When Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Jurassic Park hit theaters in 1993, the film quickly became a cultural phenomenon and instant cinematic classic. Ever since then, every single Jurassic World sequel (even Spielberg’s) has failed in one way or another to re-capture the magic of the original. While 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park and 2001’s Jurassic Park III each have their redeemable qualities, the franchise took a turn for the worst with 2015’s Jurassic World.
Directed by Colin Trevorrow, the film was part sequel, part reboot, and ended up being the highest-grossing movie that year. Unfortunately, Jurassic World was also divisive in terms of audience reactions, with some (including this writer) calling it all that is wrong with nostalgia-fueled blockbuster filmmaking.
Similarly, the fifth film in the franchise, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom received an even more vitriolic response. Most importantly, it also begged the question: should Jurassic Park even have been a franchise, to begin with? Now that Jurassic World: Dominion has been unleashed upon the public we may have the answer to that question. In this edition of Mandatory Movie Battles, we’re taking a journey back to the Park with a battle between Dominion and Jurassic World. Let’s do this.
Cover Photo: Universal
Ultimately, Jurassic World: Dominion makes a downright bad movie such as Jurassic World look like a masterpiece. Unfortunately for audiences with high expectations, Dominion cuts too many checks that it can’t cash. It’s the type of film that is immensely stupid. However, the biggest sin that the movie commits is that it’s (mostly) boring. Say what you will about a movie like Jurassic World. But at the very minimum, at least that movie delivers on the concept promised by the marketing. The same can’t be said for Dominion.
Overall Winner: Jurassic World
MMB: Jurassic World Dominion vs Jurassic World
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Visuals
If there’s one technical aspect of Jurassic World: Dominion that is undoubtedly superior to that of Jurassic World, it would be the cinematography. In particular, the color grading and lighting are a vast improvement over Trevorrow’s previous dino effort. At the very least, Trevorrow certainly learned his lesson from setting Jurassic World almost entirely during the day. Not to mention the vast improvement over the epically atrocious color grade of Jurassic World.
Winner: Jurassic World: Dominion
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Action
One of the golden rules in the Jurassic Park franchise comes down to a simple formula: Action=Tension. Even though none of the Jurassic World movies fully understand this formula, Dominion completely drops the ball in terms of crafting tense action sequences. This partly comes down to the characterization of the most recent film, but at least Jurassic World has some sort of palpable tension. As a result, the action in Dominion is completely unmemorable.
Winner: Jurassic World
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Plot
It’s true that Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom are arguably some of the dumbest movies ever made. Now, Dominion gives both of them a run for their money. Not only does the movie fail to justify its existence, but it’s not even about dinosaurs. *Light spoilers* here, but the movie is effectively about the weaponizing of genetically-altered locusts to attack crops. You heard that right, the story is even lamer than you could have ever imagined.
Winner: Jurassic World
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Direction
As the director of both Jurassic World and Dominion, Trevorrow’s work in both movies is only a pale imitation of Spielberg's style from the original. While both movies have their moments where the directing flourishes, at least it seemed like Trevorrow was genuinely trying in Jurassic World. Dominion, however, merely feels like an obligation for Trevorrow rather than something he’s truly passionate about.
Winner: Jurassic World
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'Jurassic World' Characters
One of the weirdest on-screen romances in recent memory is between Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard’s leading duo. Unsurprisingly, Dominion does absolutely nothing to further this relationship. Seriously though, Chris Pratt’s defining characteristic is that he holds his hand up like a Jedi every time he encounters a dinosaur, and that’s about it. Despite the apparent lack of chemistry between Pratt and Howard, at least Jurassic World takes the time to characterize the two leads in a way that is basic but still understandable.
Winner: Jurassic World
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Legacy Characters
Perhaps the biggest draw of a movie like Jurassic World: Dominion is that it features the return of the holy trinity from the original film - Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. The idea (in true legacy sequel fashion) is to unite the old and new cast members for one (supposedly) final adventure. This is great in theory. But in practice, these characters have absolutely no chemistry together, especially the original cast. While Laura Dern is a standout here, everyone else just feels like they’re pretty much phoning it in.
Winner: Jurassic World
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Dinosaurs
At a base level, the one thing a Jurassic Park movie should do is focus on the wonder and awe of these extinct beasts we call dinosaurs. After all, these are, in fact, dinosaur movies. Somehow, Dominion seems to forget this. The whole allure of the premise behind Dominion is that we’re finally getting dinosaurs in the world and living among humans. And yet, the movie somehow inexplicably veers back to the whole “dinosaurs in captivity” thing. In this respect, Dominion makes the conscious choice to make the dinosaurs secondary players in their own movie.
Winner: Jurassic World
