The dinosaurs are roaring back. Jurassic World Rebirth marks the seventh movie in the franchise that began with Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, but despite its popularity, has never quite seen any subsequent entry top that 1993 masterpiece. Directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Rogue One), the first British filmmaker to join the franchise, Rebirth comes close. A loving tribute to the spirit of the original, it’s easily the best Jurassic in a decade.
From an idea hatched by Spielberg with returning screenwriter David Koepp (who adapted Michael Crichton’s novels for Jurassic Park and the 1997 sequel The Lost World), Rebirth moves the story on several years from the last entry, Jurassic World Dominion. While that critically-maligned effort brought back the legacy characters, Rebirth is as the title suggest. New story, new characters (and only one brief mention of Sam Neil’s palaeontologist Dr Alan Grant).
With dinosaurs now fully out in the world, the Earth’s climate has not been kind to these creatures, and those that have survived are now clustered around the equator. Worse still, public interest has waned. “Nobody cares about these animals anymore,” bemoans dino expert Dr Henry Loomis (Wicked’s Jonathan Bailey). But they soon might. A pharmaceutical company, repped by the shady-looking Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), is bankrolling a secret mission to Ile Saint-Hubert, a tropical island that housed research and development for the original park.
Leading the mission is capable operative Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), who recruits Loomis to help take blood samples of three of the biggest dinosaurs, as part of a project to aid research into curing heart disease. With transport provided by boat captain Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), their expedition is soon waylaid when a distress signal comes from a family – the Delgados – whose sailboat is upturned by the first of the trio of dinos Zora and her team are tracking, the monstrously big aquatic creature, the Mosasaur.
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Needless to say, the trip does not go smoothly (does it ever?) but what makes Rebirth a cracking watch is just how well Edwards orchestrates the set pieces. The Mosasaur sequence may be a huge nod to Spielberg’s own Jurassic precursor, Jaws, but it’s a thrilling sequence. Better yet, the T.rex chasing the Delgados down a river, a scene adapted by Koepp from the original novel, is an absolute banger. The sight of the creature’s teeth as it burrows into an inflatable yellow raft is quite something.
True, this ultimately is another Jurassic movie set on an island, with youngsters in peril. So those looking for something completely different may be disappointed. But Edwards knows exactly which buttons to press, notably in the scene featuring the majestic Titanosaurus. With Alexandre Desplat’s score giving way to John Williams’s original music, its every bit as lump-in-the-throat as the moment in the original movie where the gang first see the Brachiosaurus grazing in the park.
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M3GAN 2.0 review: Cinematic tonal whiplash may divide fans28 Years Later review: A more reflective, human story that puts the franchise back on trackThis isn’t the only cheeky wink to Jurassic Park. Krebb’s vehicle bears the legend “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”, the same warning famously glimpsed when Jeff Goldblum and others are trying to outrun the T.rex. Then, in a nice touch, the famed “When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth” banner, seen in John Hammond’s park, is being removed from Loomis’s museum. But it never feels like Koepp’s script is simply bowing down to the movie he scripted 32 years ago.
With nods to Hammond’s company InGen (and some crazy experiments they had going on), this has enough to keep the considerable Jurassic fanbase chattering. And credit to Johansson too. The Black Widow star is thunderously good here, fitting perfectly into the Jurassic universe. With new dinosaurs mixed with old favourites (Spitters! Spinos!) and Koepp’s humour sprinkled throughout, Rebirth is 2025’s apex predator blockbuster.
Jurassic World Rebirth is in cinemas from 2nd July.
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