Jurassic World Dominion: A Fantastic Fanale

Jurassic World: Dominion has finally hit theaters worldwide and as a big Jurassic Park fan, I have to say this was a great conclusion to a franchise that has spun nearly 30 years. When filmmakers decide that it is time to close the book on a long standing series that has captivated fans of the world of entertainment, crafting a great finale is no easy job and it takes a lot of work just to hit the right notes to satisfy fans with a proper finale. When putting together the proper conclusion the main tools you'll need is an ensemble of characters, a solid plot that represents the growth and evolution of the story that was there before, energetic moments of nostalgia that are callbacks to earlier points in the series that fans loved, and last but not least, giving all the characters (especially the OG characters) a proper send off. Jurassic World: Dominion uses all of these components just right in this great series finale.

When Jurassic World: Dominion was first announced it was not only made clear that this would be the grand finale to the series, but that this would also bring back all the main characters from not only the Jurassic World time of the series, but also the original characters of the beginning of the Jurassic Park saga. Jurassic World: Dominion not brings back the modern Jurassic World frontline characters of Owen Grady and Claire Dearing portrayed by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, respectively, but also brings back the original Jurassic Park characters Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm portrayed by Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, respectively. What makes this ensemble of characters so great is we not only get to see them become one as a team from different parts of the series, but we get to see their separate journeys and aspirations become one story that brings them all together in a way that makes sense. Malcolm, Grant and Sattler are looking to stop illegal activities that involve the kidnapping of a young Maisie Lockwood, who has been adopted by Grady and Dearing, making the paths of both groups into one. In an interesting twist of fate in this chain of events it is revealed that Dr. Henry Wu, portrayed by BD Wong, another Jurassic Park original and series regular who is the lead geneticist that created the cloning programs for both Jurassic Park and Jurassic World is not the villain he has appeared to be since the franchise first began in 1993, as it is revealed that he is working to fix the damages created by the film's antagonist and save civilization as a whole from famine.

When the team assembles into one for the final act of the film we as fans are given a lot of great callbacks to the original days of Jurassic Park, like when Grant and Grady and Sattler and Dearing all acknowledge each other as the former and current generation counterparts of one another. In the midst of all this we get a great positive introduction to two new characters on the side of the good guys, Kayla Watts portrayed by Dewanda Wise, an opportunistic pilot who embraces moral fiber by helping Grady and Dearing find their adopted Maisie Lockwood and Ramsey Cole portrayed by Mamoudou Athie, the communications head of the company Biosyn, who is helping aid Malcolm, Grant, and Sattler in stopping the illegal activities of Biosyn company head Dr. Lewis Dodgson, who is also a Jurassic Park original character. I have to say the most satisfying callback in this film for me was watching Ian Malcolm save the day by creating a diversion in the same manner that he did in the original to help everyone escape and even more satisfying, he didn't have to die in the process. Seeing Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler finally become a couple by the film's end is something that I think all fans, myself included definitely loved the most as it was something that we previously desired to see in the original days of Jurassic Park.

Last but certainly not least we get to see the evolution of the most important ingredient of the series, the dinosaurs. I thought it was an amazing site to see all the dinosaurs integrated into the rest of society in a way that I previously stated could not have happened in the past due to our separate paths not being ready to cross, but nearly 30 years later both civilizations have grown a great deal and are ready to coexist. the icing on the cake to it all for me was seeing Jurassic World premiere dinosaur favorite, Blu, now having a daughter and family of her own and getting to see the greatest dinosaur of the Jurassic saga, Tyrannosaurus Rex getting to have one final showdown with new dinosaur villain Giganotosaurus and coming out on top with the help of another new dinosaur alumni the Therizinosaurus.

Building a great conclusion to a great series is hard and as a big fan of the Jurassic saga I am glad to say that Jurassic World: Dominion did it correctly. Hats off and much love to the amazing conclusion of a series which is not only one of the greatest franchises ever, but also a staple of the scientific conscious of the world. Fans all over will always remember and cherish Jurassic Park.