The Jurassic Park franchise has been a staple of film since the original was released over 30 years ago. Since then, there have been multiple sequels that tried to capture the feeling of the original with varying success. 2015’s Jurassic World marked a renewed attempt to bring this series back into the limelight, and it was successful enough to lead to two more sequels: Fallen Kingdom and Dominion. While this trilogy did well at the box office, reviews were less kind, with many calling Dominion the worst film in the franchise. There needed to be a change if the franchise were to survive; a rebirth, if you will.
This brings us to today with Jurassic World: Rebirth, the 7th film in the series. Directed by Gareth Edwards and written by David Koepp (the writer of the original film), Rebirth appears to be returning to the roots of what made the original special, with some added genetically enhanced dinos. But is it enough to cause audiences to fall back in love with these prehistoric creatures, or do we have another Dominion on our hands?
Set several years after the end of Jurassic World: Dominion, dinosaurs have once again been driven to the brink of extinction. The prehistoric creatures are unable to survive in the modern world thanks to the change in climate over the past couple of thousand years. The only places they can survive are areas close to the equator. People have been prohibited from visiting these areas for the dinosaurs’ safety and their own. That is, unless you’re a corporate higher-up who wants to get some dino DNA, even if it means almost certain death.
But that doesn’t scare Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) from putting together a team to head to Ile Saint-Hubert to get some DNA samples from some of the biggest dinos around. This team includes Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) as the muscle alongside Dr. Henry Lumis (Jonathan Bailey), who’s responsible for finding the dinos they need. Will this crew be able to get in, grab the DNA, and get out, or will they become a little snack for a genetically enhanced dinosaur?
If you’ve seen a Jurassic Park/World film before, this story won’t surprise you at all. It follows the same general formula that the franchise has used before, and it does a decent enough job. The plot is really just here to get the characters in front of various dinosaurs who may or may not want to eat them. The film is honest with this from the get-go, as it tells you the big three dinosaurs need to be tracked down. All in all, it’s not great, but it’s not bad.
What was bad was the second storyline happening alongside the main one. It involves a random family sailing through dinosaur-infested waters (because, of course, you do), and they wind up on the same island as the main cast. This was my least-liked part of the entire film because the family storyline was so annoying. I didn’t care for the characters, nor if they got eaten. The one redeeming quality is that this is where the lil dino baby Dolores is introduced, but her cuteness can only go so far. This plot could have been cut, and the extra time could have been given to the new main dino, the D-Rex, making the film better for it.
One of my main gripes with the film is that I never cared for any of the characters. The performances ranged from solid to good, but the emotional connection just wasn’t there. Take Zora, for example; her backstory is given to us in a couple of exposition dumps in the first 30 minutes, and that’s it. We don’t see any real character development outside of a short convo with Henry, which then causes her to change her ways at the end? Like, it made for a wholesome ending, but it didn’t feel earned.
While I didn’t care much for the characters, their chemistry was still entertaining. Johansson and Bailey have some fun moments throughout the film, but that only made me wish I cared about the characters even more. Mahershala Ali’s performance as Duncan was pretty good, even if the character did feel a little hollow. Jonathan Bailey as Lumis was probably my favourite character in the film. He nailed the neurotic dino expert, and I found it oddly endearing.
What I didn’t find endearing was the bloody family that I just did not like. The dad is a lock for worst dad of the year. The eldest daughter screams way too much. Her boyfriend is an idiot, but not in a funny way. And the youngest daughter is just there and also stupid. God, I just did not like this group of characters, and I low-key was hoping at least one of them would be Dino Food by the end.
What I will give this film is that it looks fantastic, dare I say one of the best-looking films of the year. Everything from the environment to the dinosaurs looks fantastic. The dinosaurs, in particular, are the best they’ve ever been in the series. They look like legit animals, down to the little movements they make. But what makes these prehistoric creatures feel more real this time around is the eyes. I actually felt like I was being watched by these creatures, which added to the tension when they were about to chomp one of the main crew (gotta build tension somehow). Combining the new eye visuals with already top-notch dino CGI, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there were actual dinosaurs on set.
My one issue with the dinosaurs is with the new additions: the Mutodon and D-Rex. Not that I disliked their inclusion, quite the opposite, in fact, but they were barely in the film. With all the marketing hyping up these new monstrosities (especially the D-Rex), I was expecting the world from them. Yet they only show up in the final moments of the film, with the D-Rex barely having five minutes of screen time. This is why I think you can just scrap all the family stuff and give that time to the D-Rex because that dino-abomination needed some more love.
Jurassic World: Rebirth doesn’t reinvent the Jurassic wheel. It knows what people come for, and it does that well. The visuals are some of the best I’ve seen this year, and some of the character banter was enjoyable. Unfortunately, a basic story, lack of attachment to the characters, and that stupid family plotline keep this film from reaching the heights of the series. Hopefully, they can build upon what worked in the eventual sequel, because I see potential in this new Jurassic era; it just needs a little more time.
Have you seen Jurassic World: Rebirth? What did you think? Did you also hate the family plot? Let us know in the comments where we can talk all things dinosaurs.
