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(FOLHAPRESS) – There are a few good things in “Jurassic World: Dominion,” the seventh film in the dinosaur franchise started by Steven Spielberg in 1993. These include Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and perhaps the fact that it’s 15 minutes shorter than its 2022 predecessor.
Even so, it’s two hours and 14 minutes of obviousness, bad ideas, and chocolate and candy merchandising tailor-made to target the child audience that started their school break this week and is ready to chew through yet another mediocre Hollywood movie.
The film directed by Gareth Edwards – “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” – premieres this Thursday (3), and the synopsis is ridiculous. A team of adventurers must capture live blood samples from the largest dinosaurs living in three environments—water, land, and air. With these samples, a pharmaceutical company will be able to extend human life by 20 years.
In the world in question, dinosaurs are already ancient history. The public has grown tired of them, and the remaining animals survive near the Equator line. Former soldier Zora, played by Johansson, leads the team, which travels on Duncan’s boat, portrayed by Ali, and includes among its members an awkward scientist who questions the use of the medical patent, and a company representative—who is evil, of course.
To add to the list of clichés, a happy family is traveling on their own sailboat when they are attacked by a sea monster and call for help from the team’s boat. In this family, there is a child who will adopt a friendly, tiny dinosaur in the jungle of the forbidden island, ensuring cute moments.
The script has no shame in making up solutions as the difficulties arise. For example: after the group arrives on the island with their boat destroyed, Zora calms everyone down by saying she had previously arranged for a rescue helicopter. Good thing, right?
“Recomeço” is the type of movie in which, when someone falls off a cliff, trees cushion their fall before they end up in an idyllic lake. And after all that, the lucky person emerges without a scratch and with their glasses perfectly positioned on their nose.
And how many more times will we have to see in movies the scene where someone gets scared from behind? You know the one. It’s when the camera shows someone from the front doing something ordinary, and then a terrifying noise erupts behind them. Then the camera jumps to the person’s back, as they slowly turn around, their eyes wide with horror.
Of course, in order to stand out from the previous two trilogies, this seventh film, which is a new reboot, needs monsters worthy of the challenge. How about mutant dinosaurs?
Speaking of that, even after 32 years since the original production, the animals have not surpassed those that appeared in “Jurassic Park.”
In fact, with the arrival of artificial intelligences that create images to be regularly displayed on social networks, scenes featuring gigantic dinosaurs are becoming less and less impressive.
The scene where the scientist approaches a leg of the largest animal on Earth, that long-necked herbivore, and cries with emotion is so fake it looks like the guy is petting a tree trunk.
Last century, the impact of Michael Crichton’s original story led scientists to go to newspapers to explain why dinosaur DNA recovered from a fossil would hardly give rise to an animal in a laboratory.
The fossilized DNAs of dinosaurs seem to last 6.8 million years, about one-tenth of the time of their existence—the giants became extinct 66 million years ago.
In this case, the “Recomeço” sequence could use another cliché from recent audiovisual media: instead of mutant monsters, next time Johansson could fight zombie dinosaurs.
JURASSIC WORLD: REAWAKENING
Regular Assessment
When does “Estreia nesta qui. (3)” come out in theaters?
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali
Production United States, 2025
Directed by Gareth Edwards