Based on the wildly polarizing reactions, fans are getting a lot more enjoyment out of Jurassic World Dominion than critics, with the latter party continuing to blast the potentially final entry in the franchise.
The movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score has no dropped to an alarmingly low 31 percent, but the user rating holds firm at a robust 80 percent, so the disconnect is there for all to see. Dominion might boast plenty of fan service, nostalgia, Easter Eggs, and blockbuster spectacle, but the story often moves at a pace that could generously be described as glacial.
The majority of Sam Neill and Laura Dern’s arc finds them dealing with locusts instead of dinosaurs, while Jeff Goldblum snarks at corporate honchos for most of this screentime, at least until the third act. It can be very boring at times, but director Colin Trevorrow admitted to IndieWire that he didn’t want to make a balls-to-the-wall fantasy flick that had nothing to say.
“We think of Jurassic Park as this dinosaur franchise where people get chomped and then that’s why we love to go to see people get chomped, but it’s also a warning. Science has given us extraordinary power to alter the natural world, and we are seeing the consequences of it. We are all living with that. And so to be able to tell a story about the humility needed in the face of the natural world in order to survive is something that felt meaningful to me.”
A bit more energy wouldn’t have gone amiss, but based on the early box office numbers, paying customers can’t seem to get enough of Jurassic World Dominion this weekend.
