SPOILER REVIEW! Jurassic World: Dominion with Mike and Kelsey

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's Movie Podcast. I am your host Movie Mike. A different episode for you this week, Full transparency on vacation right now. So if you go to my Instagram page, you'll probably see me at a beach and my wife Kelsey is here with me. Now, how are you ready for vacation? Ready for vacation? But it is fourth of July week. We didn't want to leave you without a new episode, so we wanted to do what we do on the podcast sometimes is do a spoiler edition of a movie review, and we're going to talk about Jurassic World Dominion, which I had a lot of thoughts that I wasn't able to fit into my regular review because I alluded to the plot being kind of dumb. But we'll get into all that. You didn't give your full review on the movie. So what is your perspective on Jurassic World Dominion from not seeing all the other Jurassic Park movies. First thought after we saw it was like, that was really good. And then as I like marinated on my feelings, I was like, actually, it wasn't about dinosaurs. It was about locusts. The dinosaurs just were like supporting characters. And then the more I thought about it, I was like, that's kind of stupid for a movie that's supposed to be about dinosaurs. I'm supposed to be an epic conclusion, but yet it's about like genetically modified locusts. And that was the thing I struggled with about, you know, talking about this movie is I didn't really feel like it was a bad movie. I just watched it and afterwards was like, well, nothing really made sense. Yeah, it wasn't bad. It was a good movie, and we see from how much money it's made. If it was like a stand alone it would be a great movie. But as a part of the Jurassic series, it wasn't about dinosaurs. The dinosaurs just like randomly happened to be in scenes. They had to have a reason for Laura Dern to come back and Sam Neil's character to come back, and it's Laura Dern trying to expose this evil corporation that was using these genetically modified locusts to destroy crops and try to take over the world's food population, and that was the premise of the movie. You're right, the supporting characters were the dinosaurs just kind of there. And also you have to think about you have a lot of writers, how many people do that go through? And they were like, yes, this is it. It kind of felt like they had this story. They were pitching the idea for this and there was like a completely separate idea for a movie, and they're like, hey, can we turn that into the Jurassic World Dominion movie by just adding in dinosaurs to it. That's what it felt like to me. But again, I don't find the movie to be I wouldn't put it on a list of worst movies of the year. I think it's because I had such high expectations going into it that it let me down. But also I never really cared about anything throughout the entire movie. Things would happen and I'd be like, I don't really care how they get out of this situation, Like it's fine, but there's nothing keeping me emotionally invested in this movie. And I know sometimes it gets compared to you know, big dumb fund summer action movies, which I like, like, I'm all here for that. But I find when you are living inside of the Jurassic Park Jurassic World franchise, there's been emotional moments, there's been moments that I felt more invested in the characters, invested on them living, discovering things. So just comparing it to the movies that came before it, that's kind of where I feel like it deserves to have some kind of gravity to all these things happening, not just a bunch of random action sequences of people getting chased in them kind of being in these well will they get out or can not get out situations? Like literally, the entire plot did not revolve around dinosaurs, Like it was taking place at this company's compound and that's where the dinosaurs were being held now, and that was the only connection that it had to dinosaurs. Yeah, because the thing that's so great about the original is them create in the park where normal civilians are going to see them, and that's where they wreck havoc after escaping kind of the same thing they did in the first Jurassic World. This one is just all the other dinosaurs kind of running around And in addition to that, the other parts that don't make sense is them kind of going back and discovering and fighting Jeff Goldblum and he's just kind of there. He's there talking about his book and giving a speech and then what does he do there? Is that his whole job there just to give speeches and he's the best part of the entire movie. But again, his character in this movie doesn't really make sense either, just like, oh yeah, Jeff Goldblum's back. And then the villain. I think that is maybe one of the worst movie villains I've ever seen. He kind of looks like the new Cego of Apple, Tim Cook. They tried to create some kind of weird character with him, of him trying to be funny or doing things that were like quirky and supposed to be like a comedic relief of him being so at the same time being the villain also trying to be like this weird, quirky character who has something else going on with him. But it was so bad, and by the time it got to his plot kind of falling through and him being in that situation where he got killed by the dinosaur, it was almost comedic like that that that was the end of his whole full circle, full circle character arc in the movie was him being eaten and kill by a dinosaur. But I never felt like I wanted to hate this guy. It was just like, this guy just doesn't belong in this movie, and I hit them you hated him. Yeah, he just was very like sinister and people were trying to convince him that he was in the wrong. The other thing I kind of found a little bit more annoying afterward, or even while we were watching the movie is Chris Pratt. I thought he did a really good job in the first one. I think he's a good action star. I was bored with him. In this one, I was too, and it was the whole thing of him, you know, his relationship with Blue, which in the first one was like the main thing about the entire movie. He trained him, he was the only one who could communicate with Blue. In this movie, he keeps doing the hand thing of like I've seen so many turks making fun of how we watched a two and a half hour movie of people just putting their hands up at dinosaurs that wouldn't work. They have created I think, the most ferocious dinosaurs out of all the Jurassic Park movies, and somehow they well I guess not all of them, but a lot of them are able to chill out and be controlled whenever Chris Pratt puts up his hand Like I didn't buy into that. I'm gonna start doing that, Like if we're in an argument, I'm just gonna here's the hold my hand up, and that's just gonna calm you down. I found that part pretty weird. And in a movie where a lot of unbelievable things happened, I'm fine with their being unbelievable things, but that was just a little bit much of like, Okay, he can control all these dinosaurs. They were in that other country and they're just like being chased by like dinosaurs don't like the cobblestone streets. That was a little stupid. The confusing part about this entire movie there's kind of two plots going along at the same time. It's the O G Crew trying to take down this corporation and then Chris Pratt making a deal with a dinosaur to bring back their baby. His whole thing of like I made a promise to Blue to bring back their baby. It's a dinosaur, Like how I get it the smart animal in this movie because the dinosaur really understand what you're saying and you're like, I promise to bring it back, and yeah, that whole part of him making the promise, and then later when they are able to bring back the dinosaur, and it's like here he is. I would honestly be embarrassed for dinosaurs to see, like kind of how the moment species we've become now, Like I feel like dinosaurs would like if they were really like back, they would just see us all walking around with like our heads down on our phones, with our iced coffee is like taking a hot girl walk, And dinosaurs would because people are really stupid. We got taken out by an asteroid for this to exist. Yeah, I'm sorry dinosaurs. So yeah, I found that whole part it was supposed to be again, going back to that epic conclusion of him now having this reconnection with Blue not being angry at Chris Pratt anymore, that whole moment was kind of weak, and the whole idea of them being so smart it just doesn't really have any kind of connection to the rest of it. And then they try to build this whole storyline now with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard living out in a remote cabin away from everything, not trying to be discovered, and raising the girl from the previous movie now and giving her this whole backstory about her mom using this that was a very confusing backstory. We had to throw that one in there, like there was already a lot going on, and then we threw in that she thought she was a replica of someone's DNA, but turns out she was there daughter made by herself. And then she used some secret serum too, then medically like reverse all of these issues. The reason she died now doesn't exist in her Like that was like a third plot. I for Yeah, the third plot was the daughter was like three acts to this movie and then she goes back and they're all like, that's her. She is the daughter. She is the one we need to study her. And then wanted to keep mind. I wanted to study her to then undo what they've done to the locust. Then you get back to the locust. All comes back to the locusts. I'm telling you it was. It was just a movie about locust plague of locusts. So then you have this scientist who has now had this kind of I'm going to be a good scientist now and I am going to study her, and by studying her, I can take this information create this new locust that will go to them and force them to or I guess change their DNA to go back all populate, and it would like kill him off, and then we wouldn't have these evil locusts anymore. And then that scene of him taking that locust at the end, releasing it into the wild and magically have his and that is how the movie ends. I left pretty underwhelmed. I don't think I told you this or we realized this, but I actually fell asleep during part of the movie. You do that. I fell asleep for maybe ten minutes. I woke up and nothing was really happening, nothing really changed. So that is a sign of a movie not being that great that I fall asleep during and I wake up and I don't have to be caught up on anything. Do you fall asleep bring so many movies? Do? I? Yeah? Not in theaters. I thought you were falling asleep during Alvius. The other night. I was not falling asleep. Sometimes I get into a trance that I'm so zoned in. If you're looking at me from the side, it may look like I'm asleep. But I didn't doze off one minute during Elvid. That was fully dial into that one. So in theaters, if a movie is very boring, I will fall asleep at home. It's that's it just like you just like kind of like fall over and just like it's kind of the best nap. Though. You wake up and you're like, ah, it felt good. I'd rarely fall asleep in theaters. This was probably the first time this year that's happened. That happens, and then the entire movie is done. No more Jurassic World, and I'm fine with that. Now. This movie wasn't for me, probably wasn't even really for you, although we did enjoy it. Yeah, again, it wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. And it's not a movie that a movie podcast is probably supposed to pick apart like this, because you could to find all these inconsist and season all these things. But that's what the whole thing about this podcast is about. So I still see why it made a lot of money. I still think that if you're a fan of the Jurassic World series that you'll probably enjoy it. I think this is the only movie that I got called out by by like a really hardcore fan. They told me that I don't know the franchise enough to say anything bad about it. I mean, I've seen every single movie. I feel like I know the franchise pretty well enough. But I also don't think there's that much to the franchise. It's dinosaurs running around chasing people, and this movie didn't really fit the franchise. It really didn't. I'll put that out there for that person to come after me. The only thing I felt was my kind of ray of hope is that there's some kid now that goes to see this movie and it could be their favorite. Like, I'll never take that away from a kid, like, yo, go watch this movie. Maybe you haven't seen the original ones. Maybe this one will inspire you to go back and watch all those original ones. And your favorite movie has always kind of come back to the movies you watched as a kid and loved. So maybe some kid went to see this movie and twenty years later when they reboot this yet again, either they write the story for it, maybe they direct it, and it all goes back to I remember the time when I watched Jurassic World in theaters, and now I'm behind the new one. What does it say about me then that my favorite movie says a child were like natural disaster, movies like we've talked about Twister The Day after Tomorrow. One does the same about me that you like to I feel like that's a form of escapeism. But I'm such an anxious person and I hate bad weather. So why do we watch? Why do we love those movies? I think we like to watch things, And I mean Twister is one of my favorite movies that could happen. We've gotten in the closet before. Yeah, and as a kid, I was so terrified of any kind of severe weather, But I could sit down and watch Twister. I think it's just because I know when I'm watching that movie, I feel totally safe and I don't feel like anything's gonna, you know, happen to me that's bad. And I also kind of take some from Twister, and whether it's factional factual or not, I feel like if I do the things they did in the movie, I would be safe. But there's just something about natural disaster movies or even Jurassic World movies that you watch the man even though you maybe you just put yourself in that situation and you feel like I could survive that I couldn't. Yeah, if I was an Addressic World movie, I couldn't I got pretty good cardio. Though I feel like I could run for a while. You could out run the dinosaurs. I don't really know what I would do. I feel like you could outsmart them, though I'm not good in like high stress scenarios. My brain just kind of like shuts off. Okay, then I'll put you on my back and I will run. In Twilight, I'll be the spider Monkey. Okay. Any other thought, if you had on Jurassic World dominion, Laura Dern doesn't age. Jeff Goldblum is still funny, funniest part, best part of the entire movie, not that it took a lot to be the best part of this movie. Did you think the dinosaurs at least look cool? I thought they looked pretty cool. Yeah, the dinosaurs looked cool. It's the first time that they use like the feathery dinosaurs, which I guess they're more accurate to what they would have looked like from the original movies. I do like it when they have the real animatronic dinosaurs where they get like the close ups of and it's an actual thing, a tangible thing, And I think that even gives more of an emotional performance from the actors because they can interact with something, it feels life like. It's like there's a real dinosaur. They're not c g I. But in yeah, in this movie and all the latest movies, they look cooler, they look more vicious, they can do more with the action, but it feels all fake. And I think in this one, especially, it takes away from that. Any kind of real nous I feel like they're acting gets taken back a little bit because it feels like they're just looking at nothing and reacting to nothing. So I almost would have wished for a movie like this that is supposed to be kind of a throwback to the original one, they would have brought back a little bit of that, especially when it comes to like the t r X, which is so iconic from the first one, or just all the other dinosaurs that they had like close ups with on the on the first one that made it so special, made it so magical. I think they should have brought some of that back. But again, it is what it is, and movie is out. There will be no follow up to it, And yeah, I think I'm okay with that. Go see it. It's good. It's a great listen. Even if a movie is terrible in the summer. It's a reprieve from the heat. Like that's also one of the great things about like a summer movie. As you go get your cold drink, you get your snacks, and you just sit there in the air conditioning for like two hours. Yeah, And as we've seen from the last movies we've gone to see in theaters, movie theaters are back like they've been packed the last time we went. And I would say on the ranking scale of the three biggest movies out right now, I would put Top Guns still at one to go see in theaters. Then I would put Elvis at number two. I would put light Year at number three, just because I think that's a good movie. I don't think it's so much a kid's movie still, but I feel like I would pick that one over a Jurassic World to go see right now. I enjoyed light Year more I did too. I just think that people were expecting a toy story movie and it's not that at all. So but that would be my top three to go see right now in theaters, I would agree. So that has been the spoiler episode of Jurassic World Dominion. That is the episode for this week. Next week, I will have the creator of lee Loo and Stitch, who is also the voice of Stitch. His name is Chris Sanders. So if you're a fan of Leelo and Stitch like I am, which is my favorite Disney movie, or if you're just a fan of Disney in general, I think you'll really enjoy this episode. And it's a longer form interview, which I don't do a whole lot in this podcast, but I think is one of my favorite things I've ever done, and kind of the whole reason I started this podcast was to do things like this. So come back for that next week. Anything else you'd like to say, Kelseye, No, I can't think of anything. I'm my brain is literally just on vacation mode. Vacation. You know that when this comes out, we're already on vacation, but like, we're recording this before vacation, and my brain is already on a beach. So go follow me on Instagram to see our beach vacation pictures at Mike Destro and we'll talk to you next week here on the podcast, And until then, go out and watch good movies. 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