Jurassic World: Dominion is now available on Amazon.
With Jurassic World: Dominion sitting at a lowly 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, most viewers likely went into theaters on Thursday with low expectations.
“Top” critics accused Universal of producing a money grab, “a corporate movie,” made just to put cheeks in seats, and that may be true to some extent.
But is the score really representative of how the audience feels about the movie?
The Tomatometer isn’t reflective of the audience’s perspective
To be successful in the film industry, it takes more than luck, a good story, and a stellar marketing team. At the end of the day, it requires money, and lots of it.
Take for example, the rave reviews Captain America: The First Avenger received. At 79% (certified fresh), the First Avenger rates higher than Venom (30%), which was a very fun flick I personally went on a comment bomb campaign on to save, Jennifer’s Body (45%), another great film, Grandma’s Boy (16%), an unknown but wildly fun and funny flick from the creators of SouthPark, Jumanji (54%), a classic that was so well received they decided a remake was in order for new generations, Armageddon (38%), which rewrote the script for disaster movies, and my favorite critic pounding, Hook (29%), which I’m sure many reading this enjoyed.
The Dark Knight Rises came out and chalked up an 87% score on RT, critics raved, I fell asleep, but the observation was a gift: nothing is free, not even due credit (or lack of).
Yes, Dominion is a theater flick, and you should go into it with low expectations – after all, it is intended to put a bow on over three decades of narrative – but 37%? No. Universal just skipped a step – you have to pay to play in this world – something they did well for Jurassic Park 2, which sits at a nearly-fresh score of 54%.
Jurassic World: Dominion – mild spoilers
The plot of Jurassic World: Dominion is ridiculous – this is Prehistoric Planet meets Indiana Jones – without question. Following the events of Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom, the dinosaurs have further integrated themselves into society, with attacks on humans becoming something like the equivalent of gun violence. They exist, attacks happen, but everyone deals with it (because no one will do anything about it – sound familiar?). Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) are living out their lives in the country with Blue and a newborn raptor, oh, and an adopted daughter (Isabella Sermon) who is pivotal to the plot of the entire Jurassic series – but we’ve never heard of her before.
Everything else is fine, and, as mentioned above, we’ve all figured out a way to live with feral dinosaurs and occasional attacks on humans (there’s even a scene where pterodactyls ruin a wedding by knocking off the white doves – lol). Of course, it wouldn’t be a Jurassic film without a bad guy (duh), and we eventually meet the film’s villain (Campbell Scott), who’s determined to change the world through genetics, until his plot goes horribly wrong and could cause worldwide famine and wipe out all life, including dinosaurs.
Owen and Claire’s adopted daughter and Blue’s newborn baby raptor are kidnapped and, well, you know the rest – que the chase – they need to be rescued! We meet new characters along the way (DeWanda Kayla, Mamoudou Athie – both are great) and get some pretty hysterical moments out of Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) as he reunites with Dr. Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Sattler (Laura Dern), but in the end, the film is just fun.
It does get a rough start, and I’d expect some viewers to give a wisecrack or two about the ridiculousness of it all, but by the end of the second act and the start of the third you’re just happy you’re back in the world of Jurassic Park, and you’ll be pleased that Universal went out of its way to reunite everyone – a device I actually believe was an ode to fans rather than a money grab. After all, how much marketing have you seen for Dr. Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm in Dominion publicity campaigns? Honestly, I didn’t even know they were going to be in it, but I’m really glad they were.
And while the plot plays a familiar beat, I’m sorry, they got this one wrong, it’s a great song. I mean, do we really care how smart DJ Casper’s “Cha Cha Slide” is?
It’s just fun, and the audience score of 84% proves it.
What did you think of Jurassic World: Dominion? Don’t forget to leave your comment below!
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