Steven Spielberg brought forth two legendary films with “Jaws” (1975), which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and “Jurassic Park” (1993). Both movies are exhilarating monster flicks featuring mighty creatures ready to consume any humans in their path. Although they have yielded lucrative sequels, none have come close to the brilliance of the originals. While both were derived from novels by Peter Benchley and Michael Crichton, they felt revitalized on screen, providing viewers with unprecedented thrills and excitement. The effect was so significant that even years later, we chase similar exhilaration through a multitude of shark horror films and sequels imagining a world 32 years after “Jurassic Park.”
Perhaps no later films can exceed these classics. Our shared admiration could be too deep, or their quality genuinely unmatched. Luckily for Universal, which controls both franchises, it is inconsequential. The last three Jurassic Park films (rebranded as “Jurassic World,” “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” and “Jurassic World: Dominion”) each earned more than a billion dollars globally, even amid growing critical backlash. Thus, a revival is necessary.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” stands out as the finest among the new series, although, to be fair, the standard isn’t very high.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” abandons Colin Trevorrow’s most tedious storylines. Trevorrow, who directed “Jurassic World” and “Jurassic World: Dominion” and was involved in writing the last three, is thankfully not participating in crafting or directing “Rebirth.” Instead, David Koepp, who adapted “Jurassic Park” in 1993 and has recently shone in genre films like “Presence” and “Black Bag,” wrote the latest dinosaur-laden sequel. Gareth Edwards, the renowned director of “Monsters” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” is at the helm.
They aim together to revitalize the franchise. Step one: Removing Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, whose ill-matched pairing of a strict businesswoman and a rugged raptor handler never struck a chord like Sam Neill’s irritable paleontologist and Laura Dern’s vibrant paleobotanist. (Not to mention Jeff Goldblum’s intriguingly charismatic mathematician as a proto-fuckboy.) Even the return of these original cast members for “Dominion” couldn’t save the creatively struggling franchise from convoluted narratives involving bio-engineering and a cloned girl. Luckily, you can forget all that for “Jurassic World Rebirth.”
With an all-new cast, extensive recaps are unnecessary. The premise is straightforward. The human populace has grown tired of dinosaurs, which have slowly become extinct worldwide, unable to adapt to present climate conditions. (Relatable!) However, near the equator, they flourish in regions off-limits to humans. Unless you’re a mercenary named Zora (Scarlett Johansson), hired by a dubious pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) to procure live dinosaur blood for a medical breakthrough valued at trillions. In that instance, you enlist a geeky yet appealing paleontologist called Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) and a crew of carefree supporting characters — including a charming but troubled captain, Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) — to navigate this forbidden territory, armed with a specially crafted rifle to gather dinosaur blood samples.
Meanwhile, the Delgado family, sailing from Cape Town to Barbados, encounters a colossal sea-dwelling dinosaur and is rescued by Zora and her team.
“Jurassic World: Rebirth” falls into the pitfall of having too many humans and too much plot. That’s a hefty plot to manage. With Zora’s team and the Delgado family, 11 humans are heading to this isolated tropical area. That’s sufficient to showcase dinosaur violence through several early casualties. However, it’s too many for the audience to connect with most of them. Some characters barely receive a name before they become dino prey. Others are immediately unlikable and are thus just as quickly marked for demise as the lawyer who perished ignobly on a toilet in the first film. This leads to some frustratingly predictable scenes.
To Edwards’ credit, the unveiling of the dinosaurs in their natural setting is exhilarating. Well-camouflaged despite their enormous size, they go unnoticed by the humans, who are fully aware they’re in dinosaur territory. Allowing the audience to recognize these creatures before the characters do is a clever way to build suspense. However, the genuine surprise when the characters freeze upon encountering a dinosaur — in an area where they know it will be! — becomes somewhat absurd, especially in a world where we are told society has grown indifferent to the return of dinosaurs.
Further disappointing is a storyline that introduces intriguing concepts, like humans interfering with dinosaur DNA to create flashier breeds. Yet the results of these breeds are lackluster. Instead of coming to resemble a beast more fearsome than a T. rex, the primary dinosaur antagonist here resembles a