that the first film didn’t offer and that he hadn’t seen before. Dominion had some extended action sequences that were tense and action-filled, as well as, some language that he wouldn’t want to repeat at home. Overall though, the film was fun and one that tweens and up could easily see with their family, yup-it’s great for that experience, or that teens could see it solo and roll their eyes at, because they’ve seen much scarier. (but they’ll still really enjoy themselves)
Jurassic World Dominion is rated PG-13 for violence and language.
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