Jurassic World Dominion brought the three original Jurassic Park main characters back to the franchise, but it completely misunderstood what made them so great in the first place. The third installment in the Jurassic World trilogy, 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion marked the first time Sam Neill’s Dr. Alan Grant, Laura Dern’s Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm had appeared onscreen together since 1993’s Jurassic Park. While it provided some fun moments, Jurassic World Dominion ultimately wasted the original characters.

The cast of Jurassic World Dominion is a particularly large one. Not only does the movie feature the franchise’s original trio, but it also continues the story of Owen, Claire, and Maisie from the previous two installments while introducing a few completely new characters. Additionally, with every dinosaur that appears in Jurassic World Dominion, the film positively overflows with stuff. With so much going on, the movie manages to get one major thing wrong about the original Jurassic Park characters.

Jurassic World Dominion Should Have Kept Alan, Ellie, And Malcolm Separate

They Work Better When They’re Apart

At the start of Jurassic World Dominion, the three original Jurassic Park characters are all living their own lives in separate locations. Ellie, who has broken up with Mark, investigates the swarm of giant locusts that play a key role in the movie’s plot, while Alan leads an under-funded paleontological dig, and Ian works for Biosyn. However, it’s not long before the three characters are brought together. This contrasts heavily with 1993’s Jurassic Park, which saw the trio separated for the bulk of the movie’s runtime.

At the start of the first Jurassic Park film, Alan, Ellie, and Malcolm all join John Hammond for a tour of the park. When the dinosaurs begin to break out and chaos ensues, all three become separated. Alan finds himself protecting Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex and Tim, from the dangers that surround them, Ellie works on rebooting the park, and Ian, pessimistic about the park from the start, acts as a foil for Hammond. It isn’t until the very end of Jurassic Park that the group is reunited again, which gives each character a chance to shine.

Bringing The Original Jurassic Park Characters Together Diluted Their Story

They Weren’t Given Enough To Do

Jurassic World Dominion‘s decision to ignore the original film’s format ultimately hurt the main characters and their stories. The movie’s creators clearly thought audiences and fans would want to see the trio sharing as much screen time as possible. However, the truth is that the characters are stronger on their own. When together, they are reduced to bit-part roles which dilutes their stories and, ultimately, makes them far less compelling. It would have been better if Jurassic World Dominion, like the first installment in the franchise, had kept the three apart to give each of them something interesting to do.

Ultimately, the mishandling of Alan, Ellie, and Ian’s characters represents a larger problem with Jurassic World Dominion: there are simply too many characters. Previous entries in the franchise have featured ensemble casts, but with them, it was clear who the protagonist was. Here, the mixture of the older and new casts means that it’s not obvious who the main character is supposed to be. Additionally, with so many players, the movie struggles to know what to do with them all, meaning that no one Jurassic World Dominion character gets a satisfying story.