Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) | Colin Trevorrow

Activist Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard_ is still leading the Dinosaur Protection Group to break up illegal breeding operations. Claire’s partner, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), captures and relocates stray dinos before they’re slaughtered by poachers. They live in a cabin in the Sierra Nevadas with 14-year-old experimental human clone Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), raised as their surrogate daughter in secret to protect her from exploitation. The velociraptor raised by Owen, Blue, lives in the nearby woods with her asexually created younger hatchling, dubbed Beta by Maisie. Maisie is unhappy in isolation and occasionally strays beyond her parents’ border, ultimately getting captured by mercenaries, who also kidnap Beta.

Meanwhile, genetically modified locusts begin consuming and destroying farm crops in America’s heartland and will soon be a global threat. Paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) discovers that crops from Biosyn seeds remain unaffected, suspecting foul play to monopolize the world’s food market. She consults former paleontologist colleague and romantic partner Alan Grant (Sam Neill) for help. They discover that the locusts have been genetically modified using Cretaceous period DNA. Their detective work finds them joining forces with Claire and Owen to infiltrate Biosyn, where Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is currently employed, to expose the greedy corporation’s plans to the world.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) | J.A. Bayona

This 5th entry in the Jurassic franchise sets the story following the closure of Jurassic World, where its dormant volcano, Mt. Sibo, has become active, threatening all life on Isla Nublar. Humankind debates whether the clone dinosaurs should be saved or return to extinction. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) has become a conservationist advocate for the Dinosaur Protection Group, feeling an overwhelming responsibility to save the dinos she once considered merely a commodity.  After John Hammond’s billionaire associate Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) is on his deathbed, his assistant, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), pitches a plan to Claire to fund the relocation of the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar to a sanctuary island. Claire gathers a team including velociraptor whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), super-hacker Franklin Webb (Justice Smith), and paleo-veterinarian Zia Rodriguez (Daniela Pineda). The team is stunned to discover find mercenaries on the island gathering dinosaurs to bring to the mainland for greedy, nefarious purposes.

Jurassic World (2015) | Colin Trevorrow

Siblings Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) are sent on vacation to visit their Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is the manager of operations at the Costa Rica island resort known as Jurassic World, a tourist attraction funded by mega-billionaire named Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) that takes its basic idea from the original Jurassic Park but seeks to do the formula right (i.e., more profitably). In addition to the assortment of dinosaurs, the corporation is looking into creating their own hybrid dinos through experiments in genetic engineering that are sure to draw in even more interested visitors year after year.  Their biggest creation is the Indominus Rex, a creation that splices the T. Rex DNA with a hodge-podge of other predators of various strengths, that just might be the most deadly creature that has ever roamed the Earth.  (I suppose it’s not a good sign that ‘indominus’ is Latin for ‘untamable’.)

Navy vet Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is a behavioral research consultant and talent trainer at the facility, looking into the ability of these dinosaurs to learn from human instruction, and he’s especially made progress at whispering to velociraptors, which may prove to be a much-needed thing now that Indominus Rex has gotten out of its cage and is prepared to hunt and kill whatever it can on the island, which ultimately could mean the slaughter of 20,000 visitors trapped in the theme park. Colin Trevorrow directs.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) | Steven Spielberg

It’s four years later, and the chief creator of Jurassic Park sends an expedition of four people to check on “Site B”, a secret place where the dinosaurs were developed and which now sports dinosaurs roaming free. The quartet is supposed to document the goings-on, but soon discover they will not be alone on the island, as the creator’s nephew envisions Jurassic Parks across America and wants to capture some dinos to exploit for profit. Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, and Vince Vaughn star. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) – A Podcast Film Review

Acclaimed director J.A. Bayona takes over the reins of this lucrative franchise with JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, the follow-up to 2015’s biggest box-office smash.  Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles, this time having to figure out if the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar should be saved, or if the active volcano that’s in full flow should course correct their existence back to extinction.  A wealthy benefactor wants to put them into sanctuary, but someone in his organization sees a bigger opportunity to keep these dinos alive by selling them to the highest bidders around the world.