How Jurassic World: Dominion should have gone.

[bhoefert]

Jurassic World Dominion is the worst-reviewed film of the Jurassic franchise. Its cardinal sin is that it isn't about dinosaurs. Its two main plots involve giant locusts and a child kidnapping. It just so happens to have dinosaurs in the movie, but both of the plots would be the same with or without dinosaurs. In this sense, it is the first Jurassic movie in which dinosaurs aren't essential to the plot.

This cardinal sin inherently leads to the chief complaint about the movie: that it's an overstuffed, unfocused dumb action movie. The movie is over two and a half hours long, and yet still struggles to fit in screen time for 2 main non-dinosaur plots, plus adding in some dinosaur scenes, plus scene time for the Jurassic World characters, the legacy characters, and the new characters. The result is a movie that rushes from action scene to action scene without any down time in between to contrast with the action scenes. What makes great movies like Jurassic Park special is how they contrast periods of peace and downtime with shorter periods of intense action. It's these periods of downtime that allow for character development and plot progression. Jurassic World Dominion doesn't have time for this, because the two main storylines aren't about dinosaurs.

You can see how Dominion failed by imagining what it could have been. Here is my thought experiment of an alternate universe in which Dominion is a good movie:

In the alternative movie, there are no giant locusts. This is a movie about dinosaurs. There is no child kidnapping plot. Again, this being a Jurassic movie, it is about dinosaurs. In the time since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, dinosaurs are running amok amongst modern society. The fact that the two non-dinosaur storylines are stricken from the film means lots of extra screen time to show dinosaurs in the modern world, which is what the trailers promised. T-rex at the movie theater scene- it's back in the movie. You can imagine lots of extra cool scenes with dinosaurs in the modern world. It is during this beginning series of scenes that we get our first glimpse of the Spinosaurus, swimming in a swamp (but we don't see the full creature, it's just a tease).

Claire and Owen are working with the DFW to capture all the dinosaurs which are on the loose. BioSyn has a contract to take all the dinosaurs and house them in their valley in Italy. Claire and Owen begin to think something is amiss with BioSyn when they begin encountering new species of dinosaurs: dinosaurs that Claire knows Ingen and Masrani never bred. They suspect that BioSyn is actually creating new dinosaurs instead of just housing already existing ones.

This is also what brings the legacy characters into the mix. In the time between movies, Claire has met Dr. Ellie Sattler. Claire convinces Dr. Sattler, who in turn convinces Dr. Grant and Dr. Malcom, to journey to BioSyn valley to stop the production of new dinosaurs. The original trio agrees to join because stopping the production of new dinosaurs is the only thing which will allow the human race to get a handle on the exploding dinosaur population. Claire wants the original trio to tag along because they are some of the only people alive who have experienced the Isla Sorna dinosaurs and survived.

BioSyn isn't an evil corporation like in the current movie. Instead, they are simply full of hubris (like Ingen and Masrani before them). They think they can house dinosaurs responsibly, plus breed new dinosaurs for whoever wants them (militaries, black markets, Saudi princes, etc.). BioSyn prides itself on only cloning dinosaurs with 100% genomes. Their dinosaurs aren't mutants, like they claim Ingen's were. Their dinosaurs will be easier to handle, they believe...

Owen, Claire, and the original trio travel to BioSyn valley to shut down the production facility. When they get there, they realize Masie Lockwood has stowed away with them (in a callback to Masie hiding in the dumbwaiter in JW:FK and Ian Malcom's daughter hiding in the camper in the Lost World). Claire and Owen told Masie not to leave the house and she was mad so she hid and came with them.

In traveling through BioSyn Valley, the cast faces numerous dinosaur threats. The Dimetrodon doesn't appear in caves, because Dimetrodon's chief feature (a giant sail used to collect sunlight and/or as a visible threat display) is useless in caves and the writers of this alternate movie are aware of that. Giganotosaurus either doesn't appear in this movie or if it does appear, Dr. Grant doesn't call it "the largest carnivore that has ever lived" because he's a paleontologist and he knows that's not true. Instead, Dr. Grant gets reunited with... a Spinosaurus! Dr. Grant says something like "not this again" or "I recognize that roar" or something cool.

The cast makes it to the BioSyn facility but they can't gain access Dr. Wu's systems. Masie tries using her fingerprints out of frustration and she gets in because she, being a clone, has the same prints as her mother, whose prints can still access Dr. Wu's systems. They manage to shut down the cloning facility. Havoc ensues, of course. Dr. Wu isn't redeemed, but is killed by one of his new creations, a fully-feathered Velociraptor.

The cast escapes the facility and are faced by the final battle: it's a T-Rex vs. Spinosaurus rematch! Dr. Grant says, "trust me, this isn't about us" and the cast hides. The audience erupts into applause because, in this alternate universe, they get what everyone actually wants, a T-Rex vs. Spinosaurus rematch. Rexy wins the fight on her own, and definitely not with the help of a Therizinosaurus, because Rexy is one of the main characters of the series and this is the final dinosaur battle of the series and the writers of this movie know that the audience will want her to win on her own.

The cast escapes the valley. The UN declares BioSyn Valley a nature preserve and Claire and Owen work to finish capturing the remaining dinosaurs around the world and moving them to their habitat. Dr. Sattler works with Claire and Owen to make sure the plant life is as paleo-accurate as possible for the new dino nature preserve. The final scene is Rexy hunting a Parasaurolophus, killing it, and giving her iconic roar!

Just one idea for a film that would have been better than what we got. Let me know what you think below.

 

[DragonNTiger]

Meh... I like the movie we got. People seem too obsessed with the idea that this is a dinosaur franchise when at its heart it really isn't... it's about human greed and arrogance, wielding dangerous powers they either don't fully understand or choose to use irresponsibly... cloning and dinosaurs just work well with the idea. Plus, seeing Wu expand beyond "still cloning dinosaurs" just makes sense for the character... he's too ambitious to stick with just dinosaurs when a whole world of DNA, both past and present, is at his disposal.

Honestly, your idea for bringing all the characters together... it sounds pretty weak. Like "oh you guys have a little experience, that makes you an expert in this, right?" sort of thing, like what the Kirby's did with Grant in JP3... only I'd assume Claire would know better. And really, we're gonna pull the "child sneaks aboard" bit again?

And why would Claire and Owen and such stick around to make the valley some perfectly paleo-accurate paradise? If the modern world worked for dinosaurs on Isla Sorna, it would work fine in the valley.

Also, pretty sure Biosyn wasn't evil... it was just people on top like Dodgson were (again) more concerned with what they could do or get with genetic power than taking precautions. Speaking of which, I fail to see what justification the heroes would have to meddle in Biosyn's affairs... I mean, they sell perfect clones and they escape the buyers and... then what? It's not Biosyn's fault their buyers are incompetent. Maybe I missed something, but you don't seem to have provided a reason to blame Biosyn for anything, let alone act against them.

 

[MarcWP]

BioSyn trying to corrupt the world by destroying all crops despite their own. What a nice and giving company.

Terrible movie.

 

[Fossa]

The movie was really bad, especially Owen, who wants to be a hero with a stupid hand-thing... Very annoying, you can turn it into a drunk drinking game though, drink everytime one of the characters puts its stupid hand up to a dinosaur.

The motorcycle scene was the worst of the movie, only there to show how good Owen is, also the fall-into-ice scene is pathetic... Like a human can run after that.

 

[bhoefert]

People seem too obsessed with the idea that this is a dinosaur franchise when at its heart it really isn't... it's about human greed and arrogance

It's definitely also about those things. But this was the first movie in which dinosaurs weren't an essential part of the plot. You can still have a movie about genetically-altered super locusts and a kidnapped child clone without dinosaurs. You can't have any of the other movies without dinosaurs. That is the only point I was making.

Honestly, your idea for bringing all the characters together... it sounds pretty weak.

Not claiming to be a professional story teller, or even a good one at that. This post was merely a thought experiment on other ways the movie could have gone, to point out how weak the version we got was. Without super-grasshoppers in the movie, you need a different reason for the legacy characters to be in the movie, and I was just thinking of one.

Also, pretty sure Biosyn wasn't evil... it was just people on top like Dodgson were (again) more concerned with what they could do or get with genetic power than taking precautions.

No they were definitely pure evil. Trying to cause a global famine just to gain a higher percent share of the food commodities market. Maybe all the employees weren't on the up-and-up, but Dodson was pure evil.

Maybe I missed something, but you don't seem to have provided a reason to blame Biosyn for anything, let alone act against them.

Well, the movie was billed as struggle between modern human civilization and dinosaurs. The trailers made it seem this way: that this was going to be the main plot of the movie. Dinosaurs escape isolation at the end of Fallen Kingdom and now they are all over the world and humans have to fight to retain Dominion over the Earth. But that's not what the actual movie is about. Dinosaurs are present in human society, but people are still just kind of going about their lives. The main battle is the fight to stop super-locusts from destroying the global food supply.

In my alternative version of the movie, the main battle is the battle to control the dinosaur population. In order to do that, you have to first stop making new dinosaurs. BioSyn continues to make new dinosaurs, not because they are evil, but just because they are greedy and obsessed with being better than Ingen. Claire, Owen, and the original cast would all agree that, if humanity is going to be saved, BioSyn must be stopped. It's this unity of purpose which would bring the characters together.

 

[Aramus418]

There was plenty to disappoint in this film, but I think the worst was the characterization of Dodgson. He wasn't the most unique character in the world as portrayed in the books, but at least he was a good villain. This... thing we got in Dominion was a lame parody of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, et. al. rolled into one, written by amateur clowns who plagiarized from 'Don't Look Up', which itself was a pretentious attempt at social commentary through an obnoxiously campy comedy.

 

[Jurassic_DX]

Dominion had plenty of its own problems, but not going full Planet of the Dinosaur was not one of them. Jurassic Park would have been an interesting movie without any dinosaurs in it at all and that is the point. A good film is defined by if its story can hold up without whatever motif is layered on top of it. I think the problem is that they made it feel almost like the locusts were exclusively the problem and not just a major knock-on effect. Dodgson got did dirty though and he was robbed of any agency being Biosyn's president, his character works in the novels because he is super ambitious and cutthroat, he doesn't have much motivation in Dominion and if I have to hear another comparison to Tim Cook one more time, I will lose it.

 

[Mighty-Boy]

I'm disappointed because I notice that it's an update offering more benefits to people willing to spend money. And frankly Border, you lose me and uninstalls the game because you offer a free update which is useless for players who do not put money. This is the thank you that we have by pre-ordering a game at 70€.

 

[bhoefert]

Dominion had plenty of its own problems, but not going full Planet of the Dinosaur was not one of them.

Certainly, the idea that humans would allow dinosaurs to roam freely requires suspension of disbelief, because in reality we would smoke them almost instantly, just like we've done with most of the planet's megafauna. I was simply saying that modern humans vs. dinosaurs was billed as the central conflict of the film, and that wasn't the central conflict of the film at all. Considering the entire Jurassic World trilogy has been building up to that conflict (I mean, it's literally named Jurassic World), it was a major and insurmountable screw up to make the third film about something else.

 

[luispaistallon]

Jurassic World Dominion is the worst-reviewed film of the Jurassic franchise. Its cardinal sin is that it isn't about dinosaurs. Its two main plots involve giant locusts and a child kidnapping. It just so happens to have dinosaurs in the movie, but both of the plots would be the same with or without dinosaurs. In this sense, it is the first Jurassic movie in which dinosaurs aren't essential to the plot.

This cardinal sin inherently leads to the chief complaint about the movie: that it's an overstuffed, unfocused dumb action movie. The movie is over two and a half hours long, and yet still struggles to fit in screen time for 2 main non-dinosaur plots, plus adding in some dinosaur scenes, plus scene time for the Jurassic World characters, the legacy characters, and the new characters. The result is a movie that rushes from action scene to action scene without any down time in between to contrast with the action scenes. What makes great movies like Jurassic Park special is how they contrast periods of peace and downtime with shorter periods of intense action. It's these periods of downtime that allow for character development and plot progression. Jurassic World Dominion doesn't have time for this, because the two main storylines aren't about dinosaurs.

You can see how Dominion failed by imagining what it could have been. Here is my thought experiment of an alternate universe in which Dominion is a good movie:

In the alternative movie, there are no giant locusts. This is a movie about dinosaurs. There is no child kidnapping plot. Again, this being a Jurassic movie, it is about dinosaurs. In the time since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, dinosaurs are running amok amongst modern society. The fact that the two non-dinosaur storylines are stricken from the film means lots of extra screen time to show dinosaurs in the modern world, which is what the trailers promised. T-rex at the movie theater scene- it's back in the movie. You can imagine lots of extra cool scenes with dinosaurs in the modern world. It is during this beginning series of scenes that we get our first glimpse of the Spinosaurus, swimming in a swamp (but we don't see the full creature, it's just a tease).

Claire and Owen are working with the DFW to capture all the dinosaurs which are on the loose. BioSyn has a contract to take all the dinosaurs and house them in their valley in Italy. Claire and Owen begin to think something is amiss with BioSyn when they begin encountering new species of dinosaurs: dinosaurs that Claire knows Ingen and Masrani never bred. They suspect that BioSyn is actually creating new dinosaurs instead of just housing already existing ones.

This is also what brings the legacy characters into the mix. In the time between movies, Claire has met Dr. Ellie Sattler. Claire convinces Dr. Sattler, who in turn convinces Dr. Grant and Dr. Malcom, to journey to BioSyn valley to stop the production of new dinosaurs. The original trio agrees to join because stopping the production of new dinosaurs is the only thing which will allow the human race to get a handle on the exploding dinosaur population. Claire wants the original trio to tag along because they are some of the only people alive who have experienced the Isla Sorna dinosaurs and survived.

BioSyn isn't an evil corporation like in the current movie. Instead, they are simply full of hubris (like Ingen and Masrani before them). They think they can house dinosaurs responsibly, plus breed new dinosaurs for whoever wants them (militaries, black markets, Saudi princes, etc.). BioSyn prides itself on only cloning dinosaurs with 100% genomes. Their dinosaurs aren't mutants, like they claim Ingen's were. Their dinosaurs will be easier to handle, they believe...

Owen, Claire, and the original trio travel to BioSyn valley to shut down the production facility. When they get there, they realize Masie Lockwood has stowed away with them (in a callback to Masie hiding in the dumbwaiter in JW:FK and Ian Malcom's daughter hiding in the camper in the Lost World). Claire and Owen told Masie not to leave the house and she was mad so she hid and came with them.

In traveling through BioSyn Valley, the cast faces numerous dinosaur threats. The Dimetrodon doesn't appear in caves, because Dimetrodon's chief feature (a giant sail used to collect sunlight and/or as a visible threat display) is useless in caves and the writers of this alternate movie are aware of that. Giganotosaurus either doesn't appear in this movie or if it does appear, Dr. Grant doesn't call it "the largest carnivore that has ever lived" because he's a paleontologist and he knows that's not true. Instead, Dr. Grant gets reunited with... a Spinosaurus! Dr. Grant says something like "not this again" or "I recognize that roar" or something cool.

The cast makes it to the BioSyn facility but they can't gain access Dr. Wu's systems. Masie tries using her fingerprints out of frustration and she gets in because she, being a clone, has the same prints as her mother, whose prints can still access Dr. Wu's systems. They manage to shut down the cloning facility. Havoc ensues, of course. Dr. Wu isn't redeemed, but is killed by one of his new creations, a fully-feathered Velociraptor.

The cast escapes the facility and are faced by the final battle: it's a T-Rex vs. Spinosaurus rematch! Dr. Grant says, "trust me, this isn't about us" and the cast hides. The audience erupts into applause because, in this alternate universe, they get what everyone actually wants, a T-Rex vs. Spinosaurus rematch. Rexy wins the fight on her own, and definitely not with the help of a Therizinosaurus, because Rexy is one of the main characters of the series and this is the final dinosaur battle of the series and the writers of this movie know that the audience will want her to win on her own.

The cast escapes the valley. The UN declares BioSyn Valley a nature preserve and Claire and Owen work to finish capturing the remaining dinosaurs around the world and moving them to their habitat. Dr. Sattler works with Claire and Owen to make sure the plant life is as paleo-accurate as possible for the new dino nature preserve. The final scene is Rexy hunting a Parasaurolophus, killing it, and giving her iconic roar!

Just one idea for a film that would have been better than what we got. Let me know what you think below.

Much better. But i still want to see the Giganotosaurus. Also the final scene should be rexy and junior hunting together

 

[PCMR4Life]

I haven't seen the movie. But I haven't been in a theater in 16 years, and I don't see myself going for this one. I bought Jurassic World though I am not a big fan and I bought Fallen Kingdom for $10 at Best Buy. I don't think I will bother with this one. I will rent it from the Red Box app on my Roku. But I could tell right from the start from everything I was seeing that this new JW movie wouldn't be good. I was kind of thinking maybe they would at least let the series go out with a bang but that doesn't seem to be the case with everything I am hearing.

The whole idea of dinosaurs as weapons is idiotic. The whole idea about dinosaurs all over the world doesn't make a lot of sense either. People have been driving animals into extinction for a while. This idea that we couldn't wipe dinosaurs off the face of the earth is ridiculous. As someone who read both the novels, I can tell you the books handled differently. The dinosaurs weren't running down the middle of a European city. A few of the small ones like the raptors and Compys got off the island. In one of the novels it was mentioned that some animals were found on a local farm in the mountains of Costa Rica. They were dealt with from what I remember. The only time you hear about dinosaur on the mainland again is when a body of one washes up on the beach and some people from government come destroy it with flame throwers. Levine cuts a tag off of it before they do. Dinosaurs aren't running like some kind of B movie made in the 50's. Nothing like what is seen at the end of JPTLW with the Rex running around San Diego. The books made it all seem mysterious and it was like a secret. The dinosaurs that did manage to get off the islands were like cryptids or something. Very rarely seen. No one wanted to talk about it. It wall hush hush.

This is not Frontiers fault. They didn't make the movies. The game is fun though. I just bought the DLC yesterday and from what I played it's fun. I enjoy the game more than I do the JW movies. I will always be a JP fan though. JPFan4Life.

The Dodgson character is nothing like the Dodgson from the books. He is pretty much a bad guy in the books. The kind of person that will stop at nothing to accomplish something. I know the game has a T rating and the novel Dodgson was way too dark to have a in a game like this. In the TLW book he tried to kill Sarah Harding by pushing her off the boat. I suggest if you are let down by the Dominion Dodgson then go read the books. He is a really interesting guy. lol

Dominion had plenty of its own problems, but not going full Planet of the Dinosaur was not one of them. Jurassic Park would have been an interesting movie without any dinosaurs in it at all and that is the point. A good film is defined by if its story can hold up without whatever motif is layered on top of it. I think the problem is that they made it feel almost like the locusts were exclusively the problem and not just a major knock-on effect. Dodgson got did dirty though and he was robbed of any agency being Biosyn's president, his character works in the novels because he is super ambitious and cutthroat, he doesn't have much motivation in Dominion and if I have to hear another comparison to Tim Cook one more time, I will lose it.

Without the dinosaurs it wouldn't have been as interesting. That goes for the books and the movies. But especially the movies. The damage, death and mayhem caused by the dinosaurs is part of the whole point Chrichton was trying to make.

 

[Jurassic_DX]

Without the dinosaurs it wouldn't have been as interesting. That goes for the books and the movies. But especially the movies. The damage, death and mayhem caused by the dinosaurs is part of the whole point Chrichton was trying to make.

You could make that argument; however, it was written well enough that you could have inserted something else to achieve the same goal. Dinosaurs are instantly exciting so its an easy hook, but not outside the realm of possibility. Crichton seemed much more concerned with the dangers of genetic power as he wrote multiple books besides Jurassic Park on the subject. The dinosaurs going berserk was simply a reaction of the genetic power that was not respected and loosed to devastating consequences. The films obviously don't have the depth to stand without the dinosaurs, but adding in more of Crichton's ideas is never a bad thing.

Personally, I was thinking more of the DX disease on Sorna, that is roughly how I was approximating they could have told a story about the potential harms they could do. While the dinosaurs' faulty genetics might ultimately destroy themselves, it could also have harmful mutations if introduced as invasive species into world ecosystems. No one would believe or like Planet of the Dinosaur where Ankylosaurs are flipping police cars and humans are mystically afraid despite their heavy firepower. The ecological threat was a good angle, but the problem is they didn't show the various factors causing it besides the locusts in Dominion.

In that regard, the audience complaints are correct, they sidestepped the dinosaurs too much; however, they are badly conditioned if they think Planet of the Dinosaur would make for a better story. For one, it would just be a rip-off of Planet of the Apes, and the suspension of disbelief is long gone. Doing that would have solidified the franchise as a literal joke that can't take itself seriously. There is still potential with the Jurassic IP, we just need better writers who don't think and treat us like we are idiots unable to comprehend an actual plot with morally grey areas and quiet moments of characters exchanging dialogue rather than cramming in an action scene every 10 seconds just to amuse the audience.