Directed by Gareth Edwards, Jurassic World: Rebirth is set five years after Jurassic World: Dominion and follows a covert operative and a paleontologist who lead a team of skilled operatives on a top-secret mission to a forbidden island that was a research facility for the original Jurassic Park. Their mission is to secure genetic material from dinosaurs whose DNA can provide life-saving benefits to mankind, but as their expedition becomes more and more risky, they soon make a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades.
The first Jurassic Park forever remains an iconic and beloved film for me and was the first of several films in my childhood that led to my lifelong obsession with dinosaurs. Since then I’ve watched every installment of the franchise multiple times and have always had a soft spot for all the films, even when some of them aren’t all that great from a critical standpoint. After the Jurassic World trilogy concluded in 2022 with Dominion I wasn’t sure if the series was going to continue due to some of the divisive responses the films had, but it seems Universal was not ready to put it to bed yet when they unveiled the development of Jurassic World: Rebirth, a standalone sequel that is meant to rejuvenate the franchise and possibly begin a new trilogy.
Despite my love for the series and director Gareth Edwards at the helm, I was skeptical of this new installment, mainly because of the plot and its inclusion of “mutated” dinosaurs that made me feel that they were really starting to stretch things too far for the series after so many ambitious ideas from the previous trilogy. That said I was willing to give it a fair shot, and after finally getting to see it on the big screen I will honestly admit that despite my low expectations I found Jurassic World: Rebirth to be a decently fun installment of the series with its masterfully crafted suspense, gorgeous visuals, thrilling dino action, fantastic music and a leading trio of enjoyable characters, though it has multiple flaws that drag it down from being a new favorite of mine.
This film works as a mostly entertaining standalone but it felt generically basic and there are some narrative choices that I wasn’t a big fan of that I feel could have been changed to make the film better as a whole. It also didn’t feel like a strong return for the series compared to the first Jurassic World despite being given the title of Rebirth.
The cast members chosen for the main trio of this film were expected to be one of the highlights, given how immensely talented each of them are, and they indeed ended up being one of the best parts of the film, mostly due to their performances individually and together even if they aren’t deeply layered characters. Jonathan Bailey delivers a charm-filled and intelligently fun performance as Dr. Henry Loomis making for a very lovable character that I think most people will come to adore. He goes on one hell of an adventure experiencing the wonder and dangers of an island full of dinosaurs face first. He also brings an immense amount of heart to his performance, leading to some of the best character moments of the film that feel so touching and wholesome, which is not something I expected to see for a lead in this series but is a welcome addition.
Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali both deliver great performances as Zora Bennett and Duncan Kincaid. They radiate with charisma but also carry emotional baggage with them that makes their characters feel human and not just heartless mercenaries. While they may not be that deep of characters they were likable and compelling badasses that the film takes some time for you to get attached to and share great chemistry together along with Bailey as Loomis. They form an awesome trio that I found myself rooting for the whole film, which is more than I can say for the other characters featured in this film.
Acting as a fourth wheel to the trio is Rupert Friend as Martin Krebs, a pharmaceutical representative and yet another corporate villain to add to the list of corporate villains in this series. Rupert Friend does do a good job performance wise playing a dick headed character but he’s so uninteresting most of the time I tend to forget he’s even there with the trio. I honestly found myself caring more for Zora and Duncan’s crew members over him even with their little amount of screen time or development because at least they seemed more fun and interesting compared to another basic corporate villain for us to follow.
But as much as I didn’t care for him there was another set of characters that are included in this film that I that I really didn’t like compared to him and that was the Delgado family, a shipwrecked civilian family that gets pulled into the story and has their own survival subplot throughout the film. This group of characters to me were a completely unnecessary addition to the story as they barely offered anything to the plot except for the iconic T-Rex raft scene. Most of the cast members for each family member do their best performance wise but their characters come off as mostly a distracting nuisance from the actual interesting characters in the film.
Also among the family is this absolutely garbage boyfriend character that I hated from start and made me desperately want to see him killed off so many times for how pathetically annoying and useless he was. His dialogue was ass and the performance by David Iacono is the worst in the whole film with no purpose to exist in this story. There was no real reason for this family to be involved in the story and they just felt like a forced studio inclusion to give the film more stakes and thrills even though there were already enough stakes and thrills with the expedition crew as is.
While the humans are a mixed bag I’m happy to say that the dinosaurs do not disappoint, providing plentiful entertainment and masterful suspense with all of their scenes. We get a few classic dinos who are awesome as you’d expect, and lots of new or revamped ones that were done exceptionally well. The most standout dinosaurs for me were definitely the Mosasaurus, the Spinosaurus, the Titanosaurus, the Quetzalcoatlus, and of course the T-Rex who was handled perfectly for the adaptation of the raft scene from the Jurassic Park novel.
And then there are the mutants who I was not looking forward to at all but surprisingly they ended up being one of the coolest and most terrifying additions to film that narratively make sense since they were likely part of the genetic hybrid program that created the Indominus Rex in Jurassic World. You have the Mutadons who are these creepy yet fun raptor/pterosaur hybrids standing in for the velociraptors, giving us great moments of thrills. And you have the monstrous looking D-Rex who delivers the best horror scenes we have had in the entire franchise in a long time.
The only issue I had with the mutants was that they aren’t in the film all that long and are mainly saved for the third act instead. This is a similar situation to Red Hulk in Captain America Brave New World where one of the coolest additions of the film is so highly marketed but ends up only being crucial to the third act. They are built up incredibly well throughout the film itself and honestly I wish we didn’t know anything about the mutants going in as they could have made for a fun surprise for audiences to enjoy rather than be overly hyped up to see by the marketing.
As I said before the story is generically basic, having a point A to point B like narrative that felt intentionally made to be simple, most likely after numerous complaints of the previous films being overly complex. I do appreciate Gareth’s attempt to go back to the simple roots of the series and even make the suspense play an important aspect in this standalone story but I was expecting something new and with a lot more impact, especially when this film was hyped up as the big return for the series after a three year hiatus.
At least the first Jurassic World, which came after a 14 year hiatus, came in with a bang with its story going all out on the fun, the thrills, the action, the twists and even the themes regarding the abuse of genetic power that recaptured the spark of the franchise that was considered to be lost after Jurassic Park 3. I didn’t feel that exact spark with this film even though I will admit it does have some amazing moments of suspense, awe, and action that prevent it from being a boring mess, guaranteeing to at least entertain most people and longtime fans of the series who watch it.
Another thing I do feel this film has going for it over previous installments is how it is not so obsessed with nostalgia. There are some clever callbacks to the original Jurassic Park that are littered throughout this film but they weren’t overwhelmingly shoved in your face like they were in the Jurassic World Trilogy and that’s something I found myself really appreciating. I could see a really great story here that I think could have been perfect had they not made such unnecessary story choices, like including the Delgado family, and took time to refine the script and characters just a bit more.
While the story may certainly not be the strongest aspect of the film there is no denying that the technical aspects of this film can be considered one of its saving graces, giving enhancements in its suspenseful thrills as well as possibly the best looking installment of the franchise. The dino action is absolutely awesome throughout the entire film, brought to life through stunning visuals, stellar cinematography and amazing CGI that had me on the edge of my seat. These parts of the film are where it truly shines and delivers solid entertainment that I think most people will really love for how well crafted it is. And even when there isn’t action the film is beautiful to look at with its practical locations and gorgeous shots that ooze with vibrant colors.
Now I do wish we could have had more practical effects done for the dinosaurs themselves given that Dominion made an effort to bring back impressive practical effects for them but at the same time I had no real complaints about the CGI for all of the dinos present in the film except for one bizarre looking pterosaur in a cage that felt extremely off.
And then there is the music done by composer Alexandre Desplat who absolutely went to town with the score on this film, enhancing the excitement and suspense of all the best scenes of the film along with doing beautiful reprisals of the original themes of Jurassic Park. Easily my favorite musical moments from the film had to be the Mosasaur chase scene, the T-Rex raft scene, and the majestic Titanosaurus scene, which I won’t lie got me very emotional for personal reasons. None of the Jurassic films ever really failed in terms of delivering good music so it was great to see this one continue the trend.
Jurassic World Rebirth isn’t really a “Rebirth” of the franchise but it is at least a decent standalone story that is held up mostly by its leading trio of characters as well as its well-crafted suspense and technical elements. I do think some critics are being overly harsh on this film, calling it the worst in the series when it’s far from it, but at the same time I can understand and agree with some of their criticisms for the film, especially when this was hyped up to be a big return for the series. I’m not exactly sure where the series will go from here but if you are wanting to have an entertaining time at the theater then I’d say this film offers enough for it to be worth watching on the biggest screen possible. I just wish I got a little bit more out of it. I’m going to give Jurassic World: Rebirth a B- = 83.
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