Jurassic World Rebirth Review: Back to Basics

Jurassic World Rebirth returns the franchise to simpler territory, but it rarely stands out as more than just another dinosaur thriller.

This is the seventh entry in the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise, and at this point it really feels like it. Not even because this is a terrible movie, but because it feels like any other generic monster movie you could see anywhere else. This time, Scarlett Johannson (The Phoenician Scheme) plays Zora Bennett, a covert operation expert who’s hired to help extract DNA from living dinosaurs for disease research, in exchange for a lofty sum. Her team includes Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey, of Wicked), Zora’s military friend Duncan (Mahershala Ali, of Green Book), a pharmaceutical rep played by Rupert Friend (Asteroid City), and Ed Skrein (the Rebel Moon series), who has the totally unprecedented task of playing a slimy douchebag.

I’ll give credit that Jurassic World Rebirth is nowhere near as ridiculous or needlessly complicated as the past few movies in this series. It really takes things back to basics with its plot, and it builds up quite a bit of momentum going early on. The characters have a decent repertoire and chemistry with each other, primarily the trio of Zora, Loomis, and Duncan. While their incentive of money initially seems lazy, you quickly learn that they’re all driven by some form of emptiness and trauma that makes them feel like they don’t have much left to lose by risking their lives. They bond with each other nicely, sharing pain and pleasantries in an organic way that draws you in more to what they’ll do going forward.

The problem is that what they do going forward is all but completely detached from any of that great setup. Granted, it’s an uphill battle when we’ve got yet another Jurassic Park movie about people stuck in a remote jungle with dinosaurs, but that’s the thing: this is just another Jurassic Park movie with the usual Jurassic Park tropes. People stare in awe at long-necked dinosaurs. A dino nesting place is invaded. There’s a T-Rex chase, random philosophical speeches about humanity and nature that barely tie into anything, a corrupt businessperson, kids in peril… We’ve seen a lot of this done to death already in the other movies.

You may know from the trailers that there are mutant dino hybrids present in an abandoned research facility. But they only really show up in the climax, and they do nothing different from what any normal dinosaur can and has done already. Even while pulling all my thoughts together, I keep forgetting they’re in the film at all. Another trait they share with the other dinos is having some of the worst CGI the series has ever put out. Aside from a boat sequence, none of these animals look like they’re really there, and I’d be shocked if any practical work was done with them. I already get annoyed by this with films in general, but when you’re riding the decades-old coattails of Jurassic Park, one of the best examples of blending CGI with in-camera effects ever made, I can’t overlook corners being cut like this.

That’s not to say Jurassic World Rebirth is never fun. Surprisingly, my favorite part of the whole movie is the long boat trip to the island, which makes the best use of the popular Mosasaurus in the series. It also finally lets the Spinosaurus have great, scary moments in this series, which the species deserves since it’s better than the T-Rex; there, I said it. There are several really slick, quietly terrifying reveals of dinosaurs that gave me a good “Oh sh*t!” moment, and there are a couple of nice subversions of the typical sequence you think will happen, like a dinosaur ready to attack only to get caught up in the throes of nature. 

For the script they were given, director Gareth Edwards and cinematographer John Mathieson do more heavy lifting than a T-Rex throwing a Jeep. Jurassic World Rebirth is easily the best-looking movie in the series since The Lost World, and so much of that is thanks to the great knack for scale Edwards has always shown. With just the right angles on every character and creature, striking use of light and shadow, and quality sound mixing, he knows how to convey the size, weight, and instability of grand action sequences from a human point of view. The movie was also shot mostly on location and on film, and Mathieson lends a rich, vibrant, saturated color scheme that’s easy on the eyes. There’s an old-school flair here that’s been sorely lacking from this franchise for years… again, apart from the weak CGI.

Okay, so maybe this all sounds perfectly serviceable for a brisk, tight, if unambitious entry in the franchise… Except there’s a whole other subplot that I’ve neglected to mention. A father, his two daughters, and his daughter’s boyfriend all go sailing in what are known to be dino-infested waters for some reason, only to join up with the main crew, only to then be separated on the island for their own little adventure. There’s some flimsy drama with the boyfriend (who’s barely tolerable enough for me to not want to see him die), a baby dinosaur who tags along… and that’s it. You could cut these guys entirely and almost nothing would change.

I don’t know why writer David Koepp wanted this family here, but they could have had some purpose. There’s a moral question brought up of whether the team should give the dinosaur DNA to big pharma in exchange for money, or share it publicly with the world. So… why couldn’t someone in the family have a disease that the DNA could help cure? Zora could witness firsthand why her mission is so important, form a bond with the family in that way, and meaningfully grow to realize what’s right. I’m only doing a what-if scenario because the actual contributions we got from these extraneous people are… well, nonexistent.

With all that said, I refer you back to my initial questions. If you’re just looking for dinosaur thrills with pretty landscapes and a plot that doesn’t focus on human cloning or super locusts or all that other nonsense, Jurassic World Rebirth will do the job. I can’t deny that some parts really entertained me. But when we’re dealing with an iconic IP that feels as old as the dinosaurs themselves now, I can’t look past shortcomings and missed opportunities that could have been addressed. Especially when merely three years ago, the last movie was billed as the “final” installment, and nothing about this movie feels like anything close to a grand “rebirth.”

I know the first Jurassic Park was lightning in a bottle that can’t be totally recaptured. But I still believe it’s possible to come close, even now, by either finding a way to push boundaries like the original did or at least making sure everything is firing on all cylinders. In a few technical ways, Jurassic World Rebirth succeeds on that front. But it doesn’t stand out nearly enough for me to be satisfied with what it delivers. This supposed rebirth tried, but it came out the womb as the most okay film in the series.

Jurassic World Rebirth will be released globally in theaters on July 2, 2025. Read our review of Jurassic World Dominion!