Rating of
2.5/4
Rehash of the Titans
Chris Kavan - wrote on 07/16/25
Both the original Jurassic Park films and newer Jurassic World franchises suffered the same fate - they kind of fizzled out as they went along. Jurassic World Rebirth looks to start over yet again - but kind of stalls out from the start. The biggest issue is that they have painted themselves into a corner: in this world, dinosaurs are not only passe and boring to humans (like, really? after less than a decade of "returning to life") but also dying off - yes, they're relegated once again to some tropical islands around the equator.
But our friends at InGen aren't ready to throw in the towel - especially when they think they can make a boatload more money off of the them. Enter slimy Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) who needs some seasoned veterans to gather precious DNA in order to make a breakthrough drug that, while maybe not curing cancer, will still add years to the lives of would-be patients. He seeks out Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a woman who is good at retrieving things - even in the most dangerous of areas. While she is reluctant to take a job after losing a close friend on her last mission - money talks and Krebs is offering a lot of it. Also on board is Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), the intellectual who has a bit of Indiana Jones DNA as he seems find in risking his life if it means seeing some dinos in person.
Captain Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) has worked with Zora before and with his small crew they set out to go to an island most people do their best to avoid. This being Jurassic Park, however, we also have to put some kids in danger, so the Delgado family, who is just out enjoying their annual sailboat trip, find themselves up and close and personal with a roaming dino and nearly capsized. Rueben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), the father wants nothing more than to make sure his daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda) are safe - oh, and also his older daughter's unreliable boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono). The group are picked up by Kincaid - but none are safe when they are attacked before reaching the island and scattered about.
The family do their best to make it to the safety of a village while our surviving crew work to complete their own task: getting DNA from the three largest dinosaur species. But the island isn't just home to these majestic (and dangerous) beasts - it also happens to be the old testing ground for some experimental splicing resulting in some very angry and hungry results. Thus we follow the two groups and their many encounters along the way - including a T-rex vs. an incredibly durable inflatable raft and some bus-sized flying terrors. But, hey, the youngest girl gets a cute pet, so there's that too.
The problem with Rebirth is that it's title seems to point at something new and exciting - but what we get is a rehashed adventure that, while thrilling at times, doesn't really offer much new. Plus this seems like an entirely self-contained story - not a lot of room for sequels here that I can see anyway. And as a one-off films, it's perfectly fine - a summer blockbuster through and through - but not exactly world changing.
The casting is solid, Johansson is still in kick-ass mode and has good chemistry with Bailey (who is way too comfortable in this jungle setting for what I assume is mainly an academic) and I really liked Ali as the captain. You love to hate Friend and even the family's story isn't too bad, even if it seems like mostly padding. All in all, there's nothing wrong with Rebirth but it never feels like it reaches the heights of what you want a Jurassic Park/World film to be.
