Jurassic World: Rebirth Review: When Dinosaurs Bored the Earth
Theatrical Movie Review - Adventure
Mere moments into Jurassic World: Rebirth, when a wayward Snickers wrapper destroys an entire dinosaur lab, I knew this movie was not going to be for me. I had hoped that director Gareth Edwards and writer David Koepp would be able to finally give audiences something to sink their teeth into, but like the T-Rex was thwarted by a flimsy plastic boat, so this movie was stopped by a bland, meandering script.
Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) is putting together a team to go to the equator, where the last remaining dinosaurs are located. He invites Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) to join him as security, along with Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a scientist about to lose his job at the museum. The boat taking them to the equator is piloted by Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali). Martin plans to harvest blood from three dinosaurs to create a medicine capable of curing almost anything.
Along the way, they meet a family stranded in the ocean after a dinosaur capsizes their boat. Father Rueben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and his daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda), along with Teresa’s boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono), end up on the island with the other team, and all must try to survive the mutant dinosaurs that were let loose.
One of the most frustrating aspects of Jurassic World: Rebirth is that it feels like several movies are happening independently of one another, and none of them are very interesting. There are yet again some new, mutant dinosaurs, and the designs are decent, but there is so little tension when they are on screen. One scene is a very clear call-back to the raptors in the kitchen from the original Jurassic Park movie, but it failed to have any emotional impact.
This is a wildly talented cast, but everyone felt incredibly one-dimensional throughout the film. There are some attempts to create depth, mentioning the death of Zora’s mom and the son of Duncan, but the characters brush them off, so instead we get a stream of expository dialogue that takes us from one scene to the next instead of actual character development.
The Alexandre Desplat score, with nods to the John Williams original, tries to offer help on occasion, providing the full theme when we’re supposed to feel wonder, and scaling back to the simple piano motif when it is supposed to be reflective. However, the script never matches the score, so even one of the best movie themes is unable to elicit much of an emotional response.
Every couple of years, we get a new Jurassic movie, and every couple of years, they make a boatload of money. This installment is likely going to do the same. The title of this movie is Jurassic Park: Rebirth, but honestly, I’m not sure what is being born again. The only thing I found myself refreshing was my watch to see how much time was left in the movie. And I’ll see you back here in another few years to do this again.
Rating: 1.5/5
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on July 5, 2025.