Jurassic World: Dominion and the Art of the Requel

The trailers for Jurassic World: Dominion have dropped, and they seem to be generally well-received. This movie is set to be a crowd-pleaser, and it’s certain to do very well financially. While I and many others enjoyed these trailers a lot, it’s hard to be sure if the actual movie is going to be good, critically. Personally, I’ve been pretty mixed on the last two entries in this classic franchise; but I believe this one will easily be the best of the three. But will it match up to the original Jurassic Park and go down as a true classic? We’ll see in June, but for now, all we can do is speculate. Seeing as the original Jurassic World was one of the first truly big revivals of a classic series, it’s only logical that this should set the standard for how these reboot/sequels (requels) should be written.

First, let’s explain the requel, and what makes a successful one. A requel is sort of a reboot, sort of a sequel, hence the term. Essentially, a requel goes back to a pre-existing franchise, usually years later, and continues that story with those characters, plus some new characters. Popular examples of these types of movies are Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Creed, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I don’t personally enjoy all of these examples, but it can’t be denied how popular they all are. When done well, a requel balances the right amount of old elements that old-school fans will love, and new stuff that can create new fans and make people see the movie in droves. Take Star Wars for example, Episode VII was seen by many to be pretty good, because it created new stories in the Star Wars universe, while continuing a classic narrative. Bringing back Han Solo and Luke Skywalker brought in the old fans, while new fans enjoyed new characters like Rey and Finn, which is exactly what the Jurassic World series has been doing. This new movie is doing that to an even greater degree. But has it succeeded i n those goals so far?

The series, as of right now, has done a pretty decent job at appealing to both old and new fans, but it seems that people definitely prefer the older movies, myself included. The new movies are pretty solid, but I haven’t particularly enjoyed them as much as I feel like I should, as a fan of the series. The new characters have been pretty lame so far.  For example, Owen Grady is really just the generic, tough, “cool guy” character as the star.  Also, Claire had a unique—but generic—character arc in the first Jurassic World, and unfortunately she hasn’t done much as a character since then. Her arc is really just learning to see the dinosaurs as real creatures, rather than numbers on a spreadsheet. Fortunately, we’re getting Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler back, having not seen them on screen in decades. They are sure to please old fans, scratching that itch to see fan service, but hopefully they add new layers to the characters. It’s not necessary, but seeing old characters in totally new ways can be really fun. Now, about the plot of the movie, it’s set to be very interesting. The last movie ended off with the dinosaurs escaping captivity and spilling out into the mainland, and that’s already guaranteed to be more interesting than the last two movies. The last two were too reminiscent of the old movies. Jurassic World is a very similar movie to the original Jurassic Park, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was too similar to The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Fortunately, this new movie looks nothing like the old ones, or even any of the new ones, and that’s a good thing. It goes back to what I was saying about how requels should achieve new stories with both old and new characters, which is just what this looks like. 

Seeing as this is the last movie in a trilogy, even calling itself “the epic conclusion of the jurassic era,” this movie has a lot of potential. The only question is if it will live up to that. Will it be a Scream 2022? Or will it be a Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker? Only time will tell, but seeing as this franchise is one of my favorite movie franchises, I really hope that it’s more like the former. I’m going to see it on day one, and will most likely watch it countless times—that is, if it turns out to be good. If it turns out bad, then I will be very disappointed, but I have faith. At the very least, even if it is a mess, it will be an enjoyable one nonetheless. I really love these characters and this series, and I really hope that it has a great finale.