Let’s be honest: after the globetrotting, locust-filled spectacle of Dominion, many of us were ready to let the Jurassic franchise settle into a nice, quiet fossil bed. But Gareth Edwards stepped in, whispered “back to basics,” and gave us Jurassic World Rebirth.
The result? A film that feels less like a bloated corporate product and more like a high-stakes survival thriller. It’s not perfect, but it’s the most “Jurassic” this series has felt since the 90s.
The High Grounds: Why It Works
For the first time in a decade, the dinosaurs actually feel dangerous again. Here’s where the film really earns its keep:
- Atmospheric Direction: Gareth Edwards brings that Godzilla (2014) sense of scale. The dinosaurs aren’t just action figures on screen; they are massive, terrifying forces of nature often glimpsed through fog, rain, or dense jungle canopy.
- The “Core Three” Chemistry: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali carry the film with a grounded grit. Johansson, in particular, avoids the “superhero” tropes, playing a character who is visibly sweating and genuinely outmatched by her environment.
- Practical Magic: While the CGI is top-tier, the increased use of animatronics makes a massive difference. When a predator is inches from a character’s face, you can practically smell the prehistoric breath.
The Low Grounds: Where It Stumbles
Even a T-Rex has tiny arms, and Rebirth has a few shortfalls that keep it from absolute greatness:
- Plot Dejà Vu: If you’ve seen the original 1993 classic, some of the story beats will feel incredibly familiar. There’s a fine line between “homage” and “recycled,” and this film occasionally dances right on the edge.
- The “Why” Factor: While the central mission—extracting DNA from the world’s last remaining giants—is clear, the secondary human villains feel a bit like cardboard cutouts. Their motivations are the standard “corporate greed” tropes we’ve seen in every entry.
Comparison at a Glance
| Feature | Jurassic World: Dominion | Jurassic World Rebirth |
| Scope | Global / Urban | Isolated / Tropical |
| Tone | Action-Adventure | Survival-Horror |
| Focus | Genetic Engineering | Pure Dino-Peril |
| Vibe | “Mission Impossible” with Dinos | “Alien” in a Jungle |
Final Verdict
Jurassic World Rebirth is a lean, mean, and visually arresting course correction. It strips away the convoluted lore of the previous trilogy to focus on what we actually want: humans trapped in a beautiful place with things that want to eat them.
It doesn’t reinvent the wheel—or the DNA strand—but it treats the dinosaurs with a sense of awe and terror that has been missing for a long time. It’s a solid B+ that proves there’s still plenty of life left in these old bones.
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