jurassic park dominion movie review

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

What's the Tomatometer®?
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Netflix streaming
Prime Video
Most popular streaming movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

The Fall Guy Link to The Fall Guy
I Saw the TV Glow Link to I Saw the TV Glow
The Idea of You Link to The Idea of You

New TV Tonight

Hacks: Season 3
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: Season 1
Shardlake: Season 1
The Tattooist of Auschwitz: Season 1
A Man in Full: Season 1
The Veil: Season 1
Acapulco: Season 3
Welcome to Wrexham: Season 3
John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA: Season 1
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman: Season 4.2

Jurassic World Dominion

Where to watch.

Rent Jurassic World Dominion on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

Jurassic World Dominion might be a bit of an improvement over its immediate predecessors in some respects, but this franchise has lumbered a long way down from its classic start.

It's probably time to let this franchise rest, but between some entertaining action and the fun of seeing members of the original cast reunited, Jurassic World Dominion is a decent enough sequel.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Colin Trevorrow

Chris Pratt

Bryce Dallas Howard

Claire Dearing

Ellie Sattler

Jeff Goldblum

Ian Malcolm

Movie Clips

More like this, movie news & guides, this movie is featured in the following articles., critics reviews.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, jurassic world: dominion.

Now streaming on:

Twenty-nine years ago, when " Jurassic Park " was released, computer-generated and digitally composited effects were still relatively new, but director Steven Spielberg's team raised them to a new level of credibility by deploying them sparingly, often in nighttime and rainy scenes, and mixing them with old-fashioned practical FX work (mainly puppets and large-scale models). The result conjured primal wonder and terror in the minds of viewers. The T-Rex attack in particular was so brilliantly constructed that it put this writer sideways in his seat, one arm raised in front of his face as if to defend against a dinosaur attack. When there was a break in the mayhem, Spielberg cut to a very quiet scene, letting everyone hear how many people in the audience had been screaming in fright, which of course led to raucous laughter and a release of tension (a showman's trick). A small girl sitting near this writer regarded his still-terror-contorted body and asked, "Mister, are you all right?"

There's nothing in "Jurassic World: Dominion" that comes close to that first "Jurassic Park" T-Rex attack, or any other scene in it. Or for that matter, any of the scenes in the Spielberg-directed sequel "The Lost World," which made the best of an inevitable cash-grab scenario by treating the film as an excuse to stage a series of dazzling large-scale action sequences, and giving Jeff Goldblum's chaos theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm the action hero job. Goldblum, who reprises his role in "Dominion" alongside fellow original cast members Sam Neill and Laura Dern , turned his "Lost World" performance into a wry-yet-cranky meta-commentary on corporate capitalism.

For that matter, there's nothing in this new film as good as the best parts of "Jurassic Park III," " Jurassic World ," and "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” The latter had the most surprising pivots since the original, conjuring Spielbergian magic (think of that shot of the brachiosaur left behind on the dock) and mixing gothic horror and haunted house-movie elements into its second half. "Jurassic Park" creator Michael Crichton's original inspiration, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , was referenced through the character of Maisie Lockwood ( Isabella Sermon ), a clone created by John Hammond's business partner to replace the daughter that he lost.

Maisie is one of many major characters featured in "Dominion," and her tragic predicament has disturbing new details added to it. But returning franchise director/co-writer Colin Trevorrow (writer/director of "Jurassic World") and his collaborators are unable to focus on their deeper implications long enough to develop Maisie with the sophistication required for a great or even good science fiction/horror film.

The mishandling of Maisie is but one bit of scrap in this dumpster of a sequel. The film opens with Claire Dearing ( Bryce Dallas Howard ), onetime park operations manager of Jurassic World turned head of the activist Dinosaur Protection Group, breaking into a ranch where baby plant-eaters are being kept and impulsively deciding to rescue one of them. Then she goes to a cabin in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains, where Maisie is living with the park's former raptor-whisperer Owen Grady ( Chris Pratt ). The three form a makeshift nuclear family focused on protecting Maisie against parties who want to exploit her for genetic and financial gain. The semi-domesticated raptor Blue lives with them as well, and has asexually produced a child (mirroring Maisie's relationship to her mother's genetic material—though so haphazardly that it's as if the filmmakers barely even thought of the two creatures as being thematically linked).

There's also a corporate spy plot (as in most of the other films) involving a thoughtless and/or sinister corporation that talks of magic-and-wonder but is mainly interested in exploiting the dinos and the technology that created them. From "The Lost World" onward, the successors to park founder John Hammond ( Richard Attenborough )—a nice old man who meant well but failed to think through the implications of his actions—have been actively treacherous Bad Guy types. The heavy in this one is Dr. Lewis Dodgson, a character from the original film who’s been recast and promoted to CEO of BioSyn ('bio sin,' get it?). Dodgson hired another recurring "Jurassic" character, B.D. Wong's Dr. Wu (arguably the true villain of most of these films, though in an oblivious, John Hammond sort of way) to breed prehistoric locusts that are genetically coded to devour every food crop, save for engineered plants sold exclusively by the company.

Dodgson is the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Maisie and Blue's child. Actor Campbell Scott uses inventive body language and unpredictable phrasings and pauses to invest the under-written Dodgson with a distinct personality. He turns him into a sendup of two generations of Baby Boomer and Generation X tech-bro capitalist gurus. Dodgson is a man who carries himself like a peace-loving hippie but is really a voracious yuppie who keeps black marketeers and hired killers on retainer. The warm-voiced but dead-eyed way that Dodgson conveys "caring" is especially chilling—like a zombie Steve Jobs . It's the film's second most imaginative performance after that of Goldblum, who never moves or speaks quite as you expect him to, and blurts out things that sound improvised. (Chastising colleagues who are moving too slowly for his taste, he snaps, "Why are you skulking?")

All narrative roads converge at BioSyn headquarters, where Neill and Dern's Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler have gone to ask Ian Malcolm's help in obtaining top-secret information that can end the prehistoric locust plague, and where Maisie and Blue's baby have been brought so that their genetic secrets can be mined as well. Two new characters—Han Solo-ish mercenary pilot Kayla Watts ( DeWanda Wise ) who says she doesn't want to get involved in the heroes' problems and then does, and Dodgson's disillusioned acolyte Ramsay Cole ( Mamoudou Athie )—join the intrigue, and presumably are being introduced as new-generation figureheads who can take over the franchise. Even if the entire film had focused on BioSyn headquarters, the film still might have seemed overstuffed and under-imagined. But Trevorrow turns the movie into a global travelogue, every sequence feeling narratively cut-off from the others in the manner of a substandard spy flick. (There's even a rooftop chase modeled on one in " The Bourne Supremacy ," but with a raptor.)

A long sequence in Malta, where Claire and Owen have gone to rescue Maisie from kidnappers, encapsulates the film's failures. There are a lot of promising notions in it, including a dinosaur-focused black market (like something out of a " Star Wars " or Indiana Jones film) where criminals go to buy, sell, and eat forbidden and endangered species. But it's undone by a lazy undercurrent of comic-book Orientalism and a seeming inability to even see, much less capitalize on, potentially rich material. Michael Giacchino's score pours on sinister Arabic-African "exotic" cliches, as if setting up an R-rated prison thriller in which Owen does a " Midnight Express " stint in a Turkish prison for hashish possession.

An action scene that throws Owen and the lead kidnapper into a fighting pit where onlookers wager on dinosaur fights is as indifferently composed and poorly edited as nearly every other action scene in the film—and it becomes depressing once you think about what Spielberg, or his favorite second-unit director Joe Johnston ("Jurassic Park III"), might have done with it. It could've been a tiny masterpiece of action, slapstick, and social commentary, with the pit audience initially reacting with outrage when their regularly scheduled dino-fights are disrupted, then gleefully shifting gears by betting on the two humans who are going at each other, making fresh odds and handing off fistfuls of cash while baying for blood. Trevorrow looks at this setup and sees nothing but a hero fighting a henchman in a pit.

There's no scene in the film that's entirely worthless. There's no question that at this point, the "Jurassic" factory knows how to design and animate prehistoric creatures and integrate them with live-action scenes of actors running, screaming, shooting, setting fires, and the like. And yet the totality feels indifferently assembled, and the stalkings and chases and dino-battles are for the most part bereft of the life-and-death tension that every other franchise entry has managed to summon. And the plotting is abysmal, relying too heavily on coincidence and flukes of timing, retro-engineering personal connections between new and pre-existing characters, and handing the heroes major victories as casually as a hotel desk clerk giving a guest a room key, instead of letting them earn them through ingenuity.

Trevorrow even manages to recycle, not once but three times, one of the only clever gags in his "Jurassic World"—a comment on the 40-year budgetary and spectacle escalation of the summer blockbuster, in which a great white shark, the creature at the center of Spielberg's groundbreaking 1975 film " Jaws ," gets eaten by a mosasaurus the size of a skyscraper. Every time Trevorrow does something like this, it feels like an even-more-desperate attempt to remind us of how much fun we might've had during "Jurassic World," which wasn't that great of a film to start with, and that was dining out on reheated cultural leftovers even during its best moments.

There are also scenes where characters (mainly but not always Malcolm) tie the capitalist rapaciousness of BioSyn to the film you're sitting there watching. But these don't have the wit and playfulness that powered similar material in "The Lost World." They just seem curdled with self-loathing and awareness of how hollow the whole production is. At one point Malcolm chastises himself for taking the company's money to work as their in-house philosopher/guru even though he knows they're cynical corporate exploiters, and there's a self-lacerating edge to Goldblum's voice that makes it seem as if it's the actor rather than the character who's confessing to low personal standards. And there are times where Sam Neill, like Goldblum, seems embarrassed to be onscreen, or at least confused as to what he's doing in the story—although to be fair, the script never convincingly justifies why Allan, a reluctant action hero in his other two "Jurassic" appearances, would leave the dinosaur dig site where Ellie finds him, other than that he's from the earlier movies and needed to be here for nostalgia-marketing reasons.

Worst of all, the series again fails to properly explore its most tantalizing question: how would our world change if dinosaurs were added to it? The opening section packs any halfway intriguing or funny thing that "Dominion" might have to say about this topic into a TV news montage—showing, for instance, a little girl being chased on a beach by baby dinos (an homage to "The Lost World"), a couple releasing doves at their wedding only to have one of them get snatched out of the air by a pterodactyl, and pteranodons nesting in the World Trade Center (possibly a reference to Larry Cohen's " Q: The Winged Serpent ," in which an ancient Aztec god nests in the Chrysler Building). Ninety minutes of footage like this, minus any characters or plot at all, probably would've resulted in an artistically better use of a couple hundred million dollars than "Jurassic World: Dominion," which will doubtless be a smash on the order of all the other entries in the franchise, even though it doesn't do much more than the bare minimum you'd expect for one of these films, and not all that well.

Now playing in theaters.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

Now playing

The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

The First Omen

Tomris laffly.

Brian Tallerico

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver

Simon abrams.

Mary & George

Cristina escobar.

Food, Inc. 2

Glenn kenny, film credits.

Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action, some violence and language.

147 minutes

Sam Neill as Dr. Alan Grant

Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler

Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm

Chris Pratt as Owen Grady

Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing

Mamoudou Athie as Ramsay Cole

Scott Haze as Rainn Delacourt

Dichen Lachman as Soyona Santos

Daniella Pineda as Zia Rodriguez

Isabella Sermon as Maisie Lockwood

Justice Smith as Franklin Webb

Omar Sy as Barry Sembène

DeWanda Wise as Kayla Watts

Campbell Scott as Lewis Dodgson

B.D. Wong as Dr. Henry Wu

Joel Elferink as Jeffrey

Jake Johnson as Lowery Cruthers

Kristoffer Polaha as Wyatt Huntley

Elva Trill as Charlotte Lockwood

Colin Trevorrow

Writer (based on characters created by)

Michael Crichton

Writer (story by)

Derek Connolly
Emily Carmichael

Cinematographer

John Schwartzman
Mark Sanger
Michael Giacchino

Latest blog posts

Retrospective: Oscar Micheaux and the Birth of Black Independent Cinema

Phil Lord and Chris Miller Made the Multiplex Safe for ‘The Fall Guy’

Initially Promising Dark Matter Sinks Under Weight of Prestige TV Bloat

Tomorrow There Will Be Fine Weather: A Preview of NYC's Upcoming Hiroshi Shimizu Retrospective

Supported by

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Review: Extinction Rebellion

Things get very hectic in the last episode of this trilogy, which brings back familiar faces (Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Sam Neill) along with the usual dinosaurs.

Share full article

By A.O. Scott

“Jurassic World Dominion” starts with a nod to “The Deadliest Catch”: A marine reptile snacks on king crabs in the Bering Sea before turning its jaws on a trawler and its crew. Yikes! Then a mock newscast swiftly brings us up-to-date on the global catastrophe that began to unfold almost 30 years ago in the first “Jurassic Park” movie. In case you need a refresher, how it started was with Richard Attenborough rhapsodizing about the wonders of life; how it’s going is that the big lizards are everywhere, generally bringing out the worst in people.

It would be nice if those reanimated monsters inspired better movies. The “Jurassic” brand, born in Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel , promises bone-rattling action and sublime reptilian special effects infused with pop pseudoscience and bioethical chin-scratching. The second trilogy, which started in 2015, hasn’t quite lived up to that promise. “Dominion,” directed by Colin Trevorrow, might be a little better than its two predecessors ( “Jurassic World” and “Fallen Kingdom” ), but in ways that underline the hectic incoherence of the whole enterprise.

However: Jeff Goldblum is back, as the “chaotician” Dr. Ian Malcolm, more seductively lizardy than the dinosaurs themselves. Ian is reunited with his “Jurassic Park” frenemies Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). Ellie has been married and divorced and made a name for herself in the field of genetic something or other. Alan is still carrying a torch for her. Yes, he’s in love with her, but what I mean to say is that he literally carries a torch, to light their way through an old amber mine deep in the Dolomites.

That rocky bit of Italy is where the fiercest, biggest ancient predators now live, in a preserve built and supervised by Lewis Dodgson, an evil tech/pharma billionaire played by Campbell Scott. He seems nice enough at first — his company, Biosyn, claims to be protecting the dinosaurs out of the goodness of its corporate heart, and also curing disease, feeding the world and so on — but nobody except a naïve scientist is likely to be fooled. There are too many tells. Lewis’s silver hair is combed flat against his scalp, and he wears collarless shirts and soft jackets in rarefied neutral tones like ecru, pewter and mother-of-walrus. His very speech patterns suggest libertarianism run amok.

As it happens, Lewis has bioengineered a plague of giant locusts, with the help of Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong), another revenant from the earlier “Jurassic Park” movies. Biosyn has also kidnapped Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), the cloned avatar of a famous scientist.

To make a very long story as short as I can: For the past few years, Maisie has been in the care of Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who have been with the franchise since “Jurassic World” and who have less and less to do. Well, that’s not quite fair. It’s just that everybody else is more interesting, both the old-timers and the newcomers. Mamoudou Athie and DeWanda Wise are both better than they need to be in cookie-cutter parts. She’s Kayla Watts, a tough, cynical cargo pilot, and he’s Ramsay Cole, a smooth techie minion. They both end up pretty much where you expect they will. Kayla is someone you might hope to see in her own movie.

Pratt and Howard, bless them, are the designated action figures, who do a lot of the running and jumping and fast driving. There is a complicated chase through the narrow streets of a picturesque Mediterranean seaport, which is only tangentially related to dinosaurs but which might remind you, not unpleasantly, of a Jason Bourne movie. Other chases happen in mud, rain, snow and gloom of night, and also along the sleek, curving corridors of a high-tech research facility.

This is a very crowded movie — so many species of dinosaur, and I’m so bad at keeping track of them that my 8-year-old self is no longer speaking to me. They are variously menacing, ravenous, bizarre and kind of cute, but the frenzied live-action and digital special effects rarely produce moments of Spielbergian awe.

Within the world of “Dominion,” the dinosaurs are no big deal. The message seems to be that human beings need to learn to live with them, accepting the occasional pet-mauling or boat-devouring as the price of coexistence. Is this utopian or dystopian? A vision of ecological harmony or of genetically engineered apocalypse? A metaphor for Covid or just a sign of imaginative exhaustion?

Jurassic World Dominion Rated PG-13. Lizard-brain stuff. Running time: 2 hours 26 minutes. In theaters.

A.O. Scott is a co-chief film critic. He joined The Times in 2000 and has written for the Book Review and The New York Times Magazine. He is also the author of “Better Living Through Criticism.” More about A.O. Scott

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

The Netflix stalker series “ Baby Reindeer ” combines the appeal of a twisty thriller with a deep sense of empathy. The ending illustrates why it’s become such a hit .

We have entered the golden age of Mid TV, where we have a profusion of well-cast, sleekly produced competence, our critic writes .

The writer-director Alex Garland has made it clear that “Civil War” should be a warning. Instead, the ugliness of war comes across as comforting thrills .

Studios obsessively focused on PG-13 franchises and animation in recent years, but movies like “Challengers” and “Saltburn” show that Hollywood is embracing sex again .

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime and Hulu to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

Search Please fill out this field.
Newsletters
Sweepstakes
Movie Reviews

Jurassic World Dominion review: Let's get these dinosaurs to the nearest tar pit

The legacy cast returns for a final-feeling sendoff that rarely captures the magic.

Senior Editor, Movies

If you can train velociraptors not to view you as a snack — just stick out your hand like you're hailing a cab and do a stern shake of your head — then maybe audiences can be trained to forget everything that made Steven Spielberg 's original 1993 Jurassic Park such a polished piece of fearmaking. Just a hair away from Jaws , it never let you forget its premise's cautionary sting, even with the theme-park-ification of Hollywood on the rise.

How prehistoric. Jurassic World Dominion (opening June 10), the sixth and, hopefully, final entry in a series of diminishing returns, takes us back to ethics-challenged scientists in remote labs and a general lack of learning from prior installments. Even returning snark source Jeff Goldblum (still looking good in leathers) finds his chaotician Ian Malcolm, once a reliable cynic, installed as the in-house philosopher at Biosyn, one of these secret corporate research facilities that no doubt calls itself a "campus" — he says he's got five mouths to feed. Rarely does selling out come so articulated in the dialogue. Is he the voice of the producers?

In Dominion 's world, dinosaurs are already among us, perched on city buildings, upsetting wedding ceremonies, and hassling runners on the beach. It's a stupefying intro, suggesting we'd all kinda be okay with this turn of events, somewhere between a drag and a headache. Mystifyingly, the story and screenplay (credited to director Colin Trevorrow and two others, though that can't be everyone) suggests that revived apex predators loose in the wild are the least of our worries. There are giant locusts the size of drones that Biosyn has unleashed to eat non-GMO crops. Ellie ( Laura Dern ) and Alan ( Sam Neill ) are on the case — it's one of those movies that climaxes with evidence being turned over to "my contact at the Times ."

Elsewhere — specifically in the snowy Sierra Nevadas — Owen ( Chris Pratt , he of the raptor-training hand gestures) and Claire ( Bryce Dallas Howard ) discover that their adopted daughter, Maisie (Isabella Sermon), who's both a directionless teen and, double-whammy, a human clone, has been kidnapped by bad guys who want her genetic code. All roads lead back to Biosyn, presided over by an evil billionaire in a Caesar cut ( Campbell Scott ), a place where everyone will attempt to look surprised to find themselves in the same fan-serving predicaments of yore, some of them for the second or third time.

Even though you'll recognize many of those moments (crouching behind a car while a T-Rex sniffs around; Goldblum hoisting a distracting torch, etc.), feelings of nostalgia won't be as forthcoming as a sense of box-ticking. The dutifulness is made worse by some unnecessarily junked-up action scenes, underlit and overhashed by editing. A black-market chase in Malta gives Trevorrow the opportunity to restage that jump-through-the-window moment from The Bourne Ultimatum — did you ever want to see a digitized raptor execute the stunt instead of Matt Damon?

Even with the original cast on board, there's surprisingly little chemistry or humor, and the movie makes repeated pit stops to stress family values: "Do you guys have kids?" Maisie asks Alan and Ellie, both of them no doubt tired of fielding that question, especially when fleeing from carnivores. Some of the new dinos have red feathers, a cute touch, but there's little of the wonderment of the first film, barring an image of a sad bronto at a logging site. It's the kind of listless enterprise out of which a savvy actor can sometimes pop: DeWanda Wise, playing a daring pilot, is basically starring in a one-woman Raiders of the Lost Ark in her head. Let's get that concept to the sequel writers stat, before they build another theme park. Grade: C–

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly 's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘jurassic world dominion’: film review.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by original franchise stars Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum in Colin Trevorrow's globe-hopping conclusion to the de-extinct dinosaur saga.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

Share this article on Facebook
Share this article on Twitter
Share this article on Flipboard
Share this article on Email
Show additional share options
Share this article on Linkedin
Share this article on Pinit
Share this article on Reddit
Share this article on Tumblr
Share this article on Whatsapp
Share this article on Print
Share this article on Comment

More is depressingly less in Jurassic World Dominion , a legacy sequel that tosses in frequent winking nods to the 1993 Steven Spielberg thriller that started the dinosaur franchise and yet completely loses sight of the heart and humanity, the rapturous awe that made it so unforgettable. Whatever goodwill superfan director Colin Trevorrow earned with 2015’s enjoyable reboot, Jurassic World , he pulverizes it here with overplotted chaos, somehow managing to marginalize characters from both the new and original trilogies as well as the prehistoric creatures they go up against in one routine challenge after another. Evolution has passed this bloated monster by.

Jurassic World Dominion

Release date : Friday, June 10 Cast : Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Campbell Scott, Isabella Sermon Director : Colin Trevorrow Screenwriters : Emily Carmichael, Colin Trevorrow

The Spielbergian Jaws trope of patiently building suspense by keeping the deadly creatures out of sight for as long as possible is anathema to this movie and its juvenile instant-gratification approach. There’s no mystery, no steadily mounting dread, just a succession of rampaging mayhem triggered with anesthetizing inevitability.

In one moment early on, Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), who was revealed in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to be a genetic clone, gives a group of Sierra Nevada Mountains loggers a tip to lure a pair of brachiosauruses away from their work site. The astonishment on the human faces as these majestic gentle giants lumber off on their sweet, herbivorous way recalls the poetic power of Spielberg’s original . But the new movie elsewhere is engineered for only the most soulless of thrills. It almost never stops to breathe.

Like one of the dangerous experiments with genetic modification of scientist Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong), the screenplay by Emily Carmichael and Trevorrow splices together the DNA of countless different movies but cooks up a genre mishmash with no discernable identity of its own. On top of the Jurassic Park core elements, the writers drop in bits of the Indiana Jones , Bourne and Alien series, and a Maltese black-market dino-traffic hangout straight out of the Star Wars cantina. There’s even a mutant locust plague that recalls … The Swarm ?!

Those big-ass crossbreed locusts start decimating crops across the American heartland, quickly multiplying to the point where Dr. Wu, who developed the freak species, warns of an impending food shortage. But to Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott), his weirdo corporate boss at tech conglomerate Biosyn, global famine is just an unfortunate side-effect. Crops grown from Biosyn seed are untouched by the locusts, as intended, paving the way for the company to control the world’s food supply.

Ellie Sattler ( Laura Dern ), last seen in 2001’s Jurassic World III , learns of the locust phenomenon while studying soil science and sustainable farming. When she traces the bugs’ genes back to the cretaceous period, she reconnects with her former flame, paleontologist Alan Grant ( Sam Neill ), and they fly to Biosyn headquarters in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains. Their former associate, Ian Malcolm ( Jeff Goldblum ), is working as a consultant there, preening like a rock star during lectures for the company’s young scientists. But he’s also been slipping Ellie intel about the food shortage threat.

Along with the giant lab facility, the Biosyn complex includes a vast sanctuary, a valley of lush vegetation ringed by snow-capped mountains, where international governments have agreed to relocate the countless prehistoric species that have been breeding like rabbits since they were liberated from the gothic Lockwood mansion at the end of Fallen Kingdom . Exactly how those dinos have multiplied and spread across the planet in four years remains a hazy detail, though the surviving velociraptor known as Blue has reproduced without a mate thanks to her strand of monitor lizard DNA.

It’s through Blue’s baby, named Beta, and Maisie that the second storyline comes into play. Both are abducted near the cabin where Maisie has been living under the guardianship of former Jurassic World park manager Claire Dearing ( Bryce Dallas Howard ) and raptor wrangler Owen Grady ( Chris Pratt ).

Before the whole gang gets thrown together in the labyrinthine tunnels and forests of the Biosyn sanctuary, there’s a bunch of minimally engaging plot preamble involving teenage Maisie’s rebellious need for freedom; the worldwide poacher market for exotic prehistoric species, of which there now seem to be dozens; and the nefarious mercenaries on Dodgson’s payroll to bring in both the baby raptor and Clone Girl, who holds the key to DNA manipulation. Or something.

That requires a detour to Malta for Owen and Claire, where they go into action-hero mode fending off attacks from human and animal predators, including a ruthless smuggler named Santos (Dichen Lachman), confusingly dressed in cocktail attire while she’s busy laser-tagging folks left and right to make them raptor targets. The film’s biggest set-piece is a dual chase through the ancient streets of the Maltese capital Valetta, with Claire in the back of a pickup and Owen on a motorcycle.

There’s some nail-biting excitement in the will-they-or-won’t-they make it scene in which they race to board a cargo plane bound for the Dolomites, captained by unflappably cool pilot-for-hire Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise). The writers count on pre-existing affection for the holdover characters, rather than giving them anything interesting to do beyond interchangeable “Oh no! Another dinosaur!” encounters. That allows charismatic newcomers Wise and Mamoudou Athie as Dodgson’s savvy head of communications, Ramsay Cole, to walk away with the movie, simply by virtue of bringing something different to the table.

Frankly, aside from the droll humor Goldblum brings to slick, shamelessly vain Dr. Malcolm, I could have ditched the old crew and taken an entire spinoff led by Kayla and Ramsay. The other newcomer, Scott’s Dodgson, is a pallid villain we’ve seen far too often lately, the socially stiff, egomaniacal CEO in the Bill Gates/Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk mold, who half convinces himself that the capacity for scientific and medical discovery in his work justifies the greed and the God complex.

The storylines feel rote, both separately and when they converge; a sameness sets into the action, whether it’s Ellie, Alan and Maisie in an abandoned amber mine or Owen, Claire and Kayla out in the wilderness sanctuary. Trevorrow keeps rolling out different dinos, including some old favorites not seen since the first movie, and new entries like the fearsome giganotosaurus, a late-cretaceous bad-boy theropod that has the distinction of being history’s largest terrestrial carnivore. Meh. In the apex-predator hall of fame, it might be bigger and meaner but ends up being no more terrifying than the good old T-Rex.

That’s because the storytelling lacks imagination. Scene after scene follows a familiar narrow-escape template, with no menace lingering for more than a few minutes, whether it’s a feathered pyroraptor (I’m including these names strictly for the dino nerds — you’re welcome) on a thinly frozen lake prone to cracking, or a bunch of flaming mega-locusts falling from the sky.

Despite all the breathless panic, most of the fixes seem too easy, like Claire glancing at a bank of computer monitors and conveniently exclaiming, “This is the same system we used at the park!” I actually started to miss watching her flee dinos in heels, given that she’s in sensible boots this time.

The dinosaurs are certainly varied in type and the CG work is solid enough for the most part, though some of the smaller, cuter species like the baby nasutoceratops look more like merchandizing opportunities than actual creatures. There was an artfulness to all this when Spielberg did it, with far less advanced technology. Now it all just looks like digital paint-by-numbers. There’s no magic. Even the abrupt swerve into classic monster horror that director J.A. Bayona attempted in Fallen Kingdom showed more invention than anything happening here.

Editor Mark Sanger and composer Michael Giacchino keep the story hurtling along, possibly hoping that if it moves fast enough no one will mind the colossally dumb plotting. At least there’s delicate distraction when John Williams’ original theme music is piped in over Ellie and Alan’s halting romantic reconnection, serving as a reminder of a real movie. As for this one, extinction beckons.

Full credits

Distribution: Universal Production companies: Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, in association with Perfect World Pictures Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Campbell Scott, Isabella Sermon, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Scott Haze, Dichen Lachman Director: Colin Trevorrow Screenwriters: Emily Carmichael, Colin Trevorrow Story: Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow, based on characters created by Michael Crichton Producers: Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley Executive producers: Steven Spielberg, Alexandra Derbyshire, Colin Trevorrow Director of photography: John Schwartzman Production designer: Kevin Jenkins Costume designers: Joanna Johnston Music: Michael Giacchino Editor: Mark Sanger Visual effects supervisor: David Vickery Live action dinosaurs: John Nolan Casting: Nina Gold

THR Newsletters

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘my old ass’ to open toronto’s inside out film festival, ‘the maze runner’ reboot in the works with ‘transcendence’ scribe jack paglen in talks to write (exclusive), matthias glasner’s ‘dying’ wins german film awards, chris pine says getting ‘princess diaries 2’ role was “absolutely earth-shattering”, ‘the idea of you’ team on creating a pop star in nicholas galitzine: “he just made the songs come alive”, cannes film festival: kevin costner will guest on thr’s ‘awards chatter’ podcast live from the palais.

an image, when javascript is unavailable

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Review: Laura Dern and Sam Neill Are Back in a Franchise That’s Stubbornly Determined to Repeat Itself

Completing one trilogy while tying it back to the original, 'Dominion' comes the closest of the sequels to delivering on the 'Jurassic' franchise's fearsome threat of human-dinosaur coexistence.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

‘The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady’ Review: Eva Green Surprises in French Blockbuster’s Less-Than-Faithful Finale 2 weeks ago
‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ Review: Henry Cavill Leads a Pack of Inglorious Rogues in Guy Ritchie’s Spirited WWII Coup 2 weeks ago
‘Challengers’ Review: Zendaya and Company Smash the Sports-Movie Mold in Luca Guadagnino’s Tennis Scorcher 3 weeks ago

JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION, (aka JURASSIC WORLD 3), from left: Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Isabella Sermon, DeWanda Wise, 2022. ph: John Wilson / © Universal Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

With 1990’s “Jurassic Park,” novelist Michael Crichton took a hard look at what was happening in the field of genetic research and warned, via mathematician Ian Malcolm, “Scientists are actually preoccupied with accomplishment. So they are focused on whether they can do something. They never stop to ask if they should do something.”

Across six movies and massive advances in visual effects technology, Hollywood has been wrestling with a version of that same craven because-they-can impulse. The original “Jurassic Park” film was the kind of accomplishment whose creation effectively justified its existence: Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster pushed the limits of what movies could depict, while keeping audiences focused on the ethical questions that had concerned Crichton.

Sequels were inevitable, and there, Malcolm’s words rang true as the franchise became guilty of the very thing it pretends to criticize: unleashing dinosaurs on the world with no real purpose other than profit. Each subsequent installment teased some version of the question, “What if dinosaurs ever escaped the island?” But not a one has been up to the task of following through. “The Lost World” came closest. Remember the scene of a renegade T. rex rampaging through San Diego? It chased a bus through the window of a Blockbuster Video store. Those are the kind of consequences the franchise has been promising all along. But the latest cycle, which bears the misleading “Jurassic World” moniker, has kept the action relatively confined.

Director Colin Trevorrow ’s 2015 reboot — essentially an amplified remake of the original, just with less compelling characters — took place back on Isla Nublar. The dinos escaped the island in “Fallen Kingdom,” only to spend most of their time terrorizing 11-year-old Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), while leaving the rest of the planet largely unbothered. While lousy, that film at least was directed by Spielberg’s spirit-successor J. A. Bayona. And just before credits rolled, it offered a glimpse of the movie most of us thought we were getting all along: We saw a Monosaurus stalking surfers and a T. rex roaring at a captive lion — king of the beasts meets king of the beasts — while Ian Malcolm ( Jeff Goldblum ) remarked, “Humans and dinosaurs are now going to be forced to coexist.”

Popular on Variety

At long last, with “Jurassic World Dominion,” it’s time to take Crichton’s concept to its dystopian conclusion. “Dominion” opens with a few clever examples of dinos among us: A Monosaurus upending a fishing boat in the Baltic Sea, Pteranodons nesting on the roof of the tallest skyscraper, etc. But it doesn’t include the impressive five-minute prologue released last fall, in which a T. rex attacked a drive-in movie theater. Instead, “Dominion” spends very little time worrying about how humans get along with these fearsome reptiles, sending most of its characters to another remote dino habitat.

Surprisingly, the greatest threat facing humankind in “Dominion” is devastating swarms of giant locusts, resurrected by the Monsanto-like BioSyn corporation. Yes, locusts. You know what else is resurrected, lifted from “Jurassic Park” like so much prehistoric DNA? The locust problem is an excuse to bring back Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Alan Grant (Sam Neill). For the franchise’s teenage target market, the original is a “classic” movie too old for many of them to have seen. However, for slightly older audiences, this reunion is a gift, recombining the chemistry that worked nearly three decades ago (Goldblum’s also along for the ride).

Back at BioSyn, mad scientist Henry Wu (BD Wong) explains that our best shot at beating the buggers is to reverse-engineer a genetic process used on the aforementioned girl. Turns out Maisie Lockwood was not only the world’s first human clone, but one cured of her mom’s terminal disease via a process that reprogrammed the DNA of every cell in her body. I suspect that Crichton would have approved of this kooky sci-fi twist. He loved to exploit our fear of technology. But that’s not how “Dominion” operates: Instead of interrogating this latest genetic manipulation, the script passes it off as an infallible solution, focusing the rest of its attention on the same thing every previous installment has — namely, likable characters running from dinosaurs, while the bad guys get their hands and heads bitten off.

Of the three “Jurassic World” movies, “Dominion” is the least silly and most entertaining. But that’s not saying much. This “stop to ask if they should” cycle’s human characters were never especially interesting, and why should we trust Trevorrow to suddenly make them so? Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) has always been basic, while her rugged, raptor-wrangling boyfriend, Owen Grady ( Chris Pratt ), should’ve been dino chow long ago. (Does anyone really believe that holding an open palm up to a super-predator will keep it from mauling you? Just ask Siegfried and Roy how well that works.) Together, Claire and Owen have adopted Maisie, keeping her hidden in a remote cabin, where liberated mama raptor Blue runs wild with her baby, Beta. While the Jurassic World dinosaurs were all bred to be sterile, we need only refer to Dr. Malcolm once again — “Life finds a way” — to explain how Blue reproduced on her own.

Now 15, Maisie’s reaching that age where she’s curious about her origins and wants to see the world. That wish is soon granted when BioSys goon Rainn Delacourt (Scott Haze) kidnaps her and Beta, shipping them off to a black market in Malta. Claire and Owen jet off after her, reuniting with Barry Sembène (Omar Sy), now conveniently employed by French intelligence, for the film’s most dazzling sequence. In Malta, “Dominion” gives us a taste of how smugglers and other shady characters might exploit the existence of dinosaurs: We see the creatures sold as exotic pets, sampled as rare meat and pitted against one another in cruel cockfights. It’s a criminal underworld not unlike the one Jabba the Hutt ran in “Star Wars,” and watching the good guys disrupt it is a thrill. There, we meet Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise), a Han Solo-like pilot for hire with no allegiances who agrees to help Claire and Owen.

“Dominion” also introduces several new species, nearly all of which reinforce the notion that dinosaurs were best left extinct. In Malta, henchwoman Soyona Santos (Dichen Lachman) unleashes her Atrociraptors, which latch on to whatever target she chooses and pursue it until one or the other of them is dead. The ensuing chase is the most effective action sequence Trevorrow has directed yet and suggests he may actually be the right guy for the job. The earlier “Jurassic World” was a big step up from time-travel indie “Safety Not Guaranteed,” but ultimately proved beyond his competence level, while “The Book of Henry” — the only film he’s made in between — was just yikes. Here, he’s found his groove, if not necessarily the film’s reason to exist.

Ellie and Alan eventually convene with Claire and Owen at BioSyn HQ, where Campbell Scott appears as Lewis Dodgson — different actor, but the same guy who’d paid Dennis Nedry to smuggle embryos in “Jurassic Park.” In other words, this guy’s overdue to get eaten. He outlasted the competition, and now he owns the science behind all these dinos, using it to clone locusts for some reason. Owen plays him as a sociopathic Steve Jobs type, constantly popping Chiclets to calm his nerves (I’m not sure what Apple did to tick off Hollywood, but Jobs and Elon Musk have become the model for many a corporate villain of late). Meanwhile, Dodgson’s next-in-command, Ramsay Cole (Mamoudou Athie), is a surprisingly engaging character, thanks largely to the original way Athie delivers impossible expository lines. A better version of this movie might have focused on Ramsay trying to assist the various scientists in dealing with dinos out there in the real world.

Everything that happens at BioSyn goes more or less according to the “Jurassic” playbook. Still, it’s fun to see Dern and Neill together again on-screen, and Goldblum is great at making doomsday sound like a done deal. Trevorrow packs the movie with sly winks to the earlier films, plus “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and other Spielberg movies, and he commits to staging many of the dino interactions the way the master once did, by blending practical, animatronic critters with state-of-the-art CGI.

The movie promises yet another bigger-than-T. rex apex predator, the Giganotosaurus, destined to do battle with the unlikely underdog — though the duel is partly obscured in the background (been there, done that, I guess) until the arrival of a surprise ally. Nearly all the other species appear designed to prove Crichton’s theory that dinosaurs did not go extinct but became birds. Several of them feature primitive feathers, while others can fly. Fine, but it’s not the kind of evolution audiences are looking for from “Dominion.” Once again, the movie ends with images of dinosaurs mingling with humans, leaving us to wonder when this franchise is ever going to really engage with that idea in a meaningful way.

Reviewed at Elysées Biarritz, Paris, June 6, 2022. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 147 MIN.

Production: A Universal Pictures release of a Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment presentation, in association with Perfect World Pictures. Producers: Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley. Executive producers: Steven Spielberg, Alexandra Derbyshire, Colin Trevorrow.
Crew: Director: Colin Trevorrow. Screenplay: Emily Carmichael & Colin Trevorrow; story: Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow, based on characters created by Michael Crichton. Camera:
With: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott, Dichen Lachman.

More From Our Brands

George dickel just dropped a new bottled-in-bond whiskey, and it’s stellar, is necaxa the next wrexham a video explainer, be tough on dirt but gentle on your body with the best soaps for sensitive skin, nicholas alexander chavez confirms general hospital departure — read his message to ‘sprina’ fans, verify it's you, please log in.

Review: Dino delight 'Jurassic World Dominion' is the best since the first 'Jurassic Park'

After so many “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” movies spent trying to keep dinosaurs isolated in poorly executed high-tech sanctuaries, it’s nice to see a thunder lizard drop by a drive-in movie theater for a bite.

Director Colin Trevorrow’s “Jurassic World Dominion” (★★★ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters now) is a globe-trotting action adventure that awesomely imagines a world having to come to grips with rampaging dinos big and small living among humans – at least until the movie shifts its focus to yet another sanctuary full of cloned creatures, another shady tech company and another climactic primal showdown.

Although overly familiar, “Dominion” boasts everything you’d ever want in a “Jurassic” film and is the best in the series since the original 1993 movie. (That said, apart from Steven Spielberg's wondrous opener , this is not exactly a high bar.) The plot brings together the original “Park” heroes – a joy to meet again – and the newer “World” crew to essentially wrap up the current trilogy and the franchise so far.

'It's truly remarkable': 'Jurassic World' dads Chris Pratt, Jeff Goldblum on witnessing childbirth

All those warnings in the first “Jurassic Park” about playing with science come to fruition at the beginning of “Dominion,” which deftly uses an internet video to show how life on Earth has been affected by an influx of dinosaurs.

The new film picks up four years after the beasts escaped the destruction of Isla Nublar (see: 2018’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" ), and returning characters Owen Grady ( Chris Pratt ) and Claire Dearing ( Bryce Dallas Howard ) are now a couple living in the Sierra Nevada as adoptive parents to Maisie (Isabella Sermon), the clone girl who released the dinos into the wild in the previous film. Much to her tween angst, the adults keep her hidden away from people who’d want to capture her for scientific purposes, but she gets kidnapped anyway alongside Beta, the spawn of Owen’s Velociraptor pal Blue.

Meanwhile, evolved dino-locusts are doing a number on crops in the Midwest. Fearing a worldwide famine on the horizon, paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) reaches out to old paleontologist friend – and fellow OG Jurassic Park survivor – Alan Grant (Sam Neill) for help. During their investigation, they get an invite to the remote Italian mountain headquarters of Biosyn Genetics, where dinos from all over the world are taken. Mathematician Ian Malcolm ( Jeff Goldblum ) is the in-house philosopher, and he gives Ellie and Alan the lowdown on the corporation and the morally and ethically questionable practices of its CEO (Campbell Scott).

'Appropriate at the time': Laura Dern, Sam Neill reflect on 'Jurassic Park' romance's age gap

It takes a while, but the parallel story lines in Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael’s screenplay do come together for a “Jurassic” super team-up that’s pretty nifty to see, especially the long-awaited reunion between Dern and Neill’s characters. The coolest new character joining the bunch is Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise), a cargo pilot – and fun, swagger-filled twist on the Indiana Jones/Han Solo archetype – who helps Owen and Claire on their rescue mission. If the next trilogy ends up being “Jurassic Space,” let’s hope she’s at the wheel.

If you come to the “Jurassic” movies for the dinos (and let’s face it, that’s a lot of folks), there are plenty of species to be had – 27, in fact. The T. rex is back, naturally, although it gets a large new foe on the block with the debuting Giganotosaurus. Atrociraptors are used as precision killing machines in a spectacular motorcycle chase scene set in Malta – think something out of “Mission: Impossible,” but replacing Tom Cruise with speedy reptiles – and a winged Quetzalcoatlus does a number on Kayla’s plane. The creature effects are all top notch, especially the eerie mega-locust swarms.

Other than a T. rex getting loose in San Diego for a little while in the second “Jurassic Park,” the franchise hasn’t really leaned into dinos wrecking stuff in the real world – and mankind being thrown by having to share the Earth – so those moments early on in “Dominion” feel inventive. Yet the science veers pretty wonky and, while still mostly exciting, the film tends back toward the romping-and-stomping template we’ve seen previously.

In that vein, the new “Jurassic World” is more “Return of the Jedi” than “Empire Strikes Back,” giving fans a comfort-food finale that plays a few fresh numbers, but mainly sticks to the hits.

Jurassic World Dominion Review

10 Jun 2022

Jurassic World: Dominion

At the end of J.A. Bayona ’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom , dinosaurs and humans start living side by side. While this sadly doesn’t mean velociraptors are now Uber drivers (always give them five stars) or stegosauruses have decent jobs in IT, it does offer a mouth-watering premise for Jurassic World Dominion to explore; two species separated by 65 million years forced to rub along together with no electric fences or Bob Peck to contain the carnage. It’s an idea that Colin Trevorrow ’s franchise finale ultimately ignores, choosing to once again hem in its characters in confined studio-bound forests and dark corridors. It’s a messy, overstuffed affair but delivers dollops of dino goodness, elevated by the return of franchise holy trinity Sam Neill , Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum .

If Spielberg ’s original is about the beauty of the slow burn, Dominion starts at full pelt, throwing in sea-bound mayhem, a dinosaur rescue and a Wild West-style cattle drive, only with parasaurolophuses. Two plot lines emerge — one a dive into the illicit dinosaur black market, the other an almost secret agent story involving genetically modified prehistoric locusts — unified by the corporation Biosyn founded by Lewis Dodgson ( Campbell Scott ) of “Dodgson! It’s Dodgson!” first film fame. You should never trust a company with ‘sin’ baked into the name.

It’s lovely to see Dern, Neill and Goldblum sharing the same frame, the dynamic of the serious scientists exasperated by the rock-star chaotician still gloriously intact.

Dotted throughout are fillips of great action scenes, from a thrilling foot chase and a motorbike pursuit in Malta, a winged serpent taking down an aircraft and a feathered dinosaur (finally) slithering under ice. The best of the bunch is a quieter, more suspenseful sequence as Claire ( Bryce Dallas Howard ) takes refuge underwater with a huge beastie stalking above. But the film is at its best when focused on its original trio. It’s lovely to see Dern, Neill and Goldblum sharing the same frame, the dynamic of the serious scientists exasperated by the rock-star chaotician still gloriously intact. Goldblum in particular adds swagger and levity to a film in danger of becoming po-faced (it’s a great touch that Malcolm slid into Ellie’s DMs in the intervening years — of course he did). It also provides a sharp contrast to the relatively colourless heroes of the later trilogy, Chris Pratt seemingly leaking charisma from film to film and Howard bereft of a character trait you can grasp onto (at least the running in high heels was a thing).

Too many characters hinder investment, an over-abundance of critters (the CG ones look better than the animatronics) dilute the power of a singular Big Bad and the speechifying is occasionally cackhanded, making you pine for the elegant exposition of Mr. DNA. Some of the callbacks are clumsily handled — an iconic Laura Dern moment is squandered early — while some deliver exactly the right frisson; the distinctive sound of dilophosauruses filling a night sky is thrilling. “It never gets old,” says Sattler about the joys of studying dinosaurs, but what’s absent here is the series’ staple of wonder and awe. If we are living in a Jurassic world where dinosaurs are presented as that workaday, now might be the time to stop.

Movies | 01 02 2024

Movies | 13 06 2023

Movies | 29 09 2022

Movies | 10 06 2022

Movies | 29 05 2022

TV Series | 19 05 2022

Empire – Summer 2022 – The Gray Man cover crop

Movies | 11 05 2022

Movies | 28 04 2022

Filed under:

Jurassic World Dominion tries to turn Jurassic Park into Indiana Jones

It’s an overstuffed, genre-hopping monster, but at least the thrills are there

Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, and Laura Dern stand together in Jurassic World: Dominion

Share this story

Share this on Facebook
Share this on Reddit
Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Jurassic World Dominion tries to turn Jurassic Park into Indiana Jones

There’s a moment late in the new sequel Jurassic World Dominion where a dinosaur fight is about to unfold in front of a whole bunch of people who might each reasonably claim that they’re the main character of the ongoing Jurassic Park series. “This isn’t about us,” says Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill). He’s entirely correct; unlike the similarly late-period sequel to a Steven Spielberg monster movie, the dinosaurs haven’t developed any Jaws: The Revenge -style personal vendettas. The major spectacle of Dominion — what makes it a worthy big-screen experience — comes from watching dinosaurs inhabit the human world, much more so than tracking the fates of any particular humans they happen to encounter. Dr. Grant seems to understand this.

And yet the fact that Grant, nominal hero of the original 1993 mega-hit Jurassic Park , appears in Dominion at all suggests that someone, somewhere believes that the humans of this series matter. More importantly, they’re meant to matter to an audience that cherishes Jurassic Park enough to cheer for dialogue and images that reference it — even though it’s that movie’s Spielbergian craft that makes it a classic, rather than its catchphrases or big moments. (Or something close to craft, anyway. Jurassic Park isn’t exactly Jaws , even though it’s a similarly tense movie with a genuinely compelling human dimension.)

So after sporadic participation in previous sequels, here again are Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), and Dr. Alan Grant (Neill) in his fusty imitation of an Indiana Jones fedora. Here too are Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), and Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), the main characters from the now-completed Jurassic World sequel trilogy. Some fans will doubtless consider this a lopsided team-up. It’s become a popular online game to ask whether anyone even remembers the Jurassic World characters’ names, or what they do in their movies besides training velociraptors to respond to a raised hand (Pratt) or running through a jungle in heels that one time (Howard).

Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Chris Pratt, and Bryce Dallas Howard all do their best Steven Spielberg gape-in-wonder-or-maybe-horror-at-an-offscreen-thing pose

But are the original Jurassic Park characters actually detailed and vivid, or did they simply appear in one of the most famous and popular films of all time? Malcolm has the advantage of Jeff Goldblum’s unmistakable speaking rhythms, and Sattler seems especially smart because she’s played by Dern. While Neill is a terrific actor and a welcome presence, Grant mostly just has that fedora. And Grant and Sattler are such buttoned-up characters that their romance is already in the low-key comfort stage by the first movie, and washed away off screen before Jurassic Park III .

Jurassic World Dominion makes an attempt to push those background elements to the fore. In retrospect, the whole trilogy seems like a broad attempt to follow the lead of Grant’s hat by making the Spielberg-originated Jurassic Park movies look a bit more like the Spielberg-originated Indiana Jones movies: spectacle with an action-ready human guide. Hence Pratt’s Owen Grady, a two-fisted man’s man who trains raptors, rides a motorcycle, and spars with his unlikely love interest, Claire. Dominion opens with Owen and Claire in a state of wary peace, living off the grid and getting along with each other, but clashing with Maisie, the surrogate daughter they decided to protect after the events of 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom .

Besides revealing that Maisie is a clone of her scientist mother, Fallen Kingdom also wrapped with dinosaurs being unleashed upon North America. Dominion reveals, via a clever NowThis news video full of morbid slapstick, that they’ve spread around the world. For the first time, humans and dinos have been forced to truly coexist. In response, a company called Biosyn (an old competitor of original dinosaur-makers, InGen) has set up yet another dinosaur sanctuary, in a vast compound in Italy.

A woman in a surgical mask tends a cage full of tiny dinos in Jurassic World: Dominion

But Biosyn and their leader, Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) — who dedicated Jurassic Park fans might remember from a meeting where his patsy, Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), blurted out his name in a public place — have more in mind than strict conservation. They’re very interested in Maisie’s whereabouts. They’re also looking for Beta, the baby raptor birthed by Owen’s old pal Blue. They’ll be tampering with genetics right up until the end of the world, which Malcolm keeps warning everyone about.

This is only the merest setup for the 150-minute Dominion , essentially a loose-ends sequel to Fallen Kingdom and a band-reunited legacy sequel to Jurassic Park , both of which eventually converge into a single, overcrowded movie. The weirder, wilder half has Pratt and Howard channel-flipping through a variety of dinosaur-augmented genres: Here’s Owen playing cowboy, herding dinos from horseback. Here’s rogue environmentalist Claire standing in a Nomadland shot of the plains. Here’s both of them fighting through the streets of Malta (including a secret Mos Eisley-like dino market!) in The Bourne Velociraptor .

For a while, Dominion seems so loopily alive with the possibilities of getting out of the original island park that it becomes — like Fallen Kingdom — far less scene-by-scene predictable than many of its predecessors. An equivalent to Indiana Jones with dinos remains elusive. But Spielberg’s monster-movie id, best represented by the 1997 Jurassic Park sequel The Lost World rather than the classier original, is alive and well. (And the Indy connection remains, in that The Lost World was basically Spielberg’s ’90s version of Temple of Doom .)

In Dominion , Grant, Dern, and Goldblum skulk around yet another high-tech facility adjacent to yet another dino-filled refuge. Colin Trevorrow, who co-wrote and directed the first Jurassic World , co-wrote the second, and returns to direct here, has too much reverence for the original Jurassic Park to resist a return trip to the jungle, even if it’s a different jungle. Maybe he has too much reverence for the original, full stop. Dominion is full of callbacks and curtain calls, and he eventually becomes so consumed with showcasing a combination of old-favorite dinosaurs (animal and human) alongside brand-new threats that he starts running out of space to build actual setpieces. Which is too bad, because the ones he does assemble are mostly great fun, full of special-effects work that doesn’t feel green-screened into the Uncanny Valley.

Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) does his stupid “talk to the hand” dinosaur-taming trick on a leashed hadrosaurus in Jurassic Park: Dominion

Admittedly, Trevorrow doesn’t match the Spielbergian flair for compositions that J.A. Bayona brought to Fallen Kingdom . Bayona is the only Jurassic sequel director so far to even semi-approximate Spielberg’s innate talent for image-making. Trevorrow is more workmanlike, and when Dominion ’s giant cast unites, their presence requires a degree of blocking skill that seems beyond his reach.

To be fair, it might elude Spielberg, too; his Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull suffered from similar crowd-control problems in its final half hour. But the group scenes in Dominion have the particularly awkward tenor of a party where people aren’t sure what to say to each other, even when the script insists that they’re all connected and regard each other with reverence. (The tedious ongoing flattery of Pratt’s Owen Grady continues here.)

So why is Jurassic World Dominion still satisfying, in spite of its bloat, its shameless pandering to past franchise installments, and its utterly ridiculous notions, like Grady promising Blue that he’ll retrieve her baby, even though Blue forever seems moments away from ripping him open and feasting on his insides? It all has to do with Trevorrow’s supersized version of what all the Jurassic movies so far have offered: the uneasy, half-giddy, half-doomy sensation of boarding a theme park ride on the precipice of an apocalypse.

Dominion leans into the notion of a sci-fi dystopia doubling as an old-fashioned monster movie, something Universal knows a thing or two about . Like a ’50s B-movie, Jurassic World Dominion pauses to pontificate about humankind’s place in the evolutionary chain in between sequences that deliver the teeth-gnashing goods. If we have to wade through some silly, pandering nostalgia to get to this pleasingly vast dinosaur playground, so be it.

Jurassic World Dominion opens in theaters on June 10.

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy . We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Review: It’s Time for This Film Franchise to Go Extinct

Siddhant adlakha.

Share on Facebook
Share to Flipboard
Share on LinkedIn
Show more sharing options
Submit to Reddit
Post to Tumblr
Print This Page
Share on WhatsApp

To say that “ Jurassic World : Dominion” squanders its potential would imply it had much to begin with. Perhaps some other, theoretical sequel to J.A. Bayona’s serviceable “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” may have had promise, as a follow-up to that haunted-house creature-feature that ends with a human clone setting dinosaurs loose upon our world. However, “Dominion” director and co-writer Colin Trevorrow (the man responsible for “The Book of Henry”) is the opposite of an idea guy. His apparent “Jurassic” finale goes by the way of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” — ironic, since that was Trevorrow’s job — and brushes aside every promise made by its predecessor. It’s a sequel whose images convey little meaning, other than that which they borrow from other movies, and the result is one of the worst big-budget Hollywood blockbusters since, well, Trevorrow’s “Jurassic World.”

To introduce us to this new era of humanity, in which dinosaurs live among humans and alter our relationship to mother Earth, “Dominion” begins with an oceanic set-piece that quickly pulls out to reveal — drum roll, please — a cheaply produced internet news documentary in the vein of The Dodo, the kind of crowd-sourced content that, in a better movie, might have offered a window into the way people viewed this new world. Here, it comes off as an excuse for some thoughtless, haphazard framing with self-serious expository voiceover bordering on parody, given the sheer volume of plot-specific information condensed into a single clip. And yet, the film still spends the next half hour in introductory mode, catching us up on characters and setting up a pair of vaguely related conflicts meant to bring the old cast into contact with the new.

Movies should, of course, take their time to establish their central characters, but “Dominion” lays out these sequences in utterly mechanical fashion. No one enters or exits a scene with urgency or purpose (a problem that carries over to the action as well). Established characters show up to explain where they are in life and the film moves on to the next item on its checklist.

Claire Something (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Someone (Chris Pratt) occupy an isolated tundra cabin where they care for a now-teenaged Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), the clone granddaughter of Jurassic Park co-founder Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell). Maisie is now the object of a corporate manhunt, leading to yet another malformed story about Claire accepting her motherhood instincts, not to mention more moody sulking from Owen (Pratt, as usual, struggles to put on a tough-guy allure). Oh, and Owen’s pet raptor Blue shows up as well, having given birth to a cute little merchandising opportunity, Beta.

Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated plot about giant locusts threatening worldwide famine, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) seeks the help of her former lover and comrade Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill). There’s an implied contrast between them — Ellie has risen through the ranks of a prestigious university, while Alan is still a loner in search of funding for his digs, much like his previous appearances — but both characters show up wearing pretty much the same outfits they did 30 years ago.

Everything about them, from their appearances to the way they interact, is defined by who they were in a much better film, as if no time has passed. They are, essentially, trapped in amber, but not in a way that “Dominion” reckons with beyond a fleeting line of dialogue. (Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm, who shows up later on, also dons his signature leather jacket but his stammering comedic presence is always welcome.)

When Maisie and Beta are kidnapped, Claire and Owen enlist the help of a wisecracking pilot, Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise), whose tonally confused quips frequently fall flat — a problem pervading most of the film. There’s an Omar Sy character you most assuredly don’t remember from a previous “Jurassic” entry. They soon make their way to an island lab housing a dinosaur sanctuary, the same place Ellie and Alan happen to be headed, and it’s here that most of the movie is set.

Sorry if you wanted a story about what the world might be like if our eons-old reptile ancestors suddenly invaded and put their feet up for good, but this is another saga of a dinosaur island run by a greedy corporation, far from civilization. But what of the other major promise in “Fallen Kingdom,” the one about reckoning with human cloning, both from an ethical and psychological standpoint? Well, the “Rise of Skywalker” comparisons aren’t just about the movie’s quality, because this idea is also partially retconned in a way that makes it far less intriguing.

In the interest of fairness: There are about 20 minutes in which “Dominion” introduces fun new concepts before flying off the rails and becoming a buck-wild mechanical bull ride — with one action beat in particular that feels like a hallucination — but this delightful section still leaves nearly two whole hours of mind-numbing “legacy-sequel” pablum that barely qualifies as a movie. The number of shots that convey any kind of tension or meaning on their own can be counted on one hand (I know, because I kept track), leaving even fewer pairs of shots where a cut from one to the next is geographically or emotionally comprehensible.

Perhaps comparing it to the original “Jurassic Park” is too a high a bar — somehow, “Dominion” has an inverse relationship to scale, relying entirely on characters pointing out the size of various creatures for this to become apparent — but even the 2015 “Jurassic World” defeats it in the visual department. The shot and scene construction of Trevorrow’s first dino outing was at least somewhat clear, even if the frame always seemed to function antithetically to the story. It’s one heck of a dilemma, having to choose which of his two entries works better: the one where each decision has the opposite effect of what was intended, or the one where decisions have no effect at all.

There are a handful of exceptions, but these borrow from other contemporary films. There’s a shot that quotes “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and a landscape that seems to ape the works of Chloé Zhao. They don’t last long, but the only time “Dominion” springs to life is when it rips from classic iconography.

Those aforementioned 20 minutes concern a delightful sequence set in and around an underground black market in Malta. It’s a pitstop for Owen and Claire as they search for Maisie, but it’s filled with raptor fights, seedy poachers, and stalls selling dino kebabs, like something out of a “Star Wars” cantina. It’s imaginative, and exactly the kind of setting a sequel like this should have. Soon, a bike chase breaks out, with raptors swerving between buildings and narrow alleyways. The film’s propensity for mismatched shots finally finds a chaotic companion, cutting from one dino chasing a motorcycle to another tracking people on rooftops as if it were Jason Bourne.

The Bourne influence becomes shockingly literal when a bloodthirsty raptor — after a brief shot of it smashing its face through a wooden door, à la Jack Nicholson in “The Shining” — jumps between balconies in a shot that accurately mimics the most famous beat from “The Bourne Ultimatum,” like someone decided to apply the core concept of “The Velocipastor” to a modern spy thriller. It’s the wildest, strangest, most hilariously head-spinning thing any Hollywood movie has done this year — but it’s also a searing indictment of the rest of the film.

The only joy in this movie comes from its precise mimicry. It has no identity of its own, which becomes depressingly apparent when the franchise’s old and new characters finally come face to face. The first meeting plays like the scene from zombie satire “Shaun of the Dead” in which the main cast greets their doppelgangers. Multiple sequences frame the action to crowd the entire cast into frame, like a last-minute family photograph. They aren’t people with unique personalities so much as they are, collectively, the cast of a long-running franchise that needs to be put out of its misery.

With little tension or humor, there’s nothing keeping “Jurassic World: Dominion” afloat beyond the naïve hope that recognizing the familiar will be enough for some viewers. Maybe it will be, but it’s proof that we’re in one of the dullest, most artless periods of Hollywood blockbusters yet — “Top Gun: Maverick” notwithstanding — and we could be stuck here for some time.

A Universal Pictures release, “Jurassic World: Dominion” hits theaters on Friday, June 10.

Most Popular

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

User Reviews

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews

User Ratings
External Reviews
Metacritic Reviews
Full Cast and Crew
Release Dates
Official Sites
Company Credits
Filming & Production
Technical Specs
Plot Summary
Plot Keywords
Parents Guide

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits
Alternate Versions
Connections
Soundtracks

Photo & Video

Photo Gallery
Trailers and Videos

Jurassic World Dominion review – time to drop the dead dino

A dead-eyed Chris Pratt presides over this convoluted mess of Bond-style villains and toothless action that even the original cast can’t save from extinction

H ere is the kind of sequelised franchise-clone movie to make you feel as if you’re lining up at the cinema like one of Nurse Ratched’s patients, while a dead-eyed attendant pops IP-content capsules out of an enormous blister pack. Genre and formula films can be great, but this flavourless slice of digitainment – the third in the Jurassic World series and the sixth in the Jurassic franchise overall – is overwhelmingly mediocre and pointless, contrived and lifelessly convoluted to the point of gibberish.

The first in the World series , back in 2015, admittedly put a little zap back in, but now this exercise in dead-dino flogging is dire. And the very worst thing of all is Chris Pratt. It’s painful to remember how funny he used to be in TV’s Parks and Recreation, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy. Now he’s the boring action lead, forever doing smoulderingly hunky looks directed past the camera. You’ve heard of Blue Steel. This is Brown Steel. Or Beige Steel.

The previous film, Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom , left us with the idea that humans will just have to coexist with dinosaurs out there in the wild, dangerous but manageable, like bears or spiders. This new movie begins a few years after the destruction of the “Isla Nublar” compound for dinosaurs. Nowadays, beefy velociraptor handler Owen (Pratt) lives a remote, almost hermit existence as a kind of dino-cowboy, with his wife, Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), and their adopted daughter Maisie (Isabella Sermon), the cloned child of Sir Benjamin Lockwood’s daughter. Sir Benjamin, played by James Cromwell, is the supposed former business partner of Jurassic Park OG John Hammond, once played by Richard Attenborough. Maisie has still got her posh English accent.

So much for the Jurassic World lineup. Meanwhile, “legacy characters” from the Park series (1993-2001) have to be crowbarred into the action, too. Dr Alan Grant, genially played by Sam Neill, is to cross paths once again with Dr Ellie Sattler, played by Laura Dern. All these people are to be drawn into the orbit of a new, arbitrarily created corporate baddie, a firm called BioSyn, which is covertly developing dino-clone tech to create dinosaurs as weapons and a new super-locust which will destroy crops planted by independent farmers who refuse to buy BioSyn seed. It is run in a massive Bond-villain city-state retreat in the Italian Dolomites by creepy plutocrat Lewis Dodgson, played by Campbell Scott. He whimsically employs Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) as a kind of contrarian in-house lecturer/motivator for his staff and also the clone genius Dr Henry Wu (BD Wong). But Malcolm and Wu are no sellouts, and will themselves finally join the righteous resistance to all this.

There are some flickers of fun, largely from the geezer generation: Dern and Neill have a nice chemistry and Goldblum is dependably droll. But Pratt and Howard look as if they have just been introduced at some LA party and have nothing in common. Their closeups, while they do their unconvincing acting expressions at each other, seem to create a green-screen aura of phoniness all around their heads. There are some action set-pieces, created for their own sake and with no convincing relationship with the supposed non-plot; these include a chase between a car and a dinosaur, which reminded me of Charlie Kaufman’s car-versus-horse idea from Adaptation.

This could have been fun, but there is something so arbitrary and CGI-bound and jeopardy-free about it, as the film joylessly chops in bits of Alien, The Swarm, Bourne and 007. And the essential thrill of the first Jurassic Park movie, from Michael Crichton’s novel, is completely gone: that vital sense of something hubristic and transgressive and wrong in reviving dinosaurs in the first place. It’s time for everyone involved to do some original thinking.

This article was amended on 13 June 2022 to give the character of Dr Ellie Sattler her honorific as a doctor of palaeobotany.

Science fiction and fantasy films
Jurassic World
Jurassic Park
Chris Pratt
Bryce Dallas Howard

Comments (…)

Review: Overlong franchise finale ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ falls short of veloci-rapture

Two women encounter a dinosaur in the movie "Jurassic World Dominion."

Show more sharing options
Copy Link URL Copied!

“This isn’t about us.” The words arrive late — much too late — into “Jurassic World Dominion,” an underimagined, overlong goodbye to this phase, at least, of a blockbuster franchise that’s overdue for extinction. The speaker is making an obvious point (it’s about the dinosaurs, stupid), but also, in context, a pretty disingenuous one.

Once upon a Michael Crichton-loving epoch — exactly 29 summers ago, when Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” conquered the box office — these giant prehistoric reptiles effortlessly stirred our collective awe, terror and wonderment. But those days now feel as distant as the Late Cretaceous epoch, and this sixth series installment, ostensibly another Mother Nature cautionary tale, feels awfully human-centric and human-driven. For better and for worse, it is about us.

For your safety

The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the CDC and local health officials .

What this means, practically speaking, is that you’ll spend much of the movie’s 147-minute running time watching seven or eight co-protagonists running around another mad scientist’s dinosaur farm, where bioethical boundaries are once again crossed and security measures are once again doomed to fail.

Chris Pratt is back as that genial raptor whisperer Owen Grady, as is Bryce Dallas Howard as his dino rights-defending better half, Claire. The more exciting news, if you can call it news, is that Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum are reunited for the first time since 1993’s “Jurassic Park” — a fan-service coup that almost compensates for the dim reality of how little they’ve been given to do.

From a narrative standpoint, the most important figure here is Owen and Claire’s adopted daughter, Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), the 13-year-old product of a human cloning experiment whose precious genetic code may hold the key to human survival. And survival is key, now that the dinosaurs have broken past their various man-made barriers and migrated all over the planet.

After the relentless claustrophobia of the previous film, 2018’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” there’s a certain relief in seeing these creatures free to roam the planet they once ruled; witness the majestic sight of a friendly, wrinkly apatosaurus experiencing what appears to be its first taste of snow.

That striking image aside, it’s a grave new world indeed. Fishing boats are capsized by creatures from the deep. Winged pteranodons attack from above without warning, and it’s a pter-rible sight indeed.

A deep-pocketed biotech firm called Biosyn has stepped up to provide the dinosaurs with a high-tech mountain sanctuary, and just in case you thought that might be a good thing, the company is run by an eccentric megalomaniac (a perfectly hissable Campbell Scott) whose name, Lewis Dodgson, will jog every “Jurassic Park” fan’s memory. And if all that weren’t enough, a plague of genetically modified giant locusts has descended on farms and fields, threatening to wipe out most of the world’s food supply.

Two men talk as a third man looks on in the movie "Jurassic World Dominion."

Maybe it’s my entomophobia talking, but in a movie about dinosaurs, it’s funny that it takes a swarm of oversize insects to induce even the mildest case of the shivers. Still, for a while, “Jurassic World Dominion” holds your attention, and it does so less insultingly than 2015’s franchise reboot “Jurassic World,” a vapid, hugely profitable foray into blockbuster filmmaking for its director, Colin Trevorrow.

After contributing to the script for 2018’s mildly superior “Fallen Kingdom,” Trevorrow is back at the helm for “Dominion” and clearly determined to engineer his own nostalgia-tickling clone of a grandly old-fashioned Spielberg entertainment.

That’s a tall order, but Trevorrow and his co-writer, Emily Carmichael, do an initially serviceable job of keeping the story’s many unwieldy parts in diverting motion. Much of the first half plays like a globe-trotting espionage thriller, as Owen and Claire get swept up in a kidnapping, a raptor-napping, car chases through the streets of Malta and a brief glimpse inside the ever-growing dinosaur black market, which is sadly not called “Dinos ‘R’ Us.”

The genre template is obvious, but for a “Jurassic” arc, it’s almost novel. It also generates the movie’s one remotely thrilling sequence, involving Owen, a couple of friendly-as-they-sound Atrociraptors and a rusty beater of a plane piloted by the whip-smart Kayla Watts (a very welcome DeWanda Wise).

Meanwhile, the movie busies itself getting the original “Jurassic Park” gang back together, staging a tentative romance between scientists Dr. Ellie Sattler (Dern) and Dr. Alan Grant (Neill) under the least romantic possible circumstances (genetically modified giant locusts!), and then shipping them off to Biosyn’s remote facilities for some undercover snooping.

There’s fleeting pleasure in these scenes, especially once John Williams’ original theme kicks in and that merry theoretician of chaos, Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), shows up, wisecracks at the ready. But this is also where tedium sets in, long before the finish, as all the good guys — which is most of the cast, including Mamoudou Athie as a conflicted Biosyn employee — wind up on a long and repetitive collision course, in which scene after scene plays out with zero wit, tension or surprise.

Bryce Dallas Howard in the movie "Jurassic World Dominion."

OK, that’s not entirely true. It is surprising, or at least dispiriting, to see an actor as nimble as Omar Sy ( “Lupin” ) wasted in a few forgettable action scenes. Sadder still is the reduction of a once-proud antagonist, Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong), to a series of self-flagellating “Oh, God. Sorry I unleashed a plague of genetically modified giant locusts” monologues.

For all that, and despite Dodgson’s unambiguous villainy, “Jurassic World Dominion” plays at times like a feature-length biotech promo, anchored by the sight of young Maisie contemplating her own miracle-baby origins and a lot of earnest encomiums about the power of genetic engineering to save us all.

It’s about us, in other words, notwithstanding the movie’s imbecilic “Circle of Life”-style hymn to the wonders of interspecies coexistence. And because it’s about us — well, us and the genetically modified giant locusts — the dinosaurs themselves fade even further into insignificance.

It’s astonishing how little tension or even momentary menace Trevorrow is able to mine from individual action sequences, how tame even T. rex now seems in its late-franchise dotage. The mix of practical and computer-generated effects used to bring these behemoths to life has evolved by leaps and bounds, but their ability to stir and scare us — much less provoke even a moment’s thought — is a thing of the ancient past.

'Jurassic World Dominion'

Rating: PG-13, for intense sequences of action, some violence and language Running time: 2 hours, 27 minutes Playing: Starts June 10 in general release

Canny as a crocodile but dumber than a baboon — new research ponders T. rex’s brain power

April 29, 2024

The title characters of "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" roar.

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ smashes its way to $80 million. How it won the box office

March 31, 2024

Review: ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is monster math that becomes a headache

March 28, 2024

Only good movies

Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

Justin Chang was a film critic for the Los Angeles Times from 2016 to 2024. He is the author of the book “FilmCraft: Editing” and serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.

More From the Los Angeles Times

A woman reads a letter at a mailbox labeled "O'Connor."

Review: In ‘Wildcat,’ director Ethan Hawke — and daughter Maya — bring a literary life to screen

Review: In ‘Evil Does Not Exist,’ a woodsy community confronts malice of a modern stripe

May 3, 2024

Kate Beckinsale posing in an abstract strapless gown wearing a bow in her hair and standing against a red backdrop

Entertainment & Arts

Kate Beckinsale, after a ‘rough year’ and hospitalization, returns to the red carpet

Bruce Willis and Rumer Willis. (CG/VCG via Getty Images and Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Rumer Willis hopes being transparent about Bruce Willis’ health will give people hope

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

Entertainment

'Jurassic World Dominion' Review: Messy Franchise Finale Is Streaming Now

The last Jurassic Park movie is all over the place, and you can check it out on Peacock.

Bryce Dallas Howard gets some of the best scenes in Jurassic World Dominion.

I was in a toy store the other day, and I saw a toy for tiny tots: a cutesy dinosaur with a Jurassic Park sticker on it. It struck me that the kids the toy is aimed at probably weren't born when the last Jurassic World film was released, let alone when Steven Spielberg's original '90s classic came out. And that sums up Jurassic World Dominion -- a familiar logo slapped on a toy that makes no sense at all.

Released in theaters in June, Jurassic World Dominion is streaming on Peacock now, having been released Sept. 2 with extra footage. It's the sixth and final film in the franchise (for now) and unites the stars of the original movies -- Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum -- with the stars of the more recent Jurassic World films: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and, er, some other people. It should be the culmination of a series that for decades has delighted fans and inspired people's interest in dinosaurs.

And sure, this hyperactive, overstuffed widescreen blockbuster is certainly a T. rex-size bucket of popcorn. But if you're emotionally invested in these characters, this world of dinosaurs and humans co-existing, then Dominion doesn't know what to do with you.

The last time we saw the Jurassic World crew was 2018. Fallen Kingdom led to the biggest cliffhanger in the whole franchise, finally fulfilling the threat that's hovered over the series since the beginning: The dinosaurs are out! That promised a sixth and final Jurass-equel that would be the biggest and most bananas yet. Forget about reality, dinosaurs rule the Earth! The gloves are off! Look out, humans!

Chris Pratt's Owen Grady rides a motorbike down stone steps as he's followed by a dinosaur in Jurassic World Dominion

Exit, pursued by a dinosaur.

Except not really. Dominion boasts some cool opening images, like dinosaur cowboys and pterodactyl nests atop skyscrapers. But the film wimps out on that bonkers premise, rowing back the dino-plague to just a few isolated locations and a dark web of breeders, poachers and heavily tattooed cockfighters. Instead, a whole new and unexpected menace is introduced that gives the film a startlingly scary early image, but feels like kind of a sidestep from what should be the main peril. Which is that dinosaurs rule the frickin' Earth.

Co-writer Emily Carmichael cameos as an autograph hunter fangirling over Jeff Goldblum, and you can at least sense the giddy love for the Jurassic series in the whirlwind of action and jokes. But in the hands of co-writer and director Colin Trevorrow that giddiness pinballs all over the place in a script that can't seem to concentrate. It's a Western (with dinosaurs). It's a spy movie (with dinosaurs). It's a Westworld -esque corporate sci-fi conspiracy chiller (with... actually, that bit could've done with more dinosaurs). Dominion tries to be not just a climax to the Jurassic Park series, but also some kind of frenzied culmination of every blockbuster ever. Only with dinosaurs.

No time to dinosaur

The first half is a James Bond film, with globe-trotting undercover agents and shady brokers and a Jason Bourne-esque Mediterranean motorcycle/rooftop chase. Dominion does eventually turns into an actual Jurassic Park movie, with stars dangling precariously in crashed vehicles while a Doyouthinkhesaurus sniffs them out. Bryce Dallas Howard in particular gets a couple of creepily tense scenes. But the whole thing suffers from genre whiplash, struggling to grasp onto the kind of nerve-shredding set pieces that made the original movie(s) so unforgettable. Watch the first Jurassic Park and tell me it would've been improved by a knife fight.

In the hands of director Steven Spielberg, the first Jurassic Park was a glossy blockbuster full of suspense and action, while underpinned by unforgettable characters. And it also had a sly B-movie sense of gallows humor, like that bit where the snivelly lawyer got eaten on the toilet. Dominion doesn't have either the characters or the sense of black comedy. By this point, the characters are all basically the same heroic good guy, with no selfish or untrustworthy or cowardly characters adding texture and suspense. When all the characters are people we know and supposedly love, the action scenes turn into an unwieldy scrum of a group of eight or nine people shuffling around together, with little sense that anyone can do anything unpredictable or that anything unexpected will happen to any of them. If only the film had the conviction to show the heroes being warped by their experiences, or even the courage to have the core cast get eaten. Anything to add some conflict, some unpredictability, anything.

The many stars of Jurassic Park breathes in as a dinosaur bares its fangs at them.

Kayla Watts, Maisie Lockwood, Claire Dearing, Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler and Owen Grady meet a smiling Giganotosaurus.

The film also doesn't really know how to unite the two generations of Jurassic stars, shoving them into a room together and letting them awkwardly stare at each other. There's a lot of "I read your book!" and an eye-rollingly shoehorned "I knew your mother," but really only Goldblum sparks in these overpopulated scenes. The film just can't think of a compelling reason these people need to meet. Compare it with Spider-Man: No Way Home , another nostalgia play merging former generations of a long-running franchise. No Way Home at least came up with affecting emotional problems and cathartic payoffs for Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. By comparison, even with Laura Dern gamely giving it her best shot, the encounter between Park and World stars is disappointingly inert.

One welcome addition is B.D. Wong, the scientist from the first film who's popped up in enough of these things to become a tragic figure, tortured by his mistakes. He's the closest thing to an actual human person, and carries the original film's themes of scientific folly and hubris on his shoulders. We don't see much of him, though: As if the cast wasn't padded enough with old faces, there's also a ton of new characters.

DeWanda Wise's swaggering Han Solo-esque rough diamond pilot is entertaining but never going to do anything unexpected, and oddly sidelines Chris Pratt during the action stuff. Meanwhile, there's no need for not one but two icy evil women villains, or a succession of nothing-y henchmen -- especially as they all have a habit of just disappearing from the story.

But then there are the real stars: the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs will never get old. Still, one of the strengths of the first film was the way it set up certain dinosaurs and their traits, leaving us watching through our fingers as we waited for those lethal traits to be employed against our heroes. Whether it was T. rexes seeing movement or velociraptors getting behind you (clever girl), each action sequence was given a nerve-shredding jolt of tension because we knew what the dinosaurs were capable of. In Dominion, dinos are just kind of there. Paleontology fans will no doubt get a kick out of the assorted creatures (especially the ones with feathers) but it's a missed opportunity to layer in suspense for the average viewer.

By this point, dinosaurs from all different paleontological eras are crashing about the place, with spinosauruses and giganotosauruses and tyrannosauruses going nuts at each other. If you learn anything from the Jurassic Park series, it's that mixing eras is madness. And yet Jurassic World Dominion splices nostalgic eras and movie genres and just about any other DNA it can lay its hands on. The result is a primordial soup of a few entertaining scares, but it's 65 million years away from making any sense.

New Movies Coming in 2023 From Marvel, Netflix, DC and More

2023's Best TV and Streaming Shows You Can't Miss on Netflix, HBO, Disney Plus and More

Stranger Things Season 5
Deadpool and Wolverine
The Batman 2
Spider-Man 4
Yellowstone Season 6
Fallout Season 2
The Last of Us Season 2
Entertainment

Jurassic World Dominion review: Dinosaur doldrums

After five films that collectively earned more than $5 billion and a trio of Academy Awards, if there’s one thing the Jurassic Park franchise should be good at by now, it’s giving audiences plenty of exciting dinosaur-fueled action in each installment. After all, the dinosaurs are the real stars of the films, aren’t they? It might seem like that should go without saying, but Jurassic World Dominion appears to have missed the message.

On familiar stomping ground

A dinosaur movie with not enough dinosaurs, losing its edge.

The concluding chapter in the Jurassic World sequel trilogy might be full of fun reunions for the franchise’s characters, but in pushing dinosaurs to the background in favor of a more conventional, action-adventure ensemble feature, Jurassic World Dominion abandons too much of what made the franchise so reliably entertaining.

Directed by Colin Trevorrow ( Jurassic World ) from a script he penned with Emily Carmichael ( Pacific Rim: Uprising ), Jurassic World Dominion picks up four years after the events of the last film. Dinosaurs roam the Earth again after the destruction of Isla Nublar, and humanity is struggling to coexist with the resurrected creatures from its past. When yet another company looks to exploit the dinosaurs for financial gain, the scheme brings together various characters with plenty of experience with each of the parks — both the recent iteration and the original islands — to deal with another dino-catastrophe.

Leave the World Behind is trending. Here’s why (and 4 other movies that predicted the US Cellular outage)
3 sci-fi movies on Peacock you need to watch in December
5 sci-fi movies on Prime Video that are perfect to watch in the summer

It’s a familiar formula that has been successfully repeated throughout the franchise over and over again, with a mix of groundbreaking visual effects and set pieces that find new, creative ways to put the human characters in peril while delivering a satisfying — and surprisingly unique — experience in each chapter of the saga.

Dominion breaks from that tradition, though, with a film more focused on its talented cast of actors hailing from both the original, franchise-spawning 1993 film and the recent trilogy. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles from the original film, while Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard also return for the latest adventure. Various other actors from both the sequel and original trilogies return in supporting roles, with each of them getting an on-screen nod or two in a film that often feels more like a reunion tour than a fresh adventure.

The five aforementioned actors make for a crowded cast, but Dominion does its best to move them around and mix them up in varying combinations, letting characters from the franchise’s past and present play off each other in some entertaining ways. Bringing Neill and Pratt’s characters together, for example, creates the opportunity for some funny exchanges about the pair’s differing approach to handling the dinosaurs in their respective adventures. Still, some of the film’s most amusing moments come from Goldblum, who has no trouble stepping right back into the role of snarky mathematician Ian Malcolm, whose commentary on the events unfolding around the cast walk the fine line between in-character observations and self-aware recognition of the franchise and what’s made it so popular.

Franchise newcomers Mamoudou Athie and DeWanda Wise also deliver strong performances, with Athie doing a remarkable job of holding his own alongside Goldblum and giving his character a lot of depth in limited scenes, and Wise making a strong case for herself as a bona fide action hero when given the opportunity.

Unfortunately, it says a lot about Jurassic World Dominion that the film’s highlights all center on the ways it finds to get the cast together, and not the dinosaurs.

Despite the presence of top-tier actors in nearly every installment of the franchise, the dinosaurs — and the myriad ways the characters have found themselves awed, hunted, and even killed by them — have always been the films’ most reliably memorable elements. The Jurassic Park (and later, Jurassic World) films have done so well, in fact, that the franchise has essentially held exclusive rights to big-budget dinosaur blockbusters for two decades now. That’s rare, and the franchise’s ability to stake such an unchallenged claim on the dino-disaster genre speaks volumes to how well it handled the dinosaurs in its films over the years.

The dinosaurs take a back seat in Dominion , though, often used as narrative commodities or MacGuffin-like plot devices than living, breathing creatures instilling terror in everyone around them. They exist in the background of Dominion , rarely seeming all that threatening — and when they do come into play in the story, they tend to be elements the characters navigate around rather than survive. Outside of one brief, harrowing scene featuring Howard’s character hiding underneath the surface of a lagoon as a dinosaur sniffs the water inches above her, the film largely lacks the sort of signature, tension-ratcheting moments that were hallmarks of past films — whether it’s a shaking glass of water that heralded a dinosaur’s arrival in the original trilogy or characters in a see-through gyrosphere getting caught up in a herd of stampeding dinosaurs in 2015’s Jurassic World .

Whether this shift in tone is a conscious effort to downplay the dinosaurs in favor of the human characters or simply a function of the franchise’s evolving mythology — which now has dinosaurs living among humans throughout the world — the dinosaurs in Dominion have lost their edge, and the film is far less exciting without the spark of terror they typically bring to the story. Sure, they’re still big and capable of terrible carnage, but even when the characters themselves are forced to get up close and personal with them, the sense of danger simply isn’t there, in most cases. And when the characters never seem scared, Dominion never makes a strong case for the audience to be scared for them, either.

It’s not a bad film, ultimately, but Jurassic World Dominion has big, dinosaur-sized shoes to fill when it comes to capping off the modern trilogy — and perhaps the franchise, for all we know. That the film seems to have sidelined its dinosaurs in this chapter of the saga is a pity, because the massive beasts have always managed to steal the spotlight in prior installments, regardless of who’s on screen. By investing all its attention in the human characters at the expense of the dinosaurs, Jurassic World Dominion feels like a half-formed film, and not the fond farewell to the franchise it’s intended to be.

Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World Dominion is in theaters now.

Editors' Recommendations

Like Boy Kills World? Then watch these 3 extreme action movies now
5 sci-fi movies on Netflix you need to watch in February
Leave the World Behind’s ending, explained
All the Jurassic Park films, ranked from worst to best
The 10 most popular movies of 2022

Disney is famous for its many animated classics. For nearly 100 years, it has produced one timeless gem after another: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King...the list goes on and on. They made not only the best animated films of all time but some of the best movies ... ever.

Yet every once in a while, Disney releases a stinker. For every Aladdin, there's a Treasure Planet. Unfortunately, Disney produced two in 2022: Lightyear and Strange World. Another person's trash is another's treasure, though, and there are some (including this author) who were utterly charmed by Strange World, flaws and all. After only a month in theatres, the toon is about to debut on streaming platforms, and we're here to tell you when and where to watch it so you can judge for yourself.

Adaptations of young-adult fantasy literature have always been a little hit-or-miss, but that hasn't stopped Hollywood from churning them out -- and occasionally putting plenty of star power behind them, too.

Director Paul Feig's The School For Good and Evil is the latest film to bring a popular YA series to the screen, and is based on Soman Chainani's 2013 novel of the same name, which went on to spawn five sequels set in its fairy-tale universe. Along with its core cast of young actors, the film also features an impressive lineup of A-listers in supporting roles, and their presence keeps an otherwise formulaic fantasy adventure entertaining.

Audiences love stories that pit plucky kids against horrible monsters -- whether it's aliens, zombies, ghosts, or various other supernatural threats. There's so much love for these stories, in fact, that it takes a special kind of film to stand out in the crowded "kids vs. monsters" genre these days.

Director Nyla Innuksuk's Slash/Back is one such film, and it delivers a uniquely clever, creepy-fun adventure, led by a talented cast of young actors.

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Review: Please, God, Let This Franchise Go Extinct

Hold on to your butts, the Jurassic series is back and worse than ever.

In one of the most famous scenes from 1993’s Jurassic Park , Jeff Goldblum ’s Dr. Ian Malcolm says that the scientists who brought dinosaurs back to life for an amusement park “were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” The same could easily be said of the Jurassic franchise as a whole, and while the series has constantly talked about how viewers want bigger and more intriguing monsters to reel in audiences, Jurassic has fallen into these same traps over the past thirty years: going bigger, wilder, without ever capturing what made the original so great. Not even Steven Spielberg —the director of the original film—could bring back this magic with his 1997 sequel, The Lost World , and even with rebooting, bringing back old favorites, and creating insane new dinosaurs, Jurassic has failed time and time again at realizing what made the original an unassailable summer blockbuster. The Jurassic series never bothered to stop and think if they should keep going.

But, to quote Dr. Ian Malcolm again, life finds a way, and the Jurassic World trilogy of films has kept this franchise moving forward like a dino-filled freight train, whether we want it or not. Supposedly wrapping up the “Jurassic era” of this series is Jurassic World Dominion , the sixth installment in the Jurassic franchise, which only highlights that the wonder these movies once had has long faded out. These films have never come close to the majesty of Jurassic Park , but Dominion is without question the worst movie to come out of this franchise, and further proof that it’s time for this Jurassic world to finally go extinct.

Dominion is set four years after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom , where Isla Nublar has been destroyed and, thanks to the heroes of Fallen Kingdom , dinosaurs now roam amongst the humans. Naturally, this has caused plenty of problems, since stegosauruses are clomping around on interstates, and velociraptors are now traipsing around the woods. One would think from the end of Fallen Kingdom and the beginning of Dominion that this latest film might further explore this new world where humans and dinosaurs live together—an interesting idea that this series has only given slight hints at in previous films.

RELATED: First 'Jurassic World Dominion' Reactions Call it Convoluted, Clunky, and Hollow

But nope! Instead, Dominion spends most of its time in nondescript woods and generic laboratories once more. If it’s broke, why bother to fix it? Dominion attempts to pay homage to fans of the original trilogy and the new World trilogy and effectively fails at both. One story follows Dr. Ellie Sattler ( Laura Dern ) and Dr. Alan Grant ( Sam Neill ) as they infiltrate the pharmaceutical company Biosyn, with the help of Dr. Ian Malcolm. Biosyn has been genetically engineering locusts that have been decimating non-Biosyn crops, which is threatening the world’s food supply. Instead of pitting this iconic trio amongst dinosaurs once more, Dominion mostly faces them off against giant locusts, which is about as compelling as it sounds.

Dominion ’s other story centers around Owen Grady ( Chris Pratt ) and Claire Dearing ( Bryce Dallas Howard ), who are attempting to find their kidnapped, kind-of-adopted clone daughter Maisie ( Isabella Sermon ). At the very least, this story at least slightly explores what this new world looks like, complete with a dinosaur black market, and a combination of dinosaurs in real-world situations that boasts one of the film’s best action scenes. Through this story, we also get one of Dominion ’s best additions in DeWanda Wise ’s Kayla Watts, who brings a much-needed burst of energy to this mostly mundane affair.

Yet both of these stories fundamentally miss what people once loved about this series. With Sattler, Grant, and Malcolm, these three are mostly relegated to referencing the original in as many ways as possible (including these characters wearing the same clothes thirty years later, and embracing the memes that have arisen from Jurassic Park ). Meanwhile, Owen and Claire’s globetrotting adventures, even when it works, intrinsically feels like it’s part of an entirely different movie. Colin Trevorrow ’s direction doesn’t help much either, as these two stories are stitched together haphazardly, and with action that is frequently nonsensical. Even minor choices, like how a character gets from one situation to another in order to tie all these characters into one giant climax, lacks any coherency.

The screenplay by Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael (with a story by Trevorrow and Derek Connolly ) seems to be struggling to make itself exciting, while there’s so much untapped potential surrounding these characters at all times. Not only is there quite literally a world now full of dinosaurs that is mostly ignored, but there are also genuinely fascinating ideas that are hinted at and completely disregarded. For example, Dominion hints that Biosyn and its CEO Dr. Lewis Dodgson ( Campbell Scott , who is having fun as an overly villainous tech boss) have a tie to the events of Jurassic Park —a parallel story that has existed for all these years that we’re only now seeing—but relegates this to little more than yet another minor joke for fans of the original.

But like all the other Jurassic Park sequels, Dominion ’s greatest curse is that it’s dull, however, this one takes the boredom to a whole new level. Dominion is by far the longest film in this series, and every minute is felt in this tedious adventure that doesn’t seem to have any idea what it’s doing. Almost every joke falls flat, every action scene lacks stakes, and again, that mixture of awe and danger that once made this series so enthralling is completely absent here. Instead, Dominion is a shell of a franchise at its best, desperate to coast on the love of the original without managing the tonal requirements.

Dominion isn’t just the worst film in this frequently disappointing franchise, it’s also one of the worst major blockbusters in recent memory. By uniting the stars of these two trilogies, Dominion shows that it doesn’t know what to do with the previous generation of this series (except where they should end up and little else), and that the current generation was never that interesting to begin with. Dominion wants audiences to remember what they loved about the first film, yet without harnessing any of the joy or spectacle that made this series such a standout when it launched in 1993. Instead, Jurassic World Dominion is an exhausting slog, a legacyquel that doesn’t seem to recognize where the power of that legacy comes from, and overarching idiocy that permeates every scene in the film. To quote Dr. Malcolm one final time, “That is one big pile of shit.”

Jurassic World Dominion comes to theaters on June 10.

Netflix's new no.1 is sci-fi sequel set 20 years after must-watch landmark original

Jurassic World Dominion is a rip-roaring success on Netflix's movie charts

When you think 'sci-fi' you might automatically think of spaceships and aliens. But there's a 1993 classic movie, based on Michael Crichton's 1990 novel, that was every bit the sci-fi game-changer upon its release. In Jurassic Park there's technological change. There's peril. There's consequence. And instead of aliens there are dinosaurs.

Since there's been one helluva lot of sequels. Which brings us to Netflix 's new number-one movie: 2022's Jurassic World Dominion , which has suddenly jumped in at the streaming service's top spot in the UK. I actually watched this latest JP movie's predecessor, Fallen Kingdom , just the other week on Sky and, while the series clearly isn't treading on Oscar-winning ground, it's still a lot of fun.

Perhaps it's because I, as a fan – the first movie I saw at the cinema without parents (my brother stood in, cheers Dave) was the 1993 original Jurassic Park – just have a soft spot for the franchise. Oh, and Bryce Dallas Howard, obviously! The sixth movie in the series might not shift movie-making pillars in the same way as the original's visual effects (VFX) did, but it's still got some stunning sequences.

Interestingly, Dominion also massively splits opinion. As I type this, the critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes sits at a lowly 29% . That's a bit of a shocker, really, but the audience disagrees – netting the flick a more generous 77% on the very same site. See, Jurassic Park has its fans who are in it for the thrill ride.

If you've not seen Dominion yet then I thoroughly recommend giving it a viewing. It's rated a full-blown 12 rating in the UK by the BBFC – which I find fairly amusing, considering the original was a mere Parental Guidance (PG) somehow! – but I think kids of that age will enjoy the latest escapades and genetically modified dinos (that makes Dominion even more sci-fi, right?).

Regardless of whether you think Jurassic Park Dominion counts as a true sci-fi movie or not, it's clear that the best streaming services are hitting hard when it comes to sci-fi shows and movies. Recently we've had Amazon Prime Video's Fallout series , the Rebel Moon sequel on Netflix , and even Apple TV+ is in on the act . Jurassic Park Dominion certainly has a different vibe, but I can see why viewers are flocking to watch it...

Upgrade to smarter living

Get the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products straight to your inbox.

Mike is the Tech Editor and AV Editor at T3.com. He's been writing about consumer technology for 15 and, as a phones expert, has seen hundreds of handsets over the years – swathes of Android devices, a smattering of iPhones, and a batch of Windows Phone products (remember those?). But that's not all, as a tech aficionado his beat for T3 also covers tablets, laptops, gaming, home cinema, TVs, speakers and more – there's barely a stone unturned that he's not had a hand on. Previously the Reviews Editor at Pocket-lint for a 10 years, he's also provided work for publications such as Wired, The Guardian, Metro, and more. In addition to his tech knowledge, Mike is also a flights and travel expert, having travelled the globe extensively. You'll likely find him setting up a new mobile phone, critiquing the next MacBook, all while planning his next getaway... or cycling somewhere.

EA Sports FC 24 screen with Erling Haaland

Coming as part of PS Plus Essential

By Rik Henderson Published 2 May 24

LG has added another great feature to some of its best TVs

By Chris Hall Published 2 May 24

Screen Rant

Jurassic world's new show is the jurassic park sequel i've been waiting years for.

The upcoming Jurassic World: Chaos Theory builds off the events of the prior show and films to set up an exciting future for the franchise.

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory offers an exciting new direction for the franchise, blending dinosaurs with tense thriller elements.
This series explores the impact of dinosaurs coexisting with humanity and shifts into a genre previously unexplored in the franchise.
Chaos Theory presents a fresh and dangerous edge by introducing dinosaurs into a typically grounded genre, setting the stage for future entries.

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory is the ideal path forward for the Jurassic Park franchise, setting up an exciting genre fusion. Ever since Jurassic Park roared into theaters in 1993, the series has remained a box-office behemoth. The subsequent films in the series have highlighted the power of the brand, with the Jurassic World sequel trilogy helping ensure the six-film series remains among the most profitable franchises in cinematic history. However, recent entries in the series, especially Jurassic World: Dominion , were decried by fans and critics alike for failing to truly expand on the premise into something new.

That's what makes Jurassic World: Chaos Theory such an exciting prospect. The sequel to Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous , the Chaos Theory trailer sets up a show within the Jurassic Park universe that feels more tonally in line with tense thrillers than the previous entries in the series. Chaos Theory is the story Jurassic World: Dominion should have been . This is exactly the kind of tonal fresh air the series needs , and highlights what Jurassic World needs to look towards in future entries.

Netflix: 15 Coolest Dinosaurs In Camp Cretaceous, Ranked

Jurassic world: chaos theory blends dinosaurs with a thriller premise, how dinosaurs can transform an otherwise grounded genre.

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory is set to push the franchise in an exciting direction , filtering the dinosaurs of the series through a thriller genre. Picking up six years after the events of Camp Cretaceous , Jurassic World: Chaos Theory follows the Isla Nubar Six — Darius, Brooklyn, Ben, Yaz, Koji, and Sammy — as a mysterious group is hunting them down. When the others learn that Brooklyn has been seemingly killed during an investigation, the remaining five set out on a cross-country mission to uncover the truth and save their skins.

It's effectively The Fugitive with dinosaurs in it, which is the kind of premise one can only really do in the Jurassic World franchise. The previous show did the heavy lifting of establishing the characters and setting them up, allowing Chaos Theory to focus on tense sequences and larger mysteries. It explores the kind of world set up by Jurassic World: Dominion , where humanity and dinosaurs are forced to coexist . It also leans hard into a different genre than most of the franchise, shifting more into a thriller with lethal stakes at play. It's an exciting development for the series.

Jurassic World Already Used Up Its Best Sequel Story (Before Dominion)

Why jurassic world: chaos theory is the right direction for the franchise's future, jurassic world: chaos theory proves dinosaurs can work in different kinds of stories.

One of the problems with the Jurassic World trilogy, especially Jurassic World: Dominion , was it failed to really explore the storytelling potential of the franchise. Despite setting up dinosaurs coexisting with humanity , the films didn't truly explore how the world would be radically changed by this. Instead, the focus remained a mixture of corporate espionage and dinosaur disaster tropes. Jurassic World: Chaos Theory shifts gears and showcases how a tense thriller could gain a unique and dangerous edge by introducing dinosaurs to a typically grounded genre .

This is an ideal path forward for the Jurassic World franchise. Exploring the impact that dinosaurs in the real world can have on other stories is a great way to expand the scope of the franchise . It could bring new perspectives and tones to the series. Even returning characters can be used to explore this concept, as evidenced by the return of the Camp Fam from Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous . Jurassic World: Chaos Theory proves that dinosaurs can work in different genres beyond the fusion of wonder and horror from prior films, and should be the blueprint for the future.

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory is a CG animated action-adventure series from Dreamworks Animation. The series is set after the events of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and follows protagonist Darius Bowman, who visits the infamous camp as the dinosaurs escape and wreak havoc.

Loved Jurassic World Dominion On Netflix? Here's Where To Stream The Entire Jurassic Park Series

T he most recent film in the Jurassic Park franchise debuted on Netflix UK just days ago – and quickly leapt to the top of the streaming platform’s list of most-watched films.

Jurassic World Dominion first hit cinemas in 2022, and sees Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard sharing the screen with Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Nell, who first appeared in Steven Spielberg’s original film from back in 1993.

While admittedly it didn’t exactly get the warmest reception from critics upon its release, it was still a hit at the box office, which has seemingly now translated into viewers tuning in on Netflix.

And if watching Jurassic World Dominion has got you in the mood to revisit the rest of the adventure saga, here’s where the rest of the series is streaming.

Throwing it right back to the acclaimed original film, you can catch the epic Jurassic Park on Now or Sky Cinema.

Staying in the 1990s, Steven Spielberg’s follow-up The Lost World was somewhat more coolly received at the time, with the third film in the series, titled simply Jurassic Park III, faring even less well with critics.

However, if you’d still consider them an essential part of your Jurassic rewatch, you can catch both of them on Amazon Prime Video.

The series was rebooted more than a decade later with 2015’s Jurassic World, considered by many to be a return to form for the dinosaur film saga.

Like the first Jurassic Park movie, this one is also available to watch on Now and Sky Cinema, while follow-up Fallen Kingdom, which reintroduced Jeff Goldblum to the series, is streaming on Netflix.

And although Dominion marked the end of the Jurassic World trilogy, another reboot was recently confirmed to be in the works, which will reportedly star Scarlett Johansson alongside Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey .

Oh… and if you wanted to check out the animated spin-offs Chaos Theory, Camp Cretaceous or the interactive Camp Cretaceous: Hidden Adventure, they’re also on Netflix now, while 2019’s short film Battle At Big Rock is available to watch on YouTube below:

MORE NETFLIX:

Jonathan Bailey Just Confirmed He's In Heartstopper Season 3 – And He's Not The Only Star Joining The Show
Baby Reindeer's Jessica Gunning Has A Message For People Trying To Work Out Martha's Real Identity
People Are Just Realising How To Keep Netflix's Music Quiet And Dialogue Loud, And It's Literally Just A Button

site categories

Los angeles lakers fire head coach darvin ham after playoffs failures, ‘jurassic world: chaos theory’ trailer: jenna ortega’s exit confirmed in netflix’s ‘camp cretaceous’ follow-up series — update.

By Denise Petski

Denise Petski

Senior Managing Editor

'Emily In Paris' Season 4 To Debut In Two Parts In August & September

'Baby Reindeer' Star Richard Gadd Questioned By Producers Over Dating Actress Who Auditioned For Hit Netflix Series

PREVIOUS, Nov. 9, 2023: We’re getting the first look at Jurassic World: Chaos Theory , the new Netflix CG animated follow-up sequel series to Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, set for premiere in 2024. The streamer unveiled a teaser trailer and a couple first-look images today during Netflix Geeked Week. You can see the teaser trailer above and images below.

The mothership Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous tells the story of dinosaur fanatic Darius Bowman, who visits Camp Cretaceous and, as per all prior Jurassic movies, the dinosaurs manage to get loose and cause untold chaos and destruction.

In Chaos Theory, after the park has closed, after the kingdom has fallen, a new era of chaos begins…

Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory are developed by DreamWorks Animation Television and Amblin Entertainment.

Scott Kreamer and Aaron Hammersley executive produce Chaos Theory and serve as showrunners. Steven Spielberg, Jurassic World franchise director Colin Trevorrow and Frank Marshall executive produce. DreamWorks Animation is the animation studio. Series is produced by Universal Pictures and the Spielberg-led Amblin Entertainment.

Must Read Stories

‘the fall guy’s david leitch & kelly mccormick in talks for ‘button man’ series.

Hugh Jackman & Jodie Comer To Star In Robin Hood Reimagining

Ex-trump aide hope hicks weeps on witness stand in hush-money trial, ryan gosling-led ‘the fall guy’ headed for $28m opening, below forecasts.

Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Email not verified

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Movies / TV

Jurassic World Dominion

What to Know

Audience Reviews

Movie Clips

Movie Reviews

Matt Zoller Seitz

Now playing

The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

The First Omen

Brian Tallerico

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver

Mary & George

Food, Inc. 2

Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)

Writer (based on characters created by)

Writer (story by)

Cinematographer

Latest blog posts

Retrospective: Oscar Micheaux and the Birth of Black Independent Cinema

Phil Lord and Chris Miller Made the Multiplex Safe for ‘The Fall Guy’

Initially Promising Dark Matter Sinks Under Weight of Prestige TV Bloat

Tomorrow There Will Be Fine Weather: A Preview of NYC's Upcoming Hiroshi Shimizu Retrospective

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Review: Extinction Rebellion

Explore More in TV and Movies

Jurassic World Dominion review: Let's get these dinosaurs to the nearest tar pit

Related Articles

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

site categories

David Rooney

Related Stories

Jurassic World Dominion

Full credits

THR Newsletters

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Review: Laura Dern and Sam Neill Are Back in a Franchise That’s Stubbornly Determined to Repeat Itself

Peter Debruge

Popular on Variety

Reviewed at Elysées Biarritz, Paris, June 6, 2022. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 147 MIN.

More From Our Brands

Review: Dino delight 'Jurassic World Dominion' is the best since the first 'Jurassic Park'

Jurassic World Dominion Review

Related Articles

Jurassic World Dominion tries to turn Jurassic Park into Indiana Jones

Share this story

Share All sharing options for: Jurassic World Dominion tries to turn Jurassic Park into Indiana Jones

‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ Review: It’s Time for This Film Franchise to Go Extinct

Most Popular

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

Did You Know?

Photo & Video

Related Items

Recently Viewed

Jurassic World Dominion review – time to drop the dead dino

Comments (…)

Review: Overlong franchise finale ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ falls short of veloci-rapture

More to Read

Canny as a crocodile but dumber than a baboon — new research ponders T. rex’s brain power

‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ smashes its way to $80 million. How it won the box office

Review: ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ is monster math that becomes a headache

More From the Los Angeles Times

Review: In ‘Wildcat,’ director Ethan Hawke — and daughter Maya — bring a literary life to screen

Review: In ‘Evil Does Not Exist,’ a woodsy community confronts malice of a modern stripe

Kate Beckinsale, after a ‘rough year’ and hospitalization, returns to the red carpet

Rumer Willis hopes being transparent about Bruce Willis’ health will give people hope

'Jurassic World Dominion' Review: Messy Franchise Finale Is Streaming Now

No time to dinosaur

New Movies Coming in 2023 From Marvel, Netflix, DC and More

2023's Best TV and Streaming Shows You Can't Miss on Netflix, HBO, Disney Plus and More

Jurassic World Dominion review: Dinosaur doldrums

On familiar stomping ground

Editors' Recommendations

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Review: Please, God, Let This Franchise Go Extinct

Read more about Jurassic World Dominion:

Netflix's new no.1 is sci-fi sequel set 20 years after must-watch landmark original

Upgrade to smarter living

Useful links