Spielberg's Jurassic World 3 Reaction Is Exactly What Dominion Needs
Original Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg’s reaction to the reunited cast of Jurassic World: Dominion proves the movie can live up to the hopes that fans have for the trilogy-ending chapter. When director Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World arrived in cinemas in 2015, the blockbuster hit was broadly seen as a worthy follow-up to the original Jurassic Park trilogy despite some flaws. 2018’s muddled follow-up, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, combined an overlong runtime, an over-complicated plot, and an outright surreal ending to drag down the new trilogy’s critical reception as a whole. However, despite these issues, Spielberg's response proves that returning to the series' roots can be a positive step forward.
The Jurassic Park saga began in 1993, with Spielberg's wildly popular and iconic first entry. While subsequent movies, such as The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3 enjoyed mixed critical and commercial success, fans generally agree that the series has so far failed to recapture the magic of the original. However, for all the frustrations of the cinematic sequels, Jurassic Park remains a totemic franchise, spawning video games, spin-off TV series, and other mixed media enterprises.
Fortunately for fans of the series, the returning director Trevorrow has promised to end the Jurassic World trilogy right with Jurassic World: Dominion. Not only that, but judging by Stephen Spielberg’s response to an early look at the sequel, he is on the right track. According to a recent interview with Trevorrow, Spielberg was moved by the sight of the reunited original Jurassic Park cast when the director sent him a photo during production, which is exactly the sort of emotional impact that Jurassic World: Dominion needs to have on audiences. Per an Empire interview with the director, “I took a picture of [the reunited cast together] and I sent it to Steven [Spielberg]. He got very emotional. I don’t think even he was prepared for how moving it would be to see all of those characters that he loves, and people that he loves, looking incredible and on an adventure together.” While Jurassic World: Dominion must change a lot from previous movies to end the trilogy, more than anything, the third movie in the series needs to make audiences nostalgic for its returning cast. While the original Jurassic Park was rightly lauded for its incredible visual effects work at the time of its release, it would not have worked as a crowd-pleasing blockbuster were it not for the effective interplay between Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum.
Although Jurassic World was well-liked upon release, few critics felt that the movie or its less impressive sequel recaptured this chemistry and, as such, the presence of Dern, Neill, and Goldblum in the sequel’s cast list was an exciting coup for many fans. While Goldblum returned for the first Jurassic Park sequel and Dern and Neill came back for the second, the trio has not been reunited onscreen since the original Jurassic Park in 1993. With visual effects no longer being a surefire route to impressing audiences, blockbuster viewers are now seeking out more substantial characters and stories.
As such, the emotional impact of bringing the trio back together has to land for Jurassic World: Dominion to work. Much as Ghostbusters: Afterlife won over many of its more cynical reviewers by bringing the titular team back together for its sweet, sentimental ending, Jurassic World: Dominion will need to focus on the dynamics shared between Goldblum, Dern, and Neill’s characters as much as the dinosaur-focused action set-pieces to succeed. Luckily, if Spielberg’s reaction to the cast’s reunion is anything to go by, Jurassic World: Dominion is in safe hands when it comes to ending the story of the Jurassic Park series right.