It’s four years after the destructive events on Isla Nublar in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. In Jurassic World: Dominion, dinosaurs are now living around humans. It is a whole new era that has far eclipsed anything that could have ever been imagined for the original Jurassic Park. As so often is the case in these movies, scientists think they can control nature but life always finds a way to show it can’t be controlled.
Story
The story for Jurassic World: Dominion is fairly predictable. While it is enjoyable, the path it takes doesn’t go on a whole lot of twists and turns. This doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable though. For anyone who grew up watching the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies, it provides a satisfying enough end-chapter to the franchise.
Quality
Watching Jurassic World: Dominion is an enjoyable experience. The dinosaurs look great and the effects don’t look too digital. Overall, the visual and audio effects really are solid in the film. While there are a lot of them, they don’t go over the top and they don’t look fake for the most part. Most importantly, the effects don’t distract from the movie viewing experience.
Characters
For the most part, all of the characters in this film are fairly familiar. Yes, there are a couple of new ones but they really are just supporting the storyline of the main characters of the Jurassic World era of the franchise and also the Jurassic Park era. The resulting ensemble really does work fairly well together. Yes, it’s a bit gimmicky but… it’s a good gimmick. They also give a decent amount of screen time to each of the characters keeping things from feeling off-balanced. The result also gives purpose to each of the characters, thankfully.
Music
The score for Jurassic World: Dominion isn’t the strongest in the franchise. While it doesn’t harm the movie and helps with the mood of individual scenes, it also isn’t as memorable as Jurassic World in the current era, or any of John Williams’ original Jurassic Park themes. One has to wonder if this film would reach a higher level of satisfaction with a stronger score.
Final Thoughts
Jurassic World: Dominion is an enjoyable enough movie that finishes out the franchise that was started in 1993 with Jurassic Park. While I did enjoy the film, it didn’t pass my watch test and I did find myself looking at my watch a couple of times during the course of the film. It also wasn’t as original as it could have been, and that might be why it is a good thing for this franchise to be ending.
On the flip side, I liked how it wrapped up the over-arching story that has been told. I loved seeing the new cast come together with the original cast. This film did a very nice job with the nostalgia factor. While it may not have the strongest story or pacing, it did do a nice job of making a film that is enjoyable to watch, especially for fans.
This is also a film that looks beautiful on the big screen. While not as intense or scary as the original Jurassic Park, there is still something pretty awesome about seeing and hearing dinosaurs on screen with incredible surround sound. I found myself enjoying watching this film in the theaters, even if it was a bit long.
Jurassic World: Dominion is a fun film to see in theaters. Will it win any awards? Probably not. Does it have a soundtrack that is worth purchasing, also probably not? However, it does do a nice job of honoring its predecessors and finishing the storyline that has been continuing over the previous five movies. It gets a hat nod (not a tip) and the suggestion that if you have seen all the other films and enjoyed most of them, go see this one in the theaters as well!
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