As kids growing up in the 90’s, the Jurassic Park series had always stood out as a favorite. Andrew was especially a fan of the franchise. While it was hard for the second and third films to stand up to the original, when Jurassic World was released years later in 2015 we were in awe. Rekindling this iconic storyline with new faces and updated technology in the mix was great. We have been enjoying the latest story line and couldn’t wait for the epic conclusion of the Jurassic World trilogy of movies. So how was the ending to this iconic franchise? Read on for our thoughts…

Chris Pratt riding a horse in the new Jurassic World, herding some dinos. (Is there anything he can’t do?)

Official Film Synopsis:

This summer, experience the epic conclusion to the Jurassic era as two generations unite for the first time. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Oscar®-winner Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill in Jurassic World Dominion, a bold, timely and breathtaking new adventure that spans the globe.

From Jurassic World architect and director Colin Trevorrow, Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.

Jurassic World Dominion, from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, propels the more than $5 billion franchise into daring, uncharted territory, featuring never-seen dinosaurs, breakneck action and astonishing new visual effects.

The film features new cast members DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It), Emmy nominee Mamoudou Athie (Archive 81), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Scott Haze (Minari) and Campbell Scott (The Amazing Spider-Man 2). The film’s returning cast includes BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, Justice Smith as Franklin Webb, Daniella Pineda as Dr. Zia Rodriguez and Omar Sy as Barry Sembenè.

Jurassic World Dominion is directed by Colin Trevorrow, who steered 2015’s Jurassic World to a record-shattering $1.7 billion global box office. The screenplay is by Emily Carmichael (Battle at Big Rock) & Colin Trevorrow from a story by Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) & Trevorrow, based on characters created by Michael Crichton. Jurassic World Dominion is produced by acclaimed franchise producers Frank Marshall p.g.a. and Patrick Crowley p.g.a. and is executive produced by legendary, Oscar®-winning franchise creator Steven Spielberg, Alexandra Derbyshire and Colin Trevorrow.

Laura Dern and Sam Neill make a comeback. How cute are baby dinos by the way?

Julie's Thoughts on “Jurassic World Dominion”

Jurassic World Dominion opens four years after Fallen Kingdom left off with Dinosaurs now living across the globe, mingling in everyday life. And let me just say there are some awesome scenes showing Dinosaurs in different scenarios. The graphics in this film are amazing, and truly bring this creatures to life. Owen (Pratt) and Claire (Howard) are living remotely in the mountains to keep Maisie (Sermon) safe. From here two major storylines arise (that honesty don’t have that much to do with dinosaurs). One of these storylines loops in some of the original cast for a comeback (Dern, Neill, and Goldblum). It was sweet to see their relationships and I enjoyed the nostalgia and funny catchphrases. But overall the nostalgia factor seemed to be what the movie was trying to lean on. While there were some great action scenes something was majorly missing from this movie for me. At times Jurassic World Dominion felt more in-line with an international spy movie with high speed chases and unbelievable airplane maneuvers. While there are plenty of dinosaurs in the movie, in this particular film they felt almost like a backstory. While there were a couple emotional moments with baby dinosaurs most of the interactions seemed to be with new, weird dinosaurs thrown in for jump scares. The movie also felt pretty long and I didn’t care so much for the two main plot lines so I never felt invested. I really was hoping for a conclusion to the franchise and some answers to questions left from the previous film. Many of the scenes felt like repeats from past movies, things felt pretty predictable, and the end felt like a quick wrap up that wasn’t satisfying. With the lack of a strong story as a foundation this movie just didn’t quite do it for me. It felt like a mediocre action flick and not an “epic conclusion” to a film franchise that has spanned generations.

HER RATING: 3 out of 5 “Blues”

Claire (Howard) trying to escape one of the new dino creatures.

Andrew's Thoughts on “Jurassic World Dominion”

I am a huge fan of the Jurassic Park/World movies so I was very excited to see how they were going to conclude the series. I didn't love the last film (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) but I was curious how they were going to wrap everything up considering how the last one ended. Spoiler alert… they didn’t. Admittedly, I measure this film using a higher bar than most only because the source material is from one of the best films ever made (Jurassic Park) so they had better get it right.

I will start with the positives and those include the visuals and some well placed dialogue. it is always refreshing to have Dr. Ian Malcolm in the film as his quick whit and tells it like it is personality really adds to the film. Also, there were some visually stunning scenes that were exciting to watch including a few throw backs and callouts to the original film. It was cool to see the original cast in this film.

Now to the negative. In order the explain why I thought this movie was a disappointment, I will have to include spoilers so consider yourself warned. [SPOILER ALERT START] First off, like I mentioned above, I was curious how they were going to handle the plot when it came to how they were going to answer the question of humans and dinosaurs coexisting. They don’t. The filmmakers ended this movie by saying that magically, all life on earth gets along just fine. This message of peace and harmony was illustrated by dinosaurs and modern day animals just hanging out like nothing is off. They could have just added a clip at the end of the last movie that took place five years later with the same message and saved us a lot of time.

Secondly, if I were to sum up the plot of this move in two words, it would be “locusts” and “Maisie.” I would assume that a movie about dinosaurs would revolve around dinosaurs. The two major plot lines had nothing to do with dinosaurs. One was basically the secret of cloning a human and the other was just shy of a hit job on an evil crop seed manufacturers. [SPOILER ALERT END]

Julie will attest to the fact that I was very disappointed walking out of the theater. After seeing the last two films, I wish they would have just stopped after Jurassic World. The only reason I didn’t rate it lower was because I thought the acting was solid, especially from the original cast.

HIS RATING: 2 out of 5 “Blues”