Jurassic Wolrd Rebirth (Edwards, 2025)

Jurassic World Rebirth Should Have Never Been Born

If one watched the Jurassic World Rebirth trailer, it promised to be the scariest movie in the franchise. Sadly, it turns out to be the worst one in the franchise. Let's be honest, we’re watching for the dinosaurs – if I wanted to see aliens, I would look into Sigourney Weaver’s filmography!

Written by Lara Rosales

Small spoilers ahead

Seventeen years after a mutant six-limbed tyrannosaur called Distortus rex escapes on a remote island, a team led by ex-military operative Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) embarks on a secret mission to collect biomaterial from prehistoric creatures for a new heart disease treatment. But the mission goes sideways fast as mutated hybrids and the monstrous "D-rex" threaten everyone’s survival...

Before diving into why I believe the movie doesn’t work, let’s talk about the two things I believe stand out the most. Up until almost the end, I was very much on board with the film. Certain things reminded the viewers of the original Jurassic Park (1993). One of them – one of the few things this movie gets right – is the presence of Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey). Just like Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Loomis feels like a true nerd who genuinely cares about the dinosaurs.

He is the only one, in a world that seems to have given up on dinosaurs, who truly believes in their magnificent nature, and his excitement over seeing these creatures in their “natural” habitat makes the viewer feel excited. Even though we have been here before, having a character who is in awe of every creature has us feeling the same way – the moment he sees the Titanosaurus in the wild and has the chance to get near them and hug their legs, one can genuinely feel his emotions. We get as emotional and teary-eyed as he does.

It is also that moment that gives room for the second thing that I believe stands out the most. Jurassic World Rebirth makes it clear that people hate (or come very close to hating) dinosaurs. They’ve given up on them and stopped caring about them, leaving them alone near the Equator. This is even highlighted with the white paint over the dinosaur mural and the museum shutting down. Dinosaurs have become terrible monsters that no one wants to look at!

However, when Loomis and the team get close to the Titanosaurus, we get to see two of them expressing love for each other. They are cuddling or getting as close to it as two giant dinosaurs can. This is a reminder that these are just animals living according to their nature. They are supposed to hunt and roar and bite and kill to survive, but they are also supposed to form herds and form bonds with one another.

While in previous movies, most characters ended up falling in love with the dinosaurs and fighting to protect them, only one of them is here to do so in this film. The rest of them can’t wait to get as far away from them as possible. But here is the thing, if I came face-to-face with the monstrosity they do, I would want to get as far away from it as possible too – and that’s coming from a dinosaur lover.

The Jurassic Park franchise is no stranger to playing with genetics and DNA; we all know that. But what comes to life in this movie goes beyond anything any of us expected. The fans who keep coming back to this franchise, its movies, and TV shows are here for the dinosaurs. Instead, our main bad gal (because she is bad) is a mutant alien. Nothing about this “dinosaur” makes us feel remotely what the other dinosaurs did. Even in the very first movie, when the T. Rex was chasing the main characters, there was still that excitement of seeing a dinosaur running wild. And Blue, the velociraptor once known as the “bad” gal, becomes a lovable character we all end up rooting for — especially when we meet her daughter. But unfortunately, that same sense of wonder or emotional connection just isn’t there with the dinosaur in this film.

Yes, the moment the mutant-alien-dinosaur catches the helicopter in her mouth is a well-executed scene, but it doesn’t change the fact that it has nothing to do with the franchise we love. There are several well-crafted scenes throughout, but there are also some moments in which the dinosaurs look fake. It’s the first time a Jurassic film hasn’t convinced me I was watching real dinosaurs.

And if I’m being totally honest, not getting more velociraptor screen time was one of the film’s biggest disappointments. Maybe that’s just the Raptor fan in me, but it felt like one more punch to the gut in an already deeply disappointing experience.

The Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies are there for those viewers who love to dive into a world where dinosaurs are real. A world where everything is possible if one preserves a mosquito with dinosaur DNA. It just seems unnecessary to put that world completely upside down to bring something “new” to the table. There are enough alien movies out there for those who are seeking that kind of entertainment. Those of us who are here for the dinosaur entertainment just wish the movie had stuck to its original formula.