REVIEW — “Jurassic World Rebirth”

The hunt is on in Jurassic World Rebirth, a tense and terrifying new chapter that exposes the dull teeth and dusty bones of an aging franchise.

Set five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, Rebirth follows skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) on a mission to track three different dinosaurs across land, sea and air. Hired by Big Pharma rep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), Zora enlists paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), trusted soldier Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), and a team of mercenaries to help capture the DNA of the three colossal beasts in an attempt to manufacture a life-saving drug for humankind. The film also stars Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain and Ed Skrein as members of Zora’s crew.

When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on a forbidden island that had once housed an undisclosed research facility for Jurassic Park. There, in a terrain populated by dinosaurs of vastly different species, they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that has been hidden from the world for decades. Directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) from a script by original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp, the film’s narrative is split into two. Plot A follows ScarJo and her team, while the film’s B plot follows the shipwrecked Delgado family consisting of Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s Reuben, his daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabelle (Audrina Miranda), and Teresa’s boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) – an immediately unlikable character whose only redeeming quality is his supposed comic relief.

For me, the story dips when the Delgado family is onscreen. I honestly found all of them and their poor decisions increasingly annoying and was rooting for the dinosaurs to snag one of the guys. Firstly, Garcia-Rulfo’s Reuben is a dad who foolishly has his kids out on a boat in the middle of dino-infested waters. Then, he allows himself to be repeatedly disrespected and emasculated by his daughter’s lazy punk boyfriend. With the family constantly being hunted by danger lurking around every corner of the jungle, you’d think their demise was a possibility.

However, we’ve seen enough Jurassic movies to know this franchise won’t kill off any kids. Instead, any growing tension is undercut by the fact that, in the back of your head, you know they’ll all survive. The resulting neutered peril defangs the dinos and makes them seem less threatening. You’re telling me a T-Rex can’t handle a little girl served up wrapped in an inflatable raft like a pig in a blanket? Not only does she escape completely unscathed, but the raft isn’t even popped. That’s either one lucky girl, or one weakass T-Rex.

The best parts of the film revolve around Zora’s mission that lead her team to an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park inhabited by genetically altered dinos. Channeling her inner Black Widow, Johansson is particularly effective as the team’s loyal and tactile leader with a heart. Meanwhile, Ali quickly becomes a fan-favorite as the team’s (and the Delgado family’s) surrogate protector. Bailey is also impressive as the passionate paleontologist, capturing the teary-eyed grandeur of witnessing towering dinosaurs in the flesh in a moving scene featuring a field of the massive, heart-shaped lovebirds. The Wicked and Bridgerton star even contributes to the score of the film, performing a brief clarinet solo of John Williams’ memorable Jurassic Park theme for conductor Alexandre Desplat.

Rebirth borrows heavily from other monster films, combining elements from blockbusters like Jaws and Alien to create a Frankenstein-ish hybrid of bloodthirsty big screen entertainment. Both of those aforementioned film series overstayed their welcome with multiple sequels that, while mildly entertaining, were increasingly redundant and toothless. And I’ll add the Terminator series to that list, just for good measure. So it’s ironic that this film laments how no one cares about dinosaurs anymore, then gives its audience nothing new to chew on. Here’s an idea: the dinos are hungry, so let them eat something.

When the only characters who die are red shirts we barely know or care about, the film becomes devoid of peril. I just wish this franchise had the balls to kill off a character other than the main villain, unknown mercenary, unlucky grunt or cowardly lawyer. When Bailey’s Dr. Loomis says, “survival is a longshot” it’s hard not to roll my eyes. You’ll be fine, dude. Instead, they dangle the threat of a good guy lead dying only to reveal in the closing seconds that they somehow miraculously survived A DINOSAUR ATTACK. This emotionally-manipulative cop-out has been repeated in several Jurassic films with Vince Vaughn’s Nick Van Owen in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Alessandro Nivola’s Billy in Jurassic Park III, and, now, with Mahershala Ali’s Duncan in Rebirth.

While we love these fan-favorite characters and want them to survive, their meaningless “sacrifices” add up to nothing more than cheap and hollow attempts to elicit temporary emotion. Each of the aforementioned films would have been more memorable and effective if they’d actually killed their beloved characters off. It’s not like we ever saw any of them again, anyway. Instead, the filmmakers want to reserve the option of bringing them back for another entertaining, but predictable, sequel.

The first Jurassic Park became an instant classic 32 years ago because it expertly combined realistic practical effects and compelling characters to bring the grand scale wonder and horrifying threat of reborn dinosaurs to life. While fun and thrilling summer entertainment with a truly terrifying last act that, at times, feels like an Alien movie, overall, Rebirth plays it too safe. If this new Jurassic World franchise wants to continue its longevity, it’s going to need to sharpen its teeth. 3.5/5

Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and based on characters created by Michael Crichton, Jurassic World Rebirth is rated PG-13 with a running time of 2 hours, 14 minutes. Jurassic World Rebirth opens only in theaters on July 2, 2025.