Perhaps a better title for this film might be, “Jurassic Park: Enough Already.” I understand that franchises as successful as this one try to wring every available dollar out of movie-goers, but there comes a time when scripts become weak due to a lack of fresh ideas, acting is corny, and the special effects are redundant.
Now, I love dinosaurs as much as the next guy. I’ve been hooked since I watched “Journey to the Beginning of Time” as a kid on Channel Nine in Chicago. And Jurassic Park is one of those enduring movies, alongside Jaws and Back to the Future, that can be watched repeatedly without diminishing their appeal.
But the shocking realism that Industrial Light and Magic brought to the 1993 film hasn’t improved a ton since then. At that time, we were used to Claymation stop-action creatures or exotic pet shop lizards crawling across tiny sets constructed to make them appear enormous. What a change!
That leaves the story to carry the production, because no one is winning an Oscar for acting in these pictures. Scarlett Johansson is in the title role this time around. She does a fine job as a fearless mercenary in search of a major payoff. But Bryce Dallas Howard was equally competent as a female bad-ass in support of Chris Pratt in the Jurassic World reboot.
The Jurassic films are mostly formulaic. Scientists are tampering with genetics, resurrecting dinosaurs for an adoring public, making them bigger are more frightening, and then something goes horribly wrong. Enter the heroes who save the day, and each other, leaving just enough wrong to ensure that another sequel is inevitable.
This time, things went horribly wrong before the picture began. Dinosaurs are relegated to a tropical no-man’s land near Earth’s equator. Enter the bad-guy pharmaceutical company villain who needs three samples of living dinosaur blood to create a trillion-dollar heart medication, a real game changer. He recruits a team to go where they ought not, and the action begins.
If you like horrifying dinosaurs that seem hell-bent on killing humans, you may be able to overlook the unnecessary elements in this rather long film. Of course, the dinos aren’t just hungry for humans, they’re seriously angry and determined to eat them.
A baby dinosaur is dragged along throughout this movie. It’s sort of cute in a Disney kind of way, but it adds nothing to the story. There is no sexual tension between the characters, the action is mostly predictable, and there are far too many nods to the original film. A completely random, “Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear,” shows up early, along with “Crichton Middle School” and a slowly falling banner like the original that declares, “When dinosaurs ruled the Earth.”
I guess hardcore fans like those Easter eggs, but I found them distracting. Maybe wait until this one streams at home. Or watch the original one more time.
Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) runs 2 hours, 13 minutes and is rated PG-13
