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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I Heard Jurassic World Dominion Was Bad, But I Would Watch It Over Any Other Jurassic Sequel
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives away, just about, the entire plot of Jurassic World Dominion. If you have not yet seen the 2022 Jurassic Park movie, act like Owen Grady holding up his hand to magically neutralize a dinosaur, and proceed with caution as you read on. With Jurassic World Rebirth hitting theaters soon, I figured it was about time that I do something I had been reluctant to do: catch up with the full franchise and watch Jurassic World Dominion. Considering the beastly reviews from critics and audiences, I was braving the worst, but, to my surprise, I thought it was far from it. To be clear, I would not call Colin Trevorrow's sequel a good movie. I think it suffers from a pitifully lazy script, sleepy acting, and throwing out the previous film's setup for a dinosaur-ridden dystopia in favor of, echoing Eric Eisenberg's Jurassic World Dominion review, two bland, disparate plotlines that have little to do with, ya know, dinosaurs. However, I do not at all regret watching it and would choose to watch it again over most sequels to Steven Spielberg's 1993 classic, which I realize may come as a shock to many Jurassic fans. Well, allow me to explain… In previous articles of mine, such as my reaction to the recent sci-fi thriller Companion, I have made it clear that I am a staunch technophobe who fears how dangerously technology's advancement could, or already has, affected our society. However, there is one fear of mine that I have been a bit less vocal about in my writing until now: bugs, especially ones of unusual size. So, you might be able to imagine how I felt when the genetically engineered locusts appeared on the screen. Now, I will agree with the widely shared opinion that a Jurassic Park movie focusing its plot on a non-reptilian prehistoric creature is a mistake, but said creatures did manage to get my adrenaline going faster than any of the dinosaurs that appear in Jurassic World Dominion. That being said… Whenever a dinosaur would appear on screen in Dominion, I found it nothing short of impressive. The special effects, boasting the classic blend of practical animatronics with some of the best CGI Hollywood has to offer, were so convincing, I am surprised there was not more praise about that aspect, at least. Aside from their visual effects, I felt that the action sequences involving dinosaurs are genuinely some of the best that the franchise has ever seen. I recall, in particular, being thoroughly riveted by a scene taking place in Malta, when Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is chased on a motorcycle through the city by Atrociraptors. I had to stop and think to myself, Wow, I am actually having fun with this movie, and it did not stop there. Some have said the extended edition of Jurassic World Dominion is better than the theatrical version, but you can get both on a Blu-ray and 4K UHD set from Amazon for nearly half off the regular price!View Deal The one reason I had to be somewhat optimistic about finally watching Dominion was the one aspect that I had heard positive rumblings about: DeWanda Wise as Kayla Watts. I could not agree more with my colleague Sarah El-Mahmoud that the daredevil pilot is the best character from the Jurassic World trilogy for her bravery and quick wit, and for just being a badass. If there are any downsides to Kayla, I would say that she makes most of the other newer characters (including Mamoudou Athie's Ramsay Cole and even Pratt's Grady) look weaker than I already believed they were, and that she should have been introduced to the franchise earlier. With all due respect to Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, a part of me wishes that she were the focus of the upcoming 2025 movie, Jurassic World Rebirth, instead. Despite my harsh words about the newer Jurassic characters, I have to admit that I really enjoyed seeing them finally interact with Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). In fact, I don't think I was ever amused by the OG heroes' return until that moment, as the parameters of their reunion and the moments the trio shared never felt particularly natural. And don't get me started about the random callbacks to the first film, like Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott) somehow possessing the fake Barbasol canister and displaying it in his office. What?! Anyway, I can't say that 'natural' is a word I would use to describe Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm's meeting with Grady, Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), and others in the final act either. The events that lead them to each other are far too convenient (like many other aspects of the plot), and much of their dialogue feels egregiously forced. Yet, there was something about seeing them all gathered together and relying on one another to survive against the prehistoric wildlife that left me wishing the movie had dedicated more time to bringing them together. Of course, any Jurassic Park fan knows that the real draw of this franchise is not the meat, but the meat-eaters, and the one who rules them all is the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Any return by that big behemoth in these movies, no matter how convoluted the reasoning may be, is warmly welcomed by me, and its appearance in Dominion was no exception, especially since it was not alone. I actually really dug how the T-Rex was treated as a hero, Godzilla style, in the film's final act, when it teams up with a Therizinosaurus to bring down the Giganotosaurus. Watching the T-Rex throw the Giganotosaurus onto the Therizinosaurus' claws, fatally impaling it, made for a more satisfying final battle than the Indominus Rex showdown in 2015's Jurassic World, if you ask me. I don't see a future in which I ever boot up my Peacock subscription to watch Jurassic World Dominion again, unless I get curious and decide to check out the extended edition, which I hear is an improvement. Yet, I can't say I feel that I wasted my morning watching it the other day, which is something I can't say about most of the follow-ups to the original '90s movie classic, and that calls for a modest roar of applause in my book.
Washington Post
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
How do you make a 'Jurassic World' movie? With these 'commandments'
NEW YORK — If you're going to let dinosaurs run amok, it's good to have some ground rules. That's how screenwriter David Koepp saw it, anyway, in penning the script for 'Jurassic World Rebirth,' which opens in theaters July 2. Koepp wrote the original 'Jurassic Park and its 1997 sequel, 'The Lost World. But 'Rebirth,' the seventh film in the franchise, marks his return to the franchise he helped birth.
Associated Press
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
How do you make a 'Jurassic World' movie? With these 'commandments'
NEW YORK (AP) — If you're going to let dinosaurs run amok, it's good to have some ground rules. That's how screenwriter David Koepp saw it, anyway, in penning the script for 'Jurassic World Rebirth,' which opens in theaters July 2. Koepp wrote the original 'Jurassic Park and its 1997 sequel, 'The Lost World. But 'Rebirth,' the seventh film in the franchise, marks his return to the franchise he helped birth. And Koepp, the veteran screenwriter of 'Carlito's Way' and 'Mission: Impossible,' saw it as a chance to get a few things in order for a movie series that had perhaps strayed too far from its foundational character. Inspired by the animator Chuck Jones, Koepp decided to put down a list of nine commandments to guide 'Jurassic World Rebirth' and future installments. Jones had done something similar for the Roadrunner cartoons. His 'commandments' included things like: the Roadrunner never speaks except to say 'meep meep"; the coyote must never catch him; gravity is the coyote's worst enemy; all products come from the ACME Corporation. 'I always thought those were brilliant as a set of organizing principles,' Koepp says. 'Things become easier to write when you have that, when you have a box, when you have rules, when you agree going in: 'These we will heed by.' So I wrote my own, nine of them.' Koepp shared some — though not all of them — in a recent interview. 1. The events of the first six movies cannot be contradicted 'I hate a retcon. I hate when they change a bunch of things: 'Oh, that didn't actually happen. It was actually his twin.' I don't like other timelines. So I thought: Let's not pretend any of the last 32 years didn't happen or happened differently than you thought. But we can say things have changed.' 2. The dinosaurs are animals, not monsters 'On the first movie, anyone working on the movie would get fined for referring to them as monsters. They're not monsters, they're animals. Therefore, because they're animals, their motives can only be because they're hungry or defending their territory. They don't attack because they're scary. They don't sneak up and roar because they want to scare you.' 3. Humor is oxygen. 'You can't forget it.' 4. Science must be real 'The tone that Steven (Spielberg) found and I helped find in that first movie is really distinctive. I haven't gotten to work on a movie with that tone since then. So to go back to that sense of high adventure, real science and humor, it was just kind of joyful.' 5. The tone must never been ponderous or self-serious 'And then there were a number of other rules that I would define as trade secrets. So I'll keep them to myself.'
The Independent
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
How do you make a 'Jurassic World' movie? With these 'commandments'
If you're going to let dinosaurs run amok, it's good to have some ground rules. That's how screenwriter David Koepp saw it, anyway, in penning the script for 'Jurassic World Rebirth,' which opens in theaters July 2. Koepp wrote the original ' Jurassic Park and its 1997 sequel, 'The Lost World. But 'Rebirth,' the seventh film in the franchise, marks his return to the franchise he helped birth. And Koepp, the veteran screenwriter of 'Carlito's Way' and 'Mission: Impossible,' saw it as a chance to get a few things in order for a movie series that had perhaps strayed too far from its foundational character. Inspired by the animator Chuck Jones, Koepp decided to put down a list of nine commandments to guide 'Jurassic World Rebirth' and future installments. Jones had done something similar for the Roadrunner cartoons. His 'commandments' included things like: the Roadrunner never speaks except to say 'meep meep"; the coyote must never catch him; gravity is the coyote's worst enemy; all products come from the ACME Corporation. 'I always thought those were brilliant as a set of organizing principles,' Koepp says. 'Things become easier to write when you have that, when you have a box, when you have rules, when you agree going in: 'These we will heed by.' So I wrote my own, nine of them.' Koepp shared some — though not all of them — in a recent interview. 1. The events of the first six movies cannot be contradicted 'I hate a retcon. I hate when they change a bunch of things: 'Oh, that didn't actually happen. It was actually his twin.' I don't like other timelines. So I thought: Let's not pretend any of the last 32 years didn't happen or happened differently than you thought. But we can say things have changed.' 2. The dinosaurs are animals, not monsters 'On the first movie, anyone working on the movie would get fined for referring to them as monsters. They're not monsters, they're animals. Therefore, because they're animals, their motives can only be because they're hungry or defending their territory. They don't attack because they're scary. They don't sneak up and roar because they want to scare you.' 3. Humor is oxygen. 'You can't forget it.' 4. Science must be real 'The tone that Steven (Spielberg) found and I helped find in that first movie is really distinctive. I haven't gotten to work on a movie with that tone since then. So to go back to that sense of high adventure, real science and humor, it was just kind of joyful.' 5. The tone must never been ponderous or self-serious 'And then there were a number of other rules that I would define as trade secrets. So I'll keep them to myself.'
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
This is why Jurassic World Rebirth, starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey (and produced by Steven Spielberg!) is this summer's most epic blockbuster
The iconic series is now back, and going back to it's roots to deliver thrills for all the family - and the stakes are higher than ever... From director Gareth Edwards and starring action movie icons Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey, Jurassic World Rebirth hits cinemas on July 2 and promises to be the blockbuster event of the summer. As the official trailer shows, the film sees an extraction team race to the most dangerous place on earth, an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park - inhabited only by the most dangerous dinosaurs that were left behind. These colossal creatures pose a mortal threat to any human that crosses them, but they also hold - in their DNA - the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits. Skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett (Johansson) is tasked with leading a top-secret mission to secure the genetic material. Yet when her team is left stranded, they come face to face with a sinister, shocking discovery that has been hidden from the world for decades. The only way to experience the intense, extraordinary action of Jurassic World Rebirth is by watching it on the big screen. But with the release date fast approaching, time is running out to reserve your tickets for opening night. Here are nine reasons you won't want to miss it! 1 - The stellar cast Given how large Jurassic Park looms in our culture, it's no surprise this movie has managed to pull in some big names. Even so, the line-up goes beyond anything we could have expected. Johansson excels as the formidable Zora, who finds her foil in Bailey's Dr Henry Loomis - an expert palaeontologist more suited to laid-back lab work than surviving the world's most hostile environment. They're joined by two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali playing Duncan Kincaid - Zora's most trusted team member - alongside a host of other acclaimed international stars including Rupert Friend and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. 2 - Gareth Edwards is the perfect director Any Jurassic film relies on powerful visuals, and no one does these better than Gareth Edwards. Throughout the film he brings big beasts to life with spine-tingling effect, creating an experience so immediate and visceral that you could be staring up at them yourself - rather than sitting in the safety of your local cinema. One of Edwards' executive producers is Steven Spielberg, who needs absolutely no introduction, and the film has been written by David Koepp who also wrote the original Jurassic park. An iconic team behind the camera! 3 - The new dinosaur breeds This is a new era, so alongside a refreshed cast and director we're also treated to new dinosaurs, including previously unknown breeds alongside some familiar ones. These are every bit as menacing and evil as you could hope - and sure to loom large in your imagination long after you've left the cinema. We particularly love the marauding aquatic dinos that harass Zora's squad out at sea, a moment that's previewed in the trailer. But there are plenty more creatures to discover too. And given the extraction team needs to get blood samples from the three biggest ones, you won't be surprised things get hairy! 4 - It's joyfully nostalgic Johansson recently recalled watching the Jurassic Park movies in the cinema - an experience many of us will relate to. By nodding back to the style of the original films, Jurassic World Rebirth achieves the feat of feeling wonderfully nostalgic at the same time as being exciting and new. You'll find yourself thrilled to recognise some familiar settings and sequences. But most importantly, the film revives the same sense of awe, wonder and excitement that we felt all those years ago. Combined with strong storytelling and powerful visuals, sound and music play a key role in building drama and suspense. We're in good hands for Jurassic World Rebirth, which features music by two-time Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat. Meanwhile, the theme is by legendary five-time Academy Award winning composer John Williams. 6 - It's pure escapism The best films wrench you so far away from ordinary life that the simple act of walking back out onto the street feels like a shock. That's undoubtedly the case with this movie, which places you at the heart of a death-defying mission of the highest possible importance. Regardless of the time of day or what you were doing before you sat down in the cinema, for the entire film you won't be thinking about anything else. Bringing Jurassic World to life requires a mastery of visual and special effects. So it's just as well Edwards is working alongside some of the best in the business, including Oscar nominee David Vickery and Carlos Ciudad (of F9: The Fast Saga). What's more, special effects supervision comes courtesy of two-time Academy Award winner Neil Corbould. 8 - Everyone will be talking about it Movies aren't just about what happens in the cinema... Anyone who's watched a big blockbuster has plenty they want to talk about, from their favourite characters and funny moments to any surprising moments they hadn't seen coming. By watching Jurassic World Rebirth as soon as it's released, you'll be able to take part in these conversations from the get-go rather than feeling left out. As one of the biggest movie releases of the year, you'll want to enjoy Jurassic World Rebirth in its full glory. The extraordinary visuals and explosive audio of a film like this can only be experienced to their full, immersive effect on the big screen. There's simply no other option!
