Jurassic World: Rebirth Review

WARNING: Spoilers for Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

They told us that Jurassic World: Dominion was the conclusion of the Jurassic saga, but a new era has begun! Orignal screenwriter David Koepp returns to the franchise he helped build. And with director Gareth Edwards (Star Wars: Rogue One, Godzilla [2014]) at the helm and Steven Spielberg as a more involved overseeing executive, this newest film's modus operandi is to be as scary as possible. And in that respect, the film succeeds! Here we have a throwback to those first three films (the 1993 original in particular) as the franchise begins again without ignoring what came before.

The world's current climate is not the most suitable for massive extinct species of animals. And in the 5 years since the events of Dominion, many of the dinosaurs roaming the earth have succumbed to cold and disease. Now, the remaining species thrive exclusviely in areas around the equator (specifically in the Latin and South American countries as well as Africa and India).

I'll be honest, this feels a bit like a backtrack. Especially when you consider that the previous two films, as well as Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory focused so much on spreading dinosaurs across the globe. Now we find that most of our favorite giant lizards are dead and gone because our world just isn't suited for them. This feels logical and scientifically accurate. But it still feels a bit like a wasted opportunity. Screenwriter David Koepp has said in interviews that the producers felt that Dominion got "too big" and they were having trouble trying to go even bigger. Thusly they decided to go the opposite and return the franchise to its roots of island based dino terror.

Rebirth follows two storylines that collide, separate, and collide again on a brand new island we have never seen before. This new island (nicknamed Site A) is the original testing facility for the Jurassic World park. This is where the creation of the different hybrids and species that appeared in that functioning park were created... until an accident occurred and the facilities were abandoned.

So here we have our main characters Zora, Loomis, and Duncan (played by Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali respectively) traveling to this newly re-discovered island to take blood samples from the largest dinosaurs of land, sea, and air in order to help a pharmaceutical company headed by Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) create a cure for heart disease. This is a very interesting plot line that has great basis in reality as modern science has shown us that the largest dinosaurs lived extremely long and had very healthy hearts. Along the way they find a family (including father Reuben and eldest daughter Teresa) whose boat has been capsized by the roaming Mosasaur.

So with the plot out of the way, let's talk about what doesn't work before we hone in on what does.

The two groups of characters connect on the water, but separate once everyone reaches the island. The film then splits its time between the two as they try to meet back together in order to leave the island. So for a good chunk of the film, we are cutting between the two groups as they navigate the dangers of the island. The intercutting here definitely needs some smoothing out. Some transitions are a bit jarring and make the film lurch a little from A-story to B-story. This isn't the only recent film that has suffered from jarring editing. For some reason I have found that a lot of modern Blockbusters have forgotten the art of the transition. Films need a transition shot or a panning wide to move smoothly from story to story and modern filmmakers seem to leave these out in favor of cutting into things quicker. Sometimes it's fine, but other times there is a feeling of dis-connectivity until the storylines converge again near the end of the film.

Speaking of the end of the film, I did feel like the Third Act was a smidge anti-climactic. Part of this comes from the fact that we are parring down the action when compared to the previous films. Gone are the days of the massive globe-spanning adventures of Fallen Kingdom and Dominion. So in general the idea of going back to a tenser smaller ending can feel... well... smaller. This is compounded by the fact that our main new attraction, the D-Rex has very little screen time. Aside from the opening scene, this massive new monster only shows up at the very end. and in an attempt to up the scare factor, the film takes cues from horror films like Alien with a "less is more" approach to the creature. The D-Rex is hidden behind shadow and obscured by fog for most of its appearance. This goes a long way in establishing effective tension and atmosphere. But after seeing the glory of brightly lit dino vs. dino action in the past, it feels a little disappointing to not see more of the new dinosaur in action. Hopefully a sequel will give this cool new contribution more screen time.

Okay, so now onto the things that work. And there are a lot! Let's start with the obvious: the dinosaurs themselves. Once we reach the island, this film is packed with great dino action scenes. The opening sequence on the water with the Mosasaur and the Spinosaurs is riveting. This is finally an action scene with the Mosasaur that is worth it. And the addition of multiple of my favorite dinosaur only sweetens the pot. In fact, this sequence is so good that the film struggles to keep the momentum up (though not at the level of JP3). The Quetzalcoatlus gets a good deal more screen time than in Dominion, as well as an awesome river chase featuring a massive new T-Rex. The T-Rex scene in particular is an adaptation of one of the best scenes of the first book which filmmakers have attempted to include in nearly every film since the first. Well it's finally here and it is definitely worth the wait.

Another fun addition is the second mutant species, the Mutadons. These mosnters are a hybrid of a pteradon and velociraptor. They essentially replace the raptors in this film, much to the dismay of some fans. But after an entire trilogy that pretty much made a velociraptor one of the lead characters (Blue), I think it is okay to give them a bit of a reprieve. Overall the mutations in this film feel like a great next step in the evolution of the dinosaurs of this franchise. After focusing on the idea of humans creating the "perfect" hyrbid dinosaur, it's only logical that we would see the failed attempts at that. And these creatures definitely have a sense of pathos and sadness associated with their mutations, in addition to being scary as hell.

Another plus is the cahracters. I truly enjoy the trio of Zora, Loomis, and Duncan far more than Owen and Claire from the pervious films. These feel much more like real people. They may not have incredible depth to them, but each actor performs their role with enough humanity, charm, and humor that they never feel two-dimensional. I would gladly watch these character return for two more films.

Jurassic World: Rebirth probably should have been titled Jurassic Park: Rebirth, as that title fits the tone and feeling much more than the previous World films. It really does feel at home next to those first three films as opposed to the most recent three. And while the scaled down action does take some getting used to, this is a great return to form overall. One can only hope that the success of this film will start a new trilogy led by Scarlett Johansson that brings us into a brand new era of the Jurassic franchise. Overall, Rebirth isn't quite as good as it could have been, but it is a very effective dino thriller that probably fits comfortably in the middle of the franchise in terms of quality. Think of this as the JP3 of the World films.

7.5/10

If you would like to know where Rebirth stacks up next to the rest of the series, check out my Jurassic Franchise Review HERE!

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