‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Review: A Fun Adventure that Brings the Franchise Back from Extinction

In Jurassic World Rebirth, the dinosaurs aren’t the only ones facing extinction, the franchise itself has been hanging on by a thread. But with a new director, new cast, and a sharper focus, this seventh entry claws its way back into relevance. Gone are the convoluted threads of the last two films. In their place, a leaner, meaner adventure built around spectacle, nostalgia, and some slick new ideas, even if it’s still playing by mostly familiar rules.

The film opens with a flashback labeled “seventeen years ago,” revealing one of the franchise’s most unsettling creations yet: the Distortus Rex. Engineered deep in the labs of the original park, this six-limbed mutation is physically monstrous, the kind of genetic nightmare that shows us they went too far. But then we’re quickly back in present day, a billboard in New York, once plastered with images of T-Rexes, is being painted over. The message is clear. In this world, dinosaurs are fading from public interest. It’s also a sly meta-commentary. After Fallen Kingdom and Dominion fumbled the bag, Rebirth tries to reset the board, fast-forwarding to a time when dinosaurs are nearly myth once again, except in one remote corner of the tropics.

That untouched stretch of land, known as Île Saint Hubert, becomes ground zero for a corporate-sponsored mission to extract dino DNA. The goal? A miracle heart disease treatment that could rake in billions and save lives. It’s a setup ripe for ethical dilemmas, but the film doesn’t dwell on them. Instead, it plunges us into the jungle with a squad of experts led by Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), backed by the calm, capable Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), and a jittery but lovable paleontologist, Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey).

Their mission sounds simple enough: get blood from three dinosaurs, one sea-dweller, one land titan, and a flying beast and get out. But nothing in Jurassic World is ever simple. Each hunt is structured like a mini action set-piece: The Mosasaurus hunt plays like a tense deep-sea showdown, with taut pacing and sharp visuals, the Titanosaurus scene offers a rare glimpse of peace and majesty, and the airborne Quetzalcoatlus sequence tries for tension but feels the most artificial, too much obvious green screen, and not enough grit.

Meanwhile, a civilian family caught at sea — the Delgados — stumble into the chaos. Their presence adds some warmth. Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is the classic overprotective dad. His daughter’s boyfriend Xavier rubs him the wrong way. Their subplot feels plucked from Spielberg’s playbook, including one exhilarating river chase lifted straight from Michael Crichton’s original text. It’s predictable, sure, but it works.

It may not recapture the magic of Jurassic Park, but the dinosaurs are back, and Rebirth is a fun adventure.

Gareth Edwards directs with a light touch, favoring vibrant compositions and an energetic pace. While the emotional stakes are still far from the original Jurassic Park, the film makes up for it with visual flair and a few well-placed needle drops, Primal Scream & Ben E. King, give it some personality. The chemistry between Johansson and Bailey gives the film its emotional core. Zora is all muscle and mission, but Johansson plays her with flickers of vulnerability, especially around Loomis, whose fossil-nerd sincerity is oddly charming.

If there’s a flaw, it’s that Rebirth never quite escapes the template. The structure is built on familiar beats, slow pans, monster reveals, moral gray zones. And the villain, Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), is the sort of corporate sleazebag who might as well be twirling a mustache.

Jurassic Park was a cultural phenomenon, one of those rare films that showed us something truly new and changed filmmaking forever. I was only 10, but that cinematic experience is etched in my memory. Sadly, in 2025, that kind of ‘wow factor’ just doesn’t exist anymore, or maybe we’ve been spoilt. But the predictability we now have may be part of the appeal. It’s comfort food filmmaking: easy to digest, it’s polished and we know what we’re getting.

The film doesn’t radically reinvent the franchise, but it refines its rhythms. Whether this marks a true revival or just a one-off course correction remains to be seen. Even with David Koepp writing it may not recapture the magic of Jurassic Park, but the dinosaurs are back, and Rebirth is a fun adventure.

Jurassic World Rebirth is now playing in cinemas worldwide.

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