'Jurassic World Rebirth': A Frustrating, Occasionally Thrilling Adventure

PHOTO: Universal Pictures

When Jurassic World Dominion was released in 2022, it appeared that the Jurassic Park franchise had ended. While it wasn’t particularly well received by critics, it still made over a billion dollars at the box office, continuing the great financial track record the series has had. Considering that no franchise is ever truly dead, the possibility that more Jurassic movies would be made in the future seemed incredibly likely. However, I wouldn’t have guessed that we would be getting one just three years after Dominion. It isn’t all that surprising considering that these films put butts in seats and are highly profitable, but I still thought it might be a bit longer before Universal decided to make another Jurassic World film. But alas, here we are with a brand new film in the franchise set to make a fresh start after the previous six entries.

Jurassic World Rebirth seeks to refresh the franchise, bringing in an all new cast and a new director, as well as bringing back David Koepp, the screenwriter of the first two Jurassic Park movies. This combination of new and old blood is honestly rather inspired, and has the potential to help the franchise bounce back from the less than stellar critical reception of the past couple of films. Offering up a more “back-to-basics” approach, the film sets out on its own adventure, delivering a stand-alone sequel that is only loosely connected to the previous Jurassic films. It is easy to see what Rebirth is going for, but it gets dragged down by a lack of focus, weak characters, and questionable creative decisions. Jurassic World Rebirth may have a few bursts of thrilling action, but the rest of the film is an absolute mess that feels unsure of just how to breathe new life into the franchise.

Picking up a few years after the events of Dominion, most of the world’s climate has become inhospitable to dinosaurs, leading for the majority of them to live and survive near the Earth’s equator. A pharmaceutical exec named Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) recruits former covert operative Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) to lead a team on an island expedition to locate and retrieve genetic material from three dinosaurs: one that lives in water, one that lives on land, and one that flies. Martin hopes to use these samples to create a new heart disease treatment, and ends up convincing Zora to collaborate with paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) and join the quest. Zora brings on her old friend Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) to lead them on this adventure, who in turn recruits a few other people to round out the team. On their journey, they pick up a distress call from a family who becomes shipwrecked and bring them aboard. From here, the expedition becomes more and more dangerous, and the team makes a shocking discovery as they explore the island. 

With Gareth Edwards at the helm, I couldn’t help but be a bit trepidacious towards the film, as he is very hit or miss for me. He is great when it comes to special effects and action, but I’ve not been overly impressed with him outside of this. I wouldn’t call him a bad director, I’ve just never been truly wowed by him. This doesn’t change with Rebirth, as it just feels like more of the same from him. The special effects work pretty well in this film, and the action setpieces  are some of the best parts of the whole film. There is a rafting sequence based off of a scene from the original novel by Michael Crichton, and it is one of the tensest moments of the entire film. The big third act finale is also quite well executed, and helped end the film on a high note. The special effects are also solid, save for a few minor issues. Edwards is a good technician, though, so he’s able to still make the most of what he has. The dinosaur effects are probably the strongest in this regard, which is not too surprising considering that Edwards directed 2014’s Godzilla. The creature design for the new mutant dinosaurs is pretty good, especially when it comes to the new Distortus Rex. There are sections where Edwards feels like he’s on autopilot a bit here, but he at least has a good handle on the major setpieces and effects heavy sequences.

The film’s major issues seem to lie in its screenplay, as it often feels like a battle between two different movies. David Koepp is one of those screenwriters where when he’s good, he’s great, and when he’s bad, he’s borderline awful. Sadly, this falls into the latter category, as the film attempts to weave two disparate stories together and fails to make a sizable impact with either one of them. The sections with the team going on their expedition are fine, and at least yield some nice moments. The issue I have is that it sets up some details that never pay off, almost as if the film forgot about them. The other half of the film follows the Delgados, the family that the team rescues. This storyline frustrated me to no end. It only seems to serve the purpose of adding children to the mix, a staple of the Jurassic franchise. I kind of see what the film is going for with including this storyline, but it feels so tacked on and underdeveloped. It doesn’t help that this section features one of the most unlikable characters in the entire franchise in it, that being Xavier, the eldest Delgado daughter’s boyfriend who tagged along on the family boating trip. He is annoying and serves very little purpose to the film, and irritated me every moment he showed up on screen. The one saving grace of this portion of the film is Dolores, a tiny and adorable dinosaur that Isabella (the youngest Delgado daughter) befriends. Both storylines have their issues, but if the film chose one of them to focus on, it might have fared better. By trying to handle both, it does the film a great disservice and doesn’t give either storyline room to expand. 

The film assembles a cast of talented people, and they help pick up a little bit of the slack. Jonathan Bailey gives perhaps the best performance in the film as Dr. Henry Loomis, and he continues to prove that he has star potential. He gets the role of the brains on the team, and is the film’s vehicle to discussing larger themes. The way Dr. Loomis is written is pretty standard, but Bailey embodies him fully and adds some pathos to him. Mahershala Ali is also great as the team leader, Duncan Kincaid. Ali is one of my favorite actors, and he is perfectly dialed into the energy that the film is asking of him here. He has a cool, action-hero vibe that really clicked with me, and has some very good moments all throughout the film. Again, the character is a bit lacking in terms of writing, but Ali more than makes up for it with his performance. Scarlett Johansson is fine, but this isn’t her finest work. It doesn’t help that her character is a bit generic, but Johansson is able to salvage it just enough to make at least a little something of it. 

Jurassic World Rebirth may seek to rejuvenate the franchise, but it doesn’t fully succeed on this front. It still delivers some great action and plenty of dinosaurs, but its thin writing and lack of focus sinks it like a stone. I can see what it is going for, but it just feels disjointed for the most part. There are moments where the film is actually pretty good, but it is undercut by some frustrating narrative choices and underdeveloped storytelling. I suppose it could have been worse, and I do prefer this to Dominion at the very least. However, it may have been beneficial to have given this film more time to breathe and come together instead of rushing to get it out a mere three years after the so-called “finale” of the franchise. I’m sure that we will continue to get more Jurassic World films as long as they keep making money, but I hope that Universal can learn a few lessons from this film and apply them to any potential future installments. Rebirth makes a noble effort to continue the legacy of the Jurassic franchise, but sadly, it largely falls flat.

Rating: 2/5