‘Jurassic World’ reboot is less of a ‘Rebirth’ and more retread

[Rating: Swiss Fist]

The dinosaurs are back — again — and if that phrase doesn’t fill you with a mixture of excitement and weary déjà vu, especially after Universal touted the last flick as “the last one” throroughly in marketing, then congratulations — you might be the target audience for Jurassic World: Rebirth.

Directed by Gareth Edwards, the seventh entry in the franchise is a sleek, occasionally thrilling blockbuster that does just enough to keep the brand alive, even if it can’t quite escape the fossilized footprints of Spielberg’s original masterpiece. Suddenly, Jurassic Park III is looking pretty, pretty……pretty good.

Let’s be clear: if you’re hoping for a return to the razor-sharp suspense or grounded wonder of Jurassic Park, this isn’t it. Rebirth runs less on science or awe and more on the “What new monster mash can we genetically cook up this time?” approach. The film leans hard into the “hybrid dinosaur” gimmick, serving up brand-new toothy abominations with names that sound like rejected Pokémon. They’re bigger, scarier, and louder — but they lack the primal thrill of pack of velociraptors hunting in the tall grass, or the T-Rex stomping onto the scene to remind everyone who’s boss.

That’s the heart of the problem, Jurassic World: Rebirth has plenty of noise, but not a lot of soul. Also why did they call it Jurassic WORLD: Rebirth and not Jurassic PARK: Rebirth? Missed opportunity. The script, written by David Koepp (returning after penning Jurassic Park and Lost World: Jurassic Park) trades logic for spectacle so often that you start to wonder if he was working off a checklist instead of a story. Characters make baffling choices, the Jurassic-science is barely even waved at, and the whole enterprise feels more like a Saturday morning cartoon with a blockbuster budget. The original Jurassic Park made you believe in the possibility of resurrected dinosaurs; Rebirth just asks you to believe that the next hybrid monster will be scarier than the last.

Still, it’s not all extinction-level disappointment. Gareth Edwards (Star Wars: Rogue One) proves once again that he knows how to stage a set piece. There are three or four sequences here that genuinely work: a tense chase through a crumbling coastal city, a claustrophobic hide-and-seek inside a collapsed parking garage, and one particularly well-shot aerial battle that finally makes good on the series’ long-ignored potential of pterosaurs wreaking havoc. Edwards shoots these moments with a scale and clarity that outclass most modern blockbusters. It’s just a shame the connective tissue between them is so flimsy.

On the acting front, Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin) and Mahershala Ali (Blade?) are the MVPs. Johansson, brings her trademark mix of steely resolve and weary charm, making her character feel like one of the few humans on screen who realizes how ridiculous all of this is. Ali, meanwhile, plays his role with a twinkle in his eye, delivering the kind of gravitas that almost tricks you into thinking the movie is smarter than it is. Their chemistry is light but effective, and whenever the film threatens to collapse under its own dino-hybrid nonsense, these two help keep it standing.

Unfortunately, no amount of charisma can make up for the missing ingredient: Steven Spielberg’s showmanship. Edwards is a capable director — he knows how to build scale, he can wring suspense out of a wide shot, and he stages destruction with flair. But he doesn’t have Spielberg’s knack for balancing terror with wonder, or his ability to make you care about the characters even while the dinosaurs are the main event. Instead of the goosebump-inducing magic of that first Brachiosaurus reveal, Rebirth gives us hybrids with more teeth and less personality.

By the end, Jurassic World: Rebirth feels less like a bold new direction and more like an elaborate holding pattern. It’s not a disaster, but it’s not a triumph either. It delivers just enough spectacle to keep the franchise lumbering forward, even if the intelligence and elegance that made the original film an instant classic seem further away than ever.

Jurassic World: Rebirth is watchable, occasionally exciting, and boosted by two leads who seem to be having fun. But it also proves that no matter how many hybrid dinosaurs you splice together, you still can’t engineer Spielberg’s magic.

Tagged as: 2025, David Koepp, gareth edwards, Jurassic World Rebirth, Mahershala Ali, Movie Review, Scarlett Johansson, steven spielberg