‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ Roars Back with Overly Familiar Thrills
Gareth Edwards’ legacy sequel roars with ambition but struggles to truly evolve. The latest entry in the dinosaur franchise doesn’t reinvent the fossil, but it does offer a crowd-pleasing mix of prehistoric spectacle and nostalgic callbacks. ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ leans heavily on legacy and thunderous set pieces, even as it grapples with franchise fatigue.
The bold subtitle “Rebirth” suggests transformation from the fumbling ‘Jurassic World’ ventures of the past decade, a chance for the recent ‘Jurassic’ franchise to shed its scaly skin and become something newly thrilling, with a new cast and team behind it. Instead, ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ often feels like a careful reassembly of old parts, a dino-sized Frankenstein that walks and growls with power, but never quite surprises me with what it can do.
Gareth Edwards, of ‘Godzilla’ (2014), ‘Rogue One,’ and the pleasantly surprising ‘The Creator’ fame, gives ‘Rebirth’ a visual finesse and genuine scale to a series that’s been floundering in recent years. In terms of tone and spectacle, it’s easily the best entry since Chris Pratt’s ‘Jurassic World’ (2015), and arguably the most thematically ambitious since ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park‘ (1997). Yet, despite its darker palette, sleek direction, and the weight of stars like Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, ‘Rebirth’ ultimately feels like another corporate extraction of cinematic DNA: part nostalgia, part reboot, and part pharmaceutical and global cautionary tale.
Set in 2027, ‘Rebirth’ begins with a covert mission to an abandoned island laboratory, the original site of InGen’s research (yes, you’ll have to do your ‘Jurassic’ homework to fully get this one), now a hot zone of hybrid dinosaur horrors. Led by strong heroine Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a covert ops expert hired by pharma rep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), the team’s mission is to retrieve DNA samples from various dinosaur species that could hold the key to curing heart disease. But what begins as a bio-extraction mission quickly becomes a creature-feature gauntlet, complete with shipwrecks, mutated raptors, and a towering new apex predator: the “Distortus” rex.
One of ‘Rebirth’s’ most promising elements is Gareth Edwards himself. A Spielberg disciple with an eye for dread and scale, Edwards brings a brooding tone and sense of cinematic awe sorely missing from ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ (2022). The opening scenes are strikingly horror-tinged: instead of John Williams’ whimsical wonder, we get shrieking strings, murky labs, and crumbling ruins. When the ‘Jurassic Park‘ logo emerges, it feels less like a nostalgic callback and more like a warning label.
In these early sequences, Edwards attempts to channel ‘Alien’ and ‘The Thing’ as much as Spielberg, especially in his treatment of the “Distortus” rex, a grotesque, six-limbed creation with gorilla-like arms and nightmarish movements. Designed under Edwards’ supervision and clearly inspired by Xenomorphs and Rancors, the D. rex delivers some of the film’s most intense moments, including a brutal helicopter attack that recalls the T. rex breakout of the original film in pure primal chaos.
Edwards also smartly foregrounds the horror of hubris. The idea that dinosaurs could save lives, if only their DNA were ethically harvested, brings a fresh angle to the franchise’s typical “don’t play God” messaging. The stakes here are less about theme parks and more about access to medicine. The DNA in question could treat the planet’s leading killer, heart disease, making the mission both noble and ripe for moral ambiguity. When Rupert Friend’s Martin attempts to steal the samples for private profit, the film’s ethical compass fully kicks in, ending in a classically satisfying (and satisfying ‘Jurassic’) demise: devoured by his ambition, literally.
But while the film flirts with medical liberation and open-source ethics, Zora and Henry (a very charming Jonathan Bailey) ultimately promise to make the cure free for all, it doesn’t quite dig into the socioeconomic questions it raises. Like many Hollywood sci-fi parables, it gestures toward critique without fully committing.
If ‘Rebirth’ succeeds anywhere beyond its tone and visuals, it’s in the cast. Scarlett Johansson, a longtime fan of the series, leads with a level of gravitas rarely granted in prior installments. As Zora Bennett, she’s flinty and fierce, giving the franchise its most compelling human lead since Sam Neill’s Dr. Grant or Laura Dern’s Dr. Sattler. Mahershala Ali plays Duncan Kincaid, her loyal comrade and the moral compass of the team. The two actors have enough screen presence to make even the clunkiest exposition palatable. Frankly, they could read a dinosaur encyclopedia in monotone and still make it interesting.
Jonathan Bailey is an effective supporting player as Dr. Henry Loomis, the gentle paleontologist who supplies the film’s scientific backbone and occasional dry wit. Rupert Friend delivers smarmy charm as Martin Krebs, and the supporting crew, including Bechir Sylvain, Ed Skrein, and Philippine Velge, gets enough character shading to make their inevitable deaths feel at least a bit tragic.
However, the film stumbles when it introduces the civilian family stranded on the island. While Manuel Garcia-Rulfo brings warmth to the role of Reuben Delgado, the subplot involving his daughters and their boat wreck feels like a half-hearted attempt to replicate the emotional stakes of ‘The Lost World’ or ‘Jurassic Park III’. The interactions are thinly written, and the tonal shifts between military mission and family survival feel jarring, as if the movie itself can’t decide whether it wants to be a monster thriller or a legacy adventure.
Structurally, ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ is a beat-for-beat echo of the original ‘Jurassic Park.’ Scientists and soldiers arrive at a dangerous island. Something goes wrong. Dinosaurs escape. Humans flee. The helicopter gets destroyed. A few make it out alive, mostly scarred. The difference is that instead of wondering if we should resurrect dinosaurs, the question now is whether they can be useful to us, financially, medically, or politically. In that sense, Rebirth is the most self-aware film in the franchise. It knows it’s built on cloned ideas, on a cinematic genome passed down from a 1993 classic. And it doesn’t try to hide it.
The whole ‘Jurassic World’ series has been about diminishing returns, from awe to spectacle to self-parody. With ‘Rebirth,’ the pendulum swings slightly back toward awe, at least in pockets. There are moments, like the Mosasaurus breaching near a crumbling lighthouse, or the towering Titanosaurus dwarfing a cliffside lab, that briefly reclaim the sublime terror of dinosaurs. But there’s still a sense that we’ve seen it all before.
The film’s third act devolves into the familiar formula: a trek to an abandoned lab, mutant raptors (called “Mutadons”) attacking the group, and a climactic showdown with the Distortus rex. The death scenes are gnarly, sure, but predictable. Even the escape, via secret underground boat tunnel, feels like a missed opportunity to do something surprising. The visuals may be new, but the beats are museum pieces.
‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ doesn’t offer a resounding “yes” despite the refreshed ensemble cast, but it’s not a definitive “no” either. It sits somewhere between mimicry and evolution, just like the dinosaurs it portrays. It’s leagues better than the disastrous ‘Fallen Kingdom’ and ‘Dominion,’ more confident in its tone and more interested in its metaphors. But it doesn’t break new ground so much as decorate familiar terrain with a shinier sheen.
Critics of the franchise often point to three main issues: creative stagnation, over-saturation, and thematic drift. ‘Rebirth’tries to counter all three, with new character dynamics, a fresh horror tone, and a quasi-socioeconomic storyline, but doesn’t quite escape the gravitational pull of the franchise’s legacy.
There is a case to be made for letting the series go extinct: it’s hard to argue that anything since ‘The Lost World’ has come close to matching the original’s wonder or thematic bite. But there’s also a case for continuing, especially if directors like Gareth Edwards can bring a new aesthetic, or if future installments dig deeper into the real-world consequences of resurrecting the past for corporate gain.
At the end of the day, the enduring appeal of ‘Jurassic’ is not just in the dinosaurs, it’s in the idea that cinema can make them walk again. That Industrial Light & Magic team can do what science can’t. The movies still have the power to resurrect our sense of wonder, even if it takes a few mutated steps to get there.
Franchise Ranking (Personal Bias Fully Admitted)
‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)
‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ (1997)
‘Jurassic World’ (2015)
‘Jurassic Park III’ (2001)
‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ (2025)
‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ (2018)
‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ (2022)
Final Verdict
‘Rebirth’ is more compelling than the last few ‘Jurassic’ entries, but it’s still more sequel than salvation.
Click here to read The Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase’s love letter to Cinema, TV and Media. An excerpt from the love letter:The Hollywood Insider’sCEO/editor-in-chiefPritan Ambroase affirms, “We have the space and time for all your stories, no matter who/what/where you are. Media/Cinema/TV have a responsibility to better the world and The Hollywood Insider will continue to do so. Talent, diversity and authenticity matter in Cinema/TV, media and storytelling. In fact, I reckon that we should announce “talent-diversity-authenticity-storytelling-Cinema-Oscars-Academy-Awards” as synonyms of each other. We show respect to talent and stories regardless of their skin color, race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, etc., thus allowing authenticity into this system just by something as simple as accepting and showing respect to the human species’ factual diversity. We become greater just by respecting and appreciating talent in all its shapes, sizes, and forms. Award winners, which includes nominees, must be chosen on the greatness of their talent ALONE.
I am sure I am speaking for a multitude of Cinema lovers all over the world when I speak of the following sentiments that this medium of art has blessed me with. Cinema taught me about our world, at times in English and at times through the beautiful one-inch bar of subtitles. I learned from the stories in the global movies that we are all alike across all borders. Remember that one of the best symbols of many great civilizations and their prosperity has been the art they have left behind. This art can be in the form of paintings, sculptures, architecture, writings, inventions, etc. For our modern society, Cinema happens to be one of them. Cinema is more than just a form of entertainment, it is an integral part of society. I love the world uniting, be it for Cinema, TV, media, art, fashion, sport, etc. Please keep this going full speed.”
‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ Roars Back with Familiar Thrills and New Extinctions
Gareth Edwards’ legacy sequel roars with ambition but struggles to truly evolve. The latest entry in the dinosaur franchise doesn’t reinvent the fossil, but it does offer a crowd-pleasing mix of prehistoric spectacle and nostalgic callbacks. ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ leans heavily on legacy and thunderous set pieces, even as it grapples with franchise fatigue.
The bold subtitle “Rebirth” suggests transformation from the fumbling ‘Jurassic World’ ventures of the past decade, a chance for the recent ‘Jurassic’ franchise to shed its scaly skin and become something newly thrilling, with a new cast and team behind it. Instead, ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ often feels like a careful reassembly of old parts, a dino-sized Frankenstein that walks and growls with power, but never quite surprises me with what it can do.
Gareth Edwards, of ‘Godzilla’ (2014), ‘Rogue One,’ and the pleasantly surprising ‘The Creator’ fame, gives ‘Rebirth’ a visual finesse and genuine scale to a series that’s been floundering in recent years. In terms of tone and spectacle, it’s easily the best entry since Chris Pratt’s ‘Jurassic World’ (2015), and arguably the most thematically ambitious since ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park‘ (1997). Yet, despite its darker palette, sleek direction, and the weight of stars like Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, ‘Rebirth’ ultimately feels like another corporate extraction of cinematic DNA: part nostalgia, part reboot, and part pharmaceutical and global cautionary tale.
Set in 2027, ‘Rebirth’ begins with a covert mission to an abandoned island laboratory, the original site of InGen’s research (yes, you’ll have to do your ‘Jurassic’ homework to fully get this one), now a hot zone of hybrid dinosaur horrors. Led by strong heroine Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a covert ops expert hired by pharma rep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), the team’s mission is to retrieve DNA samples from various dinosaur species that could hold the key to curing heart disease. But what begins as a bio-extraction mission quickly becomes a creature-feature gauntlet, complete with shipwrecks, mutated raptors, and a towering new apex predator: the “Distortus” rex.
One of ‘Rebirth’s’ most promising elements is Gareth Edwards himself. A Spielberg disciple with an eye for dread and scale, Edwards brings a brooding tone and sense of cinematic awe sorely missing from ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ (2022). The opening scenes are strikingly horror-tinged: instead of John Williams’ whimsical wonder, we get shrieking strings, murky labs, and crumbling ruins. When the ‘Jurassic Park‘ logo emerges, it feels less like a nostalgic callback and more like a warning label.
In these early sequences, Edwards attempts to channel ‘Alien’ and ‘The Thing’ as much as Spielberg, especially in his treatment of the “Distortus” rex, a grotesque, six-limbed creation with gorilla-like arms and nightmarish movements. Designed under Edwards’ supervision and clearly inspired by Xenomorphs and Rancors, the D. rex delivers some of the film’s most intense moments, including a brutal helicopter attack that recalls the T. rex breakout of the original film in pure primal chaos.
Edwards also smartly foregrounds the horror of hubris. The idea that dinosaurs could save lives, if only their DNA were ethically harvested, brings a fresh angle to the franchise’s typical “don’t play God” messaging. The stakes here are less about theme parks and more about access to medicine. The DNA in question could treat the planet’s leading killer, heart disease, making the mission both noble and ripe for moral ambiguity. When Rupert Friend’s Martin attempts to steal the samples for private profit, the film’s ethical compass fully kicks in, ending in a classically satisfying (and satisfying ‘Jurassic’) demise: devoured by his ambition, literally.
But while the film flirts with medical liberation and open-source ethics, Zora and Henry (a very charming Jonathan Bailey) ultimately promise to make the cure free for all, it doesn’t quite dig into the socioeconomic questions it raises. Like many Hollywood sci-fi parables, it gestures toward critique without fully committing.
If ‘Rebirth’ succeeds anywhere beyond its tone and visuals, it’s in the cast. Scarlett Johansson, a longtime fan of the series, leads with a level of gravitas rarely granted in prior installments. As Zora Bennett, she’s flinty and fierce, giving the franchise its most compelling human lead since Sam Neill’s Dr. Grant or Laura Dern’s Dr. Sattler. Mahershala Ali plays Duncan Kincaid, her loyal comrade and the moral compass of the team. The two actors have enough screen presence to make even the clunkiest exposition palatable. Frankly, they could read a dinosaur encyclopedia in monotone and still make it interesting.
Jonathan Bailey is an effective supporting player as Dr. Henry Loomis, the gentle paleontologist who supplies the film’s scientific backbone and occasional dry wit. Rupert Friend delivers smarmy charm as Martin Krebs, and the supporting crew, including Bechir Sylvain, Ed Skrein, and Philippine Velge, gets enough character shading to make their inevitable deaths feel at least a bit tragic.
However, the film stumbles when it introduces the civilian family stranded on the island. While Manuel Garcia-Rulfo brings warmth to the role of Reuben Delgado, the subplot involving his daughters and their boat wreck feels like a half-hearted attempt to replicate the emotional stakes of ‘The Lost World’ or ‘Jurassic Park III’. The interactions are thinly written, and the tonal shifts between military mission and family survival feel jarring, as if the movie itself can’t decide whether it wants to be a monster thriller or a legacy adventure.
Structurally, ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ is a beat-for-beat echo of the original ‘Jurassic Park.’ Scientists and soldiers arrive at a dangerous island. Something goes wrong. Dinosaurs escape. Humans flee. The helicopter gets destroyed. A few make it out alive, mostly scarred. The difference is that instead of wondering if we should resurrect dinosaurs, the question now is whether they can be useful to us, financially, medically, or politically. In that sense, Rebirth is the most self-aware film in the franchise. It knows it’s built on cloned ideas, on a cinematic genome passed down from a 1993 classic. And it doesn’t try to hide it.
The whole ‘Jurassic World’ series has been about diminishing returns, from awe to spectacle to self-parody. With ‘Rebirth,’ the pendulum swings slightly back toward awe, at least in pockets. There are moments, like the Mosasaurus breaching near a crumbling lighthouse, or the towering Titanosaurus dwarfing a cliffside lab, that briefly reclaim the sublime terror of dinosaurs. But there’s still a sense that we’ve seen it all before.
The film’s third act devolves into the familiar formula: a trek to an abandoned lab, mutant raptors (called “Mutadons”) attacking the group, and a climactic showdown with the Distortus rex. The death scenes are gnarly, sure, but predictable. Even the escape, via secret underground boat tunnel, feels like a missed opportunity to do something surprising. The visuals may be new, but the beats are museum pieces.
‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ doesn’t offer a resounding “yes” despite the refreshed ensemble cast, but it’s not a definitive “no” either. It sits somewhere between mimicry and evolution, just like the dinosaurs it portrays. It’s leagues better than the disastrous ‘Fallen Kingdom’ and ‘Dominion,’ more confident in its tone and more interested in its metaphors. But it doesn’t break new ground so much as decorate familiar terrain with a shinier sheen.
Critics of the franchise often point to three main issues: creative stagnation, over-saturation, and thematic drift. ‘Rebirth’tries to counter all three, with new character dynamics, a fresh horror tone, and a quasi-socioeconomic storyline, but doesn’t quite escape the gravitational pull of the franchise’s legacy.
There is a case to be made for letting the series go extinct: it’s hard to argue that anything since ‘The Lost World’ has come close to matching the original’s wonder or thematic bite. But there’s also a case for continuing, especially if directors like Gareth Edwards can bring a new aesthetic, or if future installments dig deeper into the real-world consequences of resurrecting the past for corporate gain.
At the end of the day, the enduring appeal of ‘Jurassic’ is not just in the dinosaurs, it’s in the idea that cinema can make them walk again. That Industrial Light & Magic team can do what science can’t. The movies still have the power to resurrect our sense of wonder, even if it takes a few mutated steps to get there.
Franchise Ranking (Personal Bias Fully Admitted)
‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)
‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ (1997)
‘Jurassic World’ (2015)
‘Jurassic Park III’ (2001)
‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ (2025)
‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ (2018)
‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ (2022)
Final Verdict
‘Rebirth’ is more compelling than the last few ‘Jurassic’ entries, but it’s still more sequel than salvation.
Click here to read The Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase’s love letter to Cinema, TV and Media. An excerpt from the love letter:The Hollywood Insider’sCEO/editor-in-chiefPritan Ambroase affirms, “We have the space and time for all your stories, no matter who/what/where you are. Media/Cinema/TV have a responsibility to better the world and The Hollywood Insider will continue to do so. Talent, diversity and authenticity matter in Cinema/TV, media and storytelling. In fact, I reckon that we should announce “talent-diversity-authenticity-storytelling-Cinema-Oscars-Academy-Awards” as synonyms of each other. We show respect to talent and stories regardless of their skin color, race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, etc., thus allowing authenticity into this system just by something as simple as accepting and showing respect to the human species’ factual diversity. We become greater just by respecting and appreciating talent in all its shapes, sizes, and forms. Award winners, which includes nominees, must be chosen on the greatness of their talent ALONE.
I am sure I am speaking for a multitude of Cinema lovers all over the world when I speak of the following sentiments that this medium of art has blessed me with. Cinema taught me about our world, at times in English and at times through the beautiful one-inch bar of subtitles. I learned from the stories in the global movies that we are all alike across all borders. Remember that one of the best symbols of many great civilizations and their prosperity has been the art they have left behind. This art can be in the form of paintings, sculptures, architecture, writings, inventions, etc. For our modern society, Cinema happens to be one of them. Cinema is more than just a form of entertainment, it is an integral part of society. I love the world uniting, be it for Cinema, TV, media, art, fashion, sport, etc. Please keep this going full speed.”
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