Legacy sequels are all the rage these days, but to be fair to Jurassic World, the series has been doing it since before it was cool.
Back in 2015, the first movie brought back Dr Henry Wu (BD Wong) to bridge the gap between the original trilogy and the new one. Dr Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) joined the party for Fallen Kingdom and now with Jurassic World: Dominion, they've completed the set by bringing back Drs Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Alan Grant (Sam Neill).
It's a natural progression, rather than a cheap tactic to capitalise on the current trend, and it also serves another purpose. Like Avengers: Endgame and The Rise of Skywalker before it, Dominion acts as the epic finale to not just the Jurassic World trilogy, but the entire saga back to 1993's Jurassic Park.
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The stage is set for Jurassic World: Dominion to do something special where all bets are off, given it's the (planned) final outing. And yet the big disappointment you'll feel is that it all ends up being overfamiliar and just another Jurassic movie, albeit an entertaining one.
It's not just the meeting of the two casts that make Jurassic World: Dominion a potentially unique offering either. Set four years after Fallen Kingdom, it opens with the world in an entirely different place after dinosaurs were let loose in the sequel's cliffhanger ending.
The 2019 short Battle At Big Rock and last year's prologue had given us a sense of the new world order, but if you hadn't seen them, an opening news reel sets the scene. While there have been dino attacks, they've largely retreated to natural habitats so it's not like in this world, you'd see a raptor on your way to Asda.
While it might make more logical sense, we are talking about a series where Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) can outrun a raptor. We're happy to have a suspension of disbelief about the Jurassic movies, so a plot about a real-world battle between dinos and humans could have worked – and be more interesting than what Dominion ends up being about.
The movie is split into two strands, with one following Claire and Owen (Chris Pratt) as they try to keep Maisie (Isabella Sermon) safe. In the other, Ellie, Alan and Ian investigate the shady dealings at BioSyn which is now run by another Jurassic Park character, Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott, a recast from the original).
As you'd expect, these two distinct strands eventually come together as heroes from past and present team up to save the day. It takes a while for this to happen though, and when it does, it feels less like a finale to the series and more like another outing where a 'controlled' environment turns out to not be quite so safe.
What also becomes apparent during the extended build-up is that there's one set of characters you prefer, and it isn't the Jurassic World ones. It's not just the emotional nostalgia of seeing Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum back together – their characters are richer and their interplay more engaging.
Even the script seems to like the legacy characters more as Goldblum gets the best lines, especially when he becomes the comic relief in the final third. It's actually a Jurassic World newbie in DeWanda Wise as Kayla Watts who comes the closest to being as strong as the legacy cast.
Bryce Dallas Howard has been giving a good arc and development for Claire across the three movies, but Chris Pratt's Owen has been saddled with bland action-hero stylings, something that continues here. Together, they lack chemistry and it's made more apparent by the re-arrival of Alan and Ellie.
Yes, we've technically known the original trio for three decades, but we've had three movies with Claire and Owen, and we should care more. Perhaps it's because they never really are in danger, unlike in the original Jurassic Park movie. There's so much plot armour in Dominion that even during an 'Bourne, but with dinos' sequence in Malta, you know that they'll both survive with barely a scratch.
As much as the threequel delivers the big-screen spectacle you expect, it's when things are stripped back that it's more effective. Dominion leans into the horror more though to evoke the original movie's terrifying set pieces, with tense sequences in an amber mine and in the forest of the BioSyn sanctuary. (None can hold a candle to that T-Rex sequence though.)
Returning director Colin Trevorrow – who also wrote the script with Emily Carmichael – smartly keeps the fan service subtler than expected as well. There are nods throughout and sure to be more found on repeat viewings, but relatively few 'Hey, you remember this moment, right?' beats.
When Dominion does lean on the past, such as in a recreation of the iconic "don't move" sequence, you remember you're actually watching the culmination of a franchise. There's just nothing particularly surprising about events or a major swing that will be discussed endlessly by fans. It has a sense of finality, but more of an ellipsis than a full stop.
Perhaps that's for the best as we know that this probably isn't the end of the Jurassic saga. We're not even disappointed about that as there are new characters we'd want to see more of, especially Kayla who proves to be a terrific addition to the franchise.
What is disappointing though is that for all the trumpeting about it being the finale of three decades' worth of storytelling, Jurassic World: Dominion never ends up being that impactful. It's entertaining, sure, but ends up feeling too safe and samey for its own good.
Jurassic World: Dominion is out now in cinemas.
Universal Studios/Amblin Entertainment Inc Jurassic World: The Exhibition tickets - London
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Universal/Amblin Entertainment 'Welcome To Jurassic Park' limited edition art print
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
