Jurassic World: Rebirth is the seventh installment in the Jurassic franchise, a series that has become controversial for never reaching the heights of the original 1993 film. However, after a couple of disappointments, Jurassic World: Rebirth does bring this series back to a more simplistic tone of the first couple of Jurassic sequels, with a focus on survival and a little scientific commentary to boot. With tense sequences, a clear visual look with colors that pop, and plenty of dinosaur action, Jurassic World: Rebirth feels like a, well, rebirth of the franchise.
This film follows a group of survivors who have ventured to Ile Saint Hubert, an island off the coast of French Guinea, where dinosaurs roam free, in search of blood samples from living specimens to make pharmaceuticals that combat heart disease. Our survivors include team leader Zora Bennett (played by two-time Academy Award nominee Scarlett Johansson), fellow mercenary Duncan Kincaid (played by two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali), paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (played by the new musical theater idol Jonathan Bailey), and pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs (played by new Wes Anderson friend Rupert Friend).
Along the way, our group comes across a shipwrecked family, the Delgados, who are trying to survive after a harrowing experience with a lurking sea monster. However, through the land, air, and sea, this group is not safe from the terrors of genetically engineered dinosaurs and the consequences that come with playing God.
Now, this wouldn’t be a proper publication without recognizing the elephant in the room, and that’s the direction this Jurassic franchise has taken. While I am a Jurassic Park superfan, I am willing to concede that the past couple of Jurassic World films, particularly Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World: Dominion (2022), leave much to be desired. The prior films often felt bogged down with over-complicated plots, shallow characters, and poor execution of some potentially interesting ideas. The charm of dinosaurs had faded to a point, but I am happy to report that this movie regains some of that charm. Now, while it does not hold a candle to the original Jurassic Park (but let’s be honest, nothing ever will), Jurassic World: Rebirth is much more in line with The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001).
Gareth Edwards’s direction and vision are clear. From his prior work with Godzilla (2014), Rogue One (2016), and The Creator (2023), Edwards has always understood visual effects and the scale required to make something feel massive. That shows in this film, particularly in the scene where the protagonists come across the gigantic sauropod known as the Titanosaurus. Earnest in its beauty, Edwards captures a romantic moment between two Titanosaurs and the awe that comes with Dr. Loomis getting to see a dinosaur up close and personal.
Additionally, Edwards’s on-location shooting and color grading help make his version of the Jurassic franchise feel more vibrant than audiences have seen in over a decade. While this film isn’t without its mishaps of poor green screens, particularly on the cliff, or some odd CGI choices, by-and-large it feels real. There are real sets, real locations, and real people–now if only there were some real dinosaurs.
Jurassic World: Rebirth brings us back to the distinctive jungle survival setting that this series thrives on after being in a quick volcano eruption, a forested manor, and a globe-trotting adventure in the prior films. The idea of being surrounded by prehistoric creatures looking to hunt, attack, and devour you in the wild at any moment adds to the tension that Crichton and Spielberg perfected in the original novel and film. But on this island, we have no fences and nothing standing in the way of any creature popping up. We have Velociraptors creeping on people, Dilophosauruses popping out of bushes, Tyrannosaurus Rex following our characters into a river, and more.
With all these dinosaur encounters, this movie also gives some tense, well-executed action sequences. There are two particular standout action sequences: the Mosasaurus / Spinosaurus scene and the T-Rex river raft scene. As for the former scene, the way the Mosasaurus is portrayed in this film feels unique in its more hidden portrayal during its first appearance and later seeming to be a territorial whale in its second appearance. The shots of the Mosasaurus underwater, whether it be in the shadows after tipping over the boat or the close-up eye shot when Zora is trying to collect its blood sample, really add to the mysticism and scale of this creature.
When we encounter the T-Rex, fans of the series will note and rejoice that the T-Rex raft scene is adapted directly from Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park novel. (This is not the only novel scene to inspire this movie too–the gas station scene seems inspired by Michael Crichton’s The Lost World novel as well.) Additionally, these two standout sequences are completed very well by other strong dinosaur sequences, particularly one involving a Quetzalcoatlus (the flying one) and the Distrotus Rex at the end (the mutant one), which just makes this film an exhilarating experience.
Moving past the dinosaurs, the characters are nothing revolutionary. These characters feel relatively shallow, all things considered, but Edwards does attempt to build some connection between them. Zora and Duncan are long-time friends, Loomis and Zora connect on the idea of spreading the research from the dinosaur samples, and the Delgado family grows closer to one another. Even if the character storylines feel a bit cliché at times, they are still a marked improvement on some of our most recent characters like Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, and a huge part of this improvement comes from the actors.
Casting Johansson, Bailey, and Ali as our leads makes it very easy to root for these characters. This trio takes basic characters and imbues a certain energy into them that makes you root for their survival, particularly Mahershala Ali, who is just a constant source of charm. Rupert Friend and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo deserve their flowers as well for playing an affable father looking out for his kids and a pharmaceutical snake looking out for his profit, respectively, very well.
This film is a lot of fun, but it’s not perfect. After criticisms for the prior films for having hybrid dinosaurs, some fans will likely take issue with the inclusion of the Distortus Rex, a mutant Tyrannosaurus Rex that looks akin to the alien from Super 8 (2001), or the inclusion of Mutadons, a mutant hybrid of Velociraptors and pterosaurs. The former creature presents an interesting threat in the third act of this film, and overall, it was done pretty well. However, the latter creatures, the Mutadons, do feel unnecessary, especially considering how they don’t do anything the Velociraptors couldn’t do. The Mutadons have wings, and yet their ability to fly isn’t relevant to any action sequence, but only for them to surprise our characters. However, unlike the prior Jurassic World films, the mutants/hybrids are not the focus of this movie. This movie gives plenty of dinosaur screen time and dinosaur action to satisfy the fans.
At times, the film can be a bit silly, such as when a Snickers wrapper leads to an electrical fire or a certain character inexplicably survives a huge fall. Additionally, towards the end, the film falls into a cheap ending trope, however, one that still feels in line with this franchise’s tone, so it’s not too egregious in the context of the franchise, but might seem egregious in the context of the moment. Despite these moments, they don’t deter any enjoyment; they merely make you wonder what could have been. At the end of the day, though, a lot of this still harkens back to the original Spielbergian and Joe Johnston adventures of the first three films, and this film feels both familiar and fresh.
Overall, there’s a lot that can be said about this film for Jurassic Park fans. I won’t continue to bore the reader with all my nonsense excitement over different dinosaurs or the Michael Crichton callback on the school bus in the beginning, but I would recommend Jurassic World: Rebirth to anyone looking for an easygoing, straightforward summer blockbuster.
Review Courtesy of Tate Fowler
Feature Image Credit to Universal Pictures via IMDb
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