For whatever reason, the “Jurassic World” (née “Park”) series is the cinematic equivalent of a cheeseburger. The attraction seems pretty self-explanatory on paper, as they’re all what-if adventure films about dinosaurs existing in our modern-day. Film history-wise, they stem from the tradition of the special-effects monster movie — Steven Spielberg’s first two entries in the series make explicit reference to “King Kong.” Although the “Jurassic” films hew close to “Kong” as well as films like “The Lost World” (1925), and “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms,” they also contain some outrageous elements borrowed from Japanese kaiju movies, specifically the “Godzilla” franchise. Thus, the “Jurassic” series feels like America’s answer to kaiju, years before a US version of “Godzilla” got off the ground.
Director Gareth Edwards (the director of the second American “Godzilla”) began his filmmaking career playing “what if?” with kaiju tropes in his 2010 feature “Monsters,” and it’s that movie which Edwards’ latest film, “Jurassic World Rebirth,” harkens back to more often than not. “Rebirth” has a curious origin story, as it arrives a mere three years after the last entry in the series, “Jurassic World Dominion,” which was heavily marketed as, well, the last entry. Yet David Koepp’s script was deemed so crackerjack that “Rebirth” was fast tracked into production, and is now releasing just a year and change after it was first announced. While some thought this meant that the resulting movie would end up being a rushed mess, “Rebirth” proves that both Edwards and Koepp are excellent craftsmen, as it’s a delightfully thrilling summer movie adventure. It’s rather slight, and doesn’t provide any sort of bold new direction for the franchise, but as far as cinematic cheeseburgers go, it’s a tasty one.
The setup for “Rebirth” is part Merian C. Cooper, part Spielberg. Five years after “Dominion,” the dinosaurs that had been released into the wilds of the world have begun to die out due to the too-altered climate of present day Earth (shades of “War of the Worlds,” there). However, it turns out that the land around the equator is just close enough to a prehistoric climate that the creatures can survive there, and thus the world’s governments have allowed this migration to happen while cordoning off those areas and forbidding any human contact. When a pharmaceutical tech, Martin (Rupert Friend), hires a mercenary, Zora (Scarlett Johansson), to build a team to infiltrate an island near the equator (which used to be a bio lab for the old Jurassic World theme park) in order to obtain some Dino DNA that could lead to wondrous medicinal breakthroughs, the troubled merc jumps at the chance. Taking a paleontologist, Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), and her ship captain friend, Duncan (Mahershala Ali), along for the journey, the crew’s mission is complicated by the discovery of a family on a sailboat that strayed off course enough to be attacked by a roving Mosasaurus. When both the merc unit and the family are shipwrecked on the island, it’s a race to try and get themselves safe and extracted, while also somehow obtaining the precious blood of the creatures.
If that description makes “Rebirth” sound like two different movies in one, it’s impressive that Edwards smooths those rough edges over enough that it doesn’t feel like it. In fact, the combination makes the movie feel like a ‘70s “Godzilla” sequel, the type that featured both a militaristic group and an average everyday kid (a dynamic more recently seen in the MonsterVerse’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”). Still, there are some bumps in the road — Koepp’s script is very intelligent and erudite to the point where it may be overwritten, attempting to paper over cracks that aren’t noticeable until they’re drawn attention to. The clash between the merc team and the family (portrayed by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono and Audrina Miranda) is mostly a peanut-butter-and-chocolate one, something which feels standard for a summer movie ensemble and one which nakedly attempts to give the movie as many flavors of “Jurassic” as possible, blending the hunters with the innocents. It also allows Koepp and Edwards to shoehorn in some moments missing from earlier entries in the series, such as the infamous T-Rex vs. a raft full of people encounter from Michael Crichton’s source novel.
That setpiece is a great example of how Edwards excels at staging suspenseful encounters with these larger than life creatures, something which the previous few “Jurassic World” movies couldn’t quite master. While “Fallen Kingdom” and “Dominion” introduced oodles of new conceptual ideas to the series, Edwards’ work here proves that what the “Jurassic” films really need is a good dose of tension, where the dinosaurs aren’t just creations of digital wizardy but have a rough-edged attitude. It’s a neat slight-of-hand for a filmmaker to convince you that, despite every bit of knowledge you may have about blockbusters keeping certain characters alive, anyone could be a main course next. In addition, Edwards, cinematographer John Mathieson, and visual effects supervisor David Vickery keep an element of awe with the dinosaurs throughout, and not just in the film’s prerequisite scene of the scientist characters gawking over a majestic beast. Yet even there, the movie excels where prior “Jurassic” entries have floundered — as with “Monsters” and “Godzilla,” one can feel Edwards’ affection for these fictional creatures every moment they’re on screen, no matter whether they’re lounging, playing, mating or preparing to snack on an unsuspecting human.
The biggest failure of “Rebirth” isn’t really to do with what it is, but what it isn’t. Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park,” like “Jaws” before it, was an adaptation of a popular novel that allowed the director to make a movie as close to pure horror as he ever got; in other words, it’s an example of the pinnacle of genre filmmaking. The sequels have varied between no-nonsense programmers and high concept maximalism, which leaves the identity of the series rather up in the air. A title like “Rebirth” initially seemed to promise some bold new direction for the franchise, yet the movie that bears its name is basically a no muss, no fuss rollercoaster ride. Is this soft reboot meant to infer that “Jurassic” will be a self-contained, episodic series that emerges every couple years? Certainly, several of the characters in this film could make a return appearance, but no one is set up for some multi-film arc. Other than an indication to general audiences that this film isn’t necessarily a direct sequel to any of the prior installments, the “Rebirth” title doesn’t make sense, and could give people a false expectation of the movie’s intentions, which are ultimately modest.
Yet isn’t going back to a time pre-cinematic universe something we’ve all mostly yearned for these past few years? It’s fairly refreshing to have a big summer movie where the star of the show is the good old craft of the filmmakers more than any groundbreaking grandiosity. “Jurassic” has to live with setting a high bar, of course — the original film revolutionized the industry, a status that “Rebirth” is all too aware of, as seen in its meta theme of dinosaurs becoming old news to a jaded populace. Yet just because cheeseburgers are now available anywhere doesn’t mean that they can’t be damn tasty. “Jurassic Park Rebirth” is just a well made cheeseburger, and whether that’s filling and interesting enough is up to your own appetite.
A Universal Pictures release, “Jurassic World Rebirth” opens exclusively in theaters on July 2, 2025.