Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new review! This time I will be talking about the latest entry in the long running Jurassic Park/World series, the seventh(!) to be exact, Jurassic World Rebirth. Yes, people carp at the existence of these films, but ever since the 1993 classic broke records, the series has maintained a remarkable box office streak with the last three films each topping $1 billion globally. So of course, Universal was always going to continue the series in one way, shape or form, no matter what (life finds a way as Ian Malcom would say). Hence this new installment, which focuses on new characters and is set well after the events of the previous trilogy. My feelings towards the series are rather complicated as the original is one of my absolute favorites of all time and I have very fond memories of getting into the franchise, yet the sequels have been very hit or miss with only two that I genuinely like (The Lost World and the first Jurassic World) and the rest being varying degrees of “eh” to frustrating. However there is still a part of me that hopes that maybe one day we will get an installment that at least satisfies me and lives up to the legacy set forth by that original film. Was Rebirth that shot in the arm? Let’s jump right in and see what the dinoes are able to pull off this time!
Set some time after Dominion, the dinosaurs that were let loose into the world have now decreased in numbers as they are unable to sustain themselves in Earth’s climate. Those that remain, reside in areas that are close to the equator, which most resembles Mesozoic climate, with human entry being strictly forbidden. Enter Martin Krebs, a Pharmaceutical company executive for ParkerGenix, who is putting together a team of specialists in order to go on a top secret mission: to extract biomaterial samples from the three largest prehistoric dinosaurs that remain, in order to create a new treatment for heart disease. This team includes ex-military covert operative, Zora Bennett, paleontologist, Dr. Henry Loomis, and boat captain, Duncan Kincaid, among others. The crew set out to a mysterious island where they end up running into a family who have accidently stumbled upon this area and they all soon realize that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to this place.
It’s no secret that this film was rushed into production (filming commenced in June of last year) just so that Universal could have a big film ready for Summer 2025 and Jurassic (along with Despicable Me) is their safest brand. However with Gareth Edwards (who did Godzilla (2014), and Rogue One among others) at the helm and David Koepp (who wrote the original Jurassic Park) involved in writing the film, there was some hope that the material was strong enough for this to be greenlit so quickly. Now having witnessed the film… I can tell that this was made just to make a date. To the film’s credit, I can appreciate the attempt to go the Jurassic Park III route of going the simple route of having different characters exploring a dinosaur invested island and trying to survive/achieve an objective. If executed correctly, it can make for a fun ride and introducing the idea of mutant dinosaur hybrids has so much potential and gives certain parts of the film a neat “creature feature” vibe. That being said, there’s only so much that can do when the writing is lackluster. For being touted so much as a “great script” I found it to be very paint by numbers and barely even doing the bare minimum when it comes to plot threats and character arcs.
The first act is so bombarded by copious exposition dumps that end up becoming repetitive to an almost comical degree (take a shot every time the reasoning for the dinosaurs moving to the equator is brought up) and while I was still kind of invested for a good chunk of the beginning, if only cause there is some attempt to build characters, once they go on the island I just lost a lot of engagement from a story perspective. We just go from scene to scene of characters walking across the island and stumbling into dinosaurs and while it’s watchable and there are some cool things thrown in, I can’t say I really cared all that much about how things would shake out by the end. There’s the occasional conversation about man’s place in nature and how our want to be in control of everything leads to disaster, but while interesting, it really doesn’t explore much beyond the surface level. Now, I am thankful that unlike the previous two entries, I wasn’t annoyed by the feature to any real degree as I do think that in a vacuum this functions best as a Sy Fy channel original movie with a big budget, and there’s a certain charm to that. There are also some funny lines here and there that provided a good laugh. Still, these things only go so far when there just isn’t a whole lot there to grasp onto.
As unremarkable as the writing is, I will admit that Gareth Edwards is able to carry this film just by sure virtue of his talents as a director. Given his previous outings, it is no surprise that he nails the scale of this picture, being able to showcase the dinosaurs in a way that makes them feel like giants on Earth that make our characters feel small. He is able to nail the adventurous vibe with the film at best, functioning like “what if Indiana Jones, but with dinoes”. This is proven by the various action scenes which I think deliver what one would hope for in a film like this. The dinosaur sequences here are among the best in the entire franchise with Edwards coming the closest to capturing the tension and excitement of that original film in a while. Now a couple of scenes do take more than little inspiration from iconic moments from the first (something this movie does multiple times without being nearly as effective from an emotional standpoint), but they are still well handled and when it comes to the stand out part, the often talked about T-rex scene involving a life raft that was in the original novel, is a fantastic exercise in intensity and is genuinely nerve wracking with how Edwards stages and edits it. Credit also goes to Alexandre Desplat’s score which provides the needed excitement and wonder that a good Jurassic score always should and makes every scene just a little bit more impactful.
The film in general looks great with John Mathieson’s cinematography looking colorful and doing a nice job in portraying the hot tropical environment that our heroes are in. Great use of the darkness in certain parts as well especially when we get to the climax. Some really cool shots that get across the looming threat of the various dinosaurs very well and I love the choices Edwards made in terms of presenting them in certain shots. What I mean, is that he would frame shots where they are merely in the background and them not being treated as a central focus which makes their reveal all the more effective as they are often behind one or more characters. It helps that the dinoes look great with a nice attention to detail and despite the quick turn around, the CGI looks strong on them for the most part. Am disappointed in the lack of animatronics, but considering the circumstances, I get that they had to make due with a shorter than usual schedule. We get a nice variety of the usual dinoes from raptor to Dilophosauruses to Mosasaurs to Spinosaureses (nice to see that one back) and I like how the action gets creative in regards to utilizing them, with a boat chase involving the latter two teaming up being a great showcase. The mutant dinosaurs (or at least the few we see) look very cool with the titular D. Rex (Distortus Rex) being the most prolific with it’s Xenomorph inspired face and Rancor like build making it very memorable from a design perspective and it feels straight out of a creature feature. However as neat as what we get is the mutant angle honestly feels like putting a new coat of paint than anything as aside from their looks and some little touches in how they move, nothing is really done to make them a threat that stands out from others in the series (this is espicially true of the Mutadons) and it makes the idea of hybrid dinosaurs feel wasted despite the creature feature aesthetic it brings.
In order to make people onboard with this entry after a not particularly well received installment, casting high profile Oscar nominees and winners and just big names in general is certainly a good strategy. To their credit, they don’t phone anything in for the most part and often times make for likable enough screen presences, but they end up feeling less like characters and more like place holders to move things forward. Scarlett Johansson is always a solid performer in popcorn flicks like this and she has her moments of charm as Zora that bring glimmers of a personality. Same with Mahershala Ali as Duncan, as he nails the mercenary with a heart of goal and he is just naturally likable which helps make him among the better characters. There’s an attempt to give them some depth as they both have issues in their personal lives and come to question the morality of their mission, but it’s all very standard stuff that is kind of mentioned once or twice and not explored in any meaningful way. Loomis is by default the most interesting of the bunch as a man who is disappointed to see his passion be considered irrelevant to modern eyes and still sees the wonder of these creatures and sees the value this breakthrough can have on the world… if it is allowed to. Jonathan Bailey injects some much needed energy to his scenes and has some great line deliveries. Even then though, even he sort of gets less to do as the film goes on and by the end his arc wrap up feels like a checkmark to be crossed more than anything. As for Krebs, his character is exactly the kind of shady businessman type you’d expect, but Rupert Friend does manage to make the most, having fun in the role and giving him more of a personality than is usual for this kinds of guys.
When it comes to the family, their inclusion into the story feels rather awkward as it feels like we have another movie colliding with the one with the mission plotline and so they just end up feeling their just to pad out the runtime. It’s not a bad idea in theory, but it clearly would’ve benefitted from being the focus of its own movie rather than be the B-plot of one. There’s some charm mined from here largely from Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as the dad, Reuban, (as a big fan of The Lincoln Lawyer show, was nice to see him in a big movie like this), but this dynamic didn’t really do a whole lot for me. His daughters, Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda) are just there with the one notable thing about the latter being that she befriends a cute Aquilops she calls Dolores. The former’s boyfriend, Xavier (David Iacono), also tags along and he isn’t as annoying as he threatened to be from his introduction, but he’s mostly there just to make weed jokes and be the panicked one (and to create some sort of inner conflict with the dad disapproving of him… but like that’s anything to write home about). I guess I did come to warm up to them after a bit, but I can’t say I felt any significant attachment to them by the end and I think the film would’ve been better off focusing on one plotline or the other.
Overall, while not without its bright spots, I found Jurassic World Rebirth to be another disappointment in this franchise that left me wanting more. It’s perfectly watchable with some neat ideas, a return to simplicity, great visuals, awesome dinosaur action, some neat horror based moments, and good performances. However, the script is lacking, the story eventually becomes rather unengaging, it borrows a lot from some of the better moments in the franchise, and the characters by and large failed to leave much of an impression. If one is just coming into this exclusively for dinosaur mayhem, then this delivers on that front and one will get their money’s worth. However, if one is hoping for anything more substantial than that, I think the likelihood of disappointment is high. Again, I think it is the best entry since the first Jurassic World, but given how I feel about the last two, that isn’t exactly saying a whole lot. It plays it very safe and feels more like a way for Universal to stall for time while they figure out what they can do next. Personally I think going the direction of telling stand alone stories within this world is a great way to go so in that sense I think Rebirth is a step in the right direction. I’m still waiting on the day I can say that I am a big fan of a Jurassic World movie and today ain’t it.
Rating: C+
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