Jurassic World Rebirth – The BRWC Review.

On paper, Jurassic World Rebirth has more than potential. Bringing back Jurassic Park screenwriter, David Koepp, is a great start. Steven Spielberg is an Executive Producer, and audiences see that big Amblin Entertainment logo in the opening credits, another great start. Director Gareth Edwards found massive success with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The cast features franchise phenom Scarlett Johansson, Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, and rising star Jonathan Bailey, fresh off Wicked and reeling from the success of Bridgerton. Everything on paper spells success. Yet as with each Jurassic Park sequel, the question remains: Can this film recapture the magic of the original? Serving as a standalone sequel to Jurassic World: Dominion, Rebirth picks up a few years after the previous series, as a new group of survivors discovers the destructive power of when “life finds a way.” 

As the original 2nd Jurassic Park opened in 2015, the company responsible had a secret island, an island where they stored all the creatures too dangerous for the original park. Dinosaurs that were gene-spliced and altered to more alien-like qualities than anything seen in John Hammond’s original. However, as dinosaurs throughout the planet begin dying off, this secret island is one of the few places where dinosaurs continue to thrive. Thus, Zora (Scarlett Johansson), hired by a major pharmaceutical company to extract three samples of dinosaur DNA, Zora and her team must brave the dangerous dinosaurs in the pursuit of creating a miracle drug (and making a lot of money in the process).

Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), Captain Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), and a few other mercenaries join Zora on her expedition as they sail into the world of the once extinct. Yet the mission becomes more complicated when the team rescues a family off the coast of Cape Town. Now the team must save the family, extract the samples, and survive the terrors of these newer, bigger creatures. But as with any Jurassic Park film, survival is easier said than done when facing a sprinting (or in this case, swimming) T Rex.

Jonathan Bailey delivers the strongest performance in Rebirth, but it’s no surprise, as Dr. Loomis has by far the most material to work with. Not only is Bailey a skilled performer, but Loomis is a character who believes killing a dinosaur is a sin, that the miracle drug should belong to the people, not corporations, and has a light connection to the previous films. The best moment of Rebirth comes as Bailey delivers an excellent monologue on intelligence and evolutionary survival, harking back to the core themes of the source material. Beyond Bailey, performances lack the color and characterization to pop off the screen. Rupert Friend plays an evil corporate lapdog, Johannson plays a mercenary who values money but ultimately develops a good heart, and Ali plays a ship Captain who does not want children to die (a very reasonable character trait).

Moments of Rebirth attempt to flesh out the characters. The stranded family gives the narrative some heart. Johannson and Ali have a conversation that attempts to create a backstory, and Loomis’s love for dinosaurs gives a few glimpses of hope. But too much of the narrative lacks the imaginative environment of the original or even stronger moments in the sequels. Dino fights are few, chase sequences are rare, tension is non-existent, and a Spielbergian sense of wonder only appears when the original theme music glides into the score. Dinosaur themeselves look more alien than dinosaurs and beg the question: how many more bigger, badder dinosaurs do we need? And in a film that zooms in on each and every Easter Egg, why are the dinosaurs the least familiar part of Rebirth?

1993’s Jurassic Park asked some central philosophical questions: “You were so busy asking whether you could, you never stopped to think if you should”, the idea of playing God and respecting the natural order, “Life finds a way.” The biggest question Rebirth asks of its audience is, “Should a major corporation have access to life-saving drugs, or should you give the drug to everyone, ensuring the survival of millions?” Critiquing late-stage Capitalism is a solid theme for a film; it’s a theme prevalent throughout each of the Jurassic Park films. Yet, making this the essential question of Rebirth foregoes the conversation at the core of Jurassic Park: the respect humans must have for nature.   

Beyond lacking the philosophical depth of Jurassic Park, Rebirth lacks the fun of not only the original film but of a summer blockbuster. Moments of nostalgia feel like forced fan service, and moments of innovation extend merely in concept, not execution. Jonathan Bailey is charming, and hearing the theme music feels like a treat for the movie lover’s soul. But nothing in Rebirth merits the joys of the original or the engagement to stand on its own glories. Rebirth may not come close to the magic of the 1993 original, but if anything, it doubles down on how perfect Jurassic Park is as a piece of cinematic history. That after six sequels, audiences are still willing to pack the house for just a glimmer of what they saw when Steven Spielberg brought Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm to Isla Nublar. 

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