Jurassic World Rebirth Review - A Franchise on the Verge of Extinction

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Claire Dearing once said in Jurassic World, “Consumers want them bigger, louder, more teeth.” What happened? A mutated dinosaur caused a disaster, destroying the entire park. I can’t help but see this as a mirror image of what’s going on with the franchise as a whole and what the people in charge are doing with it. Jurassic World Rebirth embraces the whole mutated-dino part, attempting to provide the audience with something scarier, never seen before, and allegedly entertaining. However, what it delivers is a weak plot, a lack of character development, and a few questionable CGI moments.

Despite my complaints, there are a few silver linings to this new dinosaur adventure. For starters, the cinematography is one of the best I’ve seen in the “World” era. Gareth Edwards’ skills are evident in many scenes across the film, but they aren’t enough to carry the plot, which derails during the second half. Also, even if I prefer original dinosaurs over whatever genetic smoothie this series has created now, I must admit at least one was pretty scary.

Unlearned Lessons

By now, it’s almost impossible for a new Jurassic movie to not pilfer elements from its predecessors. After all, Jurassic Park created something unlike anything we had seen at the time. Naturally, many directors have attempted to recapture the magic of the 1993 hit, but to no avail. With that in mind, you can already expect the overused plot of an evil corporation wanting to use dinosaurs for its benefit. And you’d be right on the money here.

It all begins in a flashback on a previously unseen island where InGen used to experiment with dinosaurs. Instead of creating the ones we’ve seen in history books, however, they were trying to mix the DNA of different dinos in a blender, making all types of monstrous creatures. During one normal day, a Snickers wrapper causes an accident. Yes, I’m not lying there, it’s straight out of a Final Destination scene. Said wrapper prompts the mayhem inside the facility, forcing everyone to leave the island, leaving the mutated dinosaurs roaming uncontrolled in the place.

Credit where it’s due, though. The opening scene is one of the eeriest in the franchise. It mirrors the tense moments of Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom. I’m aware that the movie is one of the worst, but we can all agree that the first sequence is pure atmospheric terror and one of the few highlights of that film. Here, it’s the same. We see a glimpse of the mutated Distortus Rex and how the Snickers-eating employee meets his completely avoidable demise.

Back to the present day, we meet Martin Krebs, portrayed by Rupert Friend. He’s a representative of Big Pharma looking for people to undertake a perilous expedition to the island to collect samples of three dinosaurs. Does the plot sound familiar? Five times familiar? I wouldn’t blame you if it does.

Zora Bennet, portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, joins Krebs’ expedition because she only wants a bunch of dough to retire from her mercenary life. From there, we get the usual Ocean’s Eleven-like recruit-the-rest-of-the-cast moment. We meet Dr. Henry Loomis, played by Jonathan Bailey, and Duncan Kincaid, portrayed by Mahershala Ali. There are a few others that I won’t take the time to mention because the movie doesn’t allow them to shine or live, for that matter. They really only serve as dino fodder for the grislier scenes.

In any case, the expeditioners assemble, and they are off to the tropical dino-infested paradise. On the other side of the pond, we have the sub-story of the Delgado family. Here, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo portrays the father, Reuben Delgado. He is enjoying his summer vacation with his two daughters and his not-so-likable son-in-law. Things take a literal turn when a Mosasaurus flips their boat over, leaving them stranded. Thanks to the power of the script and a healthy dose of serendipity, Zora’s crew are close by, so they end up rescuing them.

However, their moment of respite is short-lived as some Spinosaurs arrive to attack the crew. They force them to crash into the island and split up the family and the mercenaries. I don’t see why they got together in the first place if the movie separates them in the next sequence, but I guess it was an attempt to dive into each group’s differing objectives. Spoiler alert: nothing super relevant happens.

I could go deeper into the film’s plot, but in truth, it’s sadly paper-thin. The primary objective of visiting the island is to collect samples from three enormous dinosaurs. Samples that the big pharmaceutical corporation can use to develop cures for heart diseases and other conditions. Henry, in all his lawful-good self, tries to bring a moral dilemma to Zora. Hand the samples over to the big corporation so she can earn some money, or keep them so they can be given to the people of the world for free. If you are expecting some big Sophie’s Choice-level decision moments, that doesn’t happen here because the plot is as predictable as a hungry T Rex.

Great Cast, Terrible Development

Scarlet Johansson in Jurassic World Rebirth

The one salvageable thing is the acting. Almost all cast members bring their A-game to the film. There’s one in particular who makes a significant effort to save her character from being completely flat, and I’m specifically speaking about Scarlett Johansson.

Johansson is an excellent actress who, regardless of the movie, makes her roles shine and stand out among all others. Unfortunately, she had a character with zero development, and the ones at fault were those behind the writing. First, it presents Zora as a kind of funny or charismatic mercenary. Then, you see her as someone who is allegedly suffering from PTSD from losing a partner. We see this in one scene where she talks with Ali’s character and then in a quick shot where she’s crying. That’s it. There is zero development for Johansson’s role. Still, she manages to deliver great acting skills one more time, making a hollow character feel slightly more interesting.

Ali is always at the top of his game when it comes to acting. Jurassic World Rebirth isn’t an exception. Duncan is one of the most likable characters, and, unlike Zora, his inner conflict is evident throughout the entire film, lasting until the end. Then again, there isn’t more to develop this role aside from a few conversations and key moments.

The Delgado family isn’t bad. Yet, most of the time, they are there to star in the movie’s most stressful moments and provide comic relief. I don’t really have a complaint here. When I saw the first trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth, I rolled my eyes after seeing yet another kid on a dinosaur-riddled island. However, it’s somewhat explained and a bit justified, so I’ll let it slide. I’m still not a fan of the kid having a dinosaur pet with horrible CGI. However, I suppose nowadays, we need to include a cute, Disney-like pet to make it relatable to those who want a dinosaur as a companion.

Rupert’s portrayal of the villain isn’t bad, either. It certainly shines way more than the previous bad guys we’ve seen in the series. If there’s something that the first three Jurassic World movies did terribly, it’s arguably the villain part, and in Rebirth, it’s way more memorable. It’s still not the greatest, admittedly, but it’s a way to fix one of the modern iterations’ weakest parts.

Overall, the cast truly carries the almost absent plot and saves the movie in many ways. Even if there were some interesting worldwide plot points and some nice lore reveals, the writers did nothing with them once the cast reach the island. Thanks to the cast, however, Jurassic World Rebirth manages to save itself from its almost imminent derailment.

Back to Terrifying Dinosaurs and a Few Odd Ones

The best part of any Jurassic Park or World movie is its dinosaur lineup. Dinosaur nerds like yours truly will always be there, pointing at the screen and reciting the dinosaur’s name out loud. I struggled to do that here because we had a few experiments that the InGen scientists created, and I just couldn’t get behind them.

I’ll get the bad out of the way first: the mutated dinosaurs. In all its never-ending wisdom, InGen decided to experiment with dinosaurs to create new species. I will never buy the excuse of people being bored with dinosaurs, but that’s the in-universe explanation. So, there were a few unholy creations here and there, with a couple making it to the big screen. The first, which is a blend of a Velociraptor and a Pteranodon, was just there to do the scenes that a Velociraptor does better.

The second one, the Distortus Rex, is a mixed bag, no mutated pun intended. On the one hand, its design is terrifying. Whenever it appears on screen, it steals the scene. It also helps that Edwards knows how to play with perspective shots because all of them perfectly showcase the colossal threat this mutation is. On the other hand, the Distortus belongs to an Alien or Star Wars movie or something more sci-fi. The pantheon of dinosaurs is so large that I refuse to believe we’ve seen all the scariest ones. Still, as Jurassic World put it, people want scarier things, but I’m afraid that could spell doom for the franchise if it goes down that mutated road.

Still, there are some great scenes with some previously seen dinosaurs. For instance, the sequence with the T Rex is one of the most tense in the film. Even if the whole raft thing felt a bit unreal, it was fantastic and finally gave us a swimming T-Rex. The part with Quetzalcoatlus was terrific, too, even if it wasn’t the most accurate representation of this dinosaur. Also, I suppose the producers had had enough of Velociraptors because we only get a shot of them, and one dies off-screen. Lastly, the Titanosaurus scene was fantastic. It didn’t surprise me the way the Brachiosaurus did in Jurassic Park, but it was good enough.

Terrific Cinematography

The one thing that deserves all the praise in the world is the cinematography, camerawork, and around 80% of the visual effects. Gareth Edwards has a keen eye on the visual splendour of his projects, but when it comes to writing fully fleshed out and believable characters, I’m sometimes left wanting. The same happens with Jurassic World Rebirth.

If there’s one thing we can rescue from this dino-mess, it’s the visual part. Every scene that includes a dinosaur is shot perfectly. The moment when Zora is trying to shoot a dinosaur in the water captures the size of the aquatic creatures perfectly. The way Edwards plays with lighting to slowly introduce some dinosaurs is terrific. In that regard, Jurassic World Rebirth boasts some of the best visuals in the franchise. I truly hope Edwards returns for the sequel, which is likely to follow.

Sadly, the CGI fell short in some scenes. Dolores, the new pet dinosaur, looked off in almost every shot in which it appeared. Also, there were certain scenes where the cast had to rappel down a cliff, which also failed to hide the fact that it was all green screen. And yes, I know the studio has to use green screens for all of it. But don’t make it too apparent to the audience.

Walking On Thin Jurassic Ice

Ultimately, Jurassic World Rebirth falls into the turn-your-brain-off movie, which isn’t an insult, but it isn’t a compliment, either. The days of Jurassic Park are long gone, and we see that with each entry. Jurassic World arguably hurt the franchise more than it helped it. But Rebirth is at least steering it in a more hopeful direction. It’s still far from being great, but it was way better than Fallen Kingdom and Dominion.

Since we’ll likely see another Jurassic World movie because it is an amber-filled mine still brimming with things for the studio to exploit, I hope it can take a more grounded direction and explore some of the topics that made the franchise so beloved. Also, I wouldn’t mind Edwards returning to direct another Jurassic World film. Even if the writing is lacklustre, my jaw dropped during many scenes thanks to the excellent camera work and direction, and that’s something I’d love to see again.