Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

A decade after the rather refreshing return to the dino verse with Jurassic World, I’ve finally found the one high point that has occurred: The Lego Jurassic World Video game.

Like all the Lego games based off of IP, the humor is right in my wheel house. The best part by far is unlocking Lego Steven Spielberg and having him hit targets by throwing Oscars. That to me is bliss. On the other end of this spectrum is misery, which is reserved for every one of the sequels that has followed: Fallen Kingdom, Dominion, and, now, Rebirth.

I won’t get too far into the plot, but the film basically consists of Zora Bennett (Scarlet Johanson) teaming up with her old friend/covert op leader Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) and paleontologist Henry Loomis (Wicked’s Jonathan Bailey) to one of the last islands left on earth that still houses dinosaurs (we are told the Earth’s climate has killed many of them off, so they are reduced to restricted islands close to the equator). They are going to help pharm rep Martin Krebbs (Rupert Friend) get dino DNA from the three biggest ones left in order to cure heart disease.

Meanwhile, there is also a family consisting of Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) who is on a boat trip of sorts with his two daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (a fine young actress named Audrina Miranda), as well as Teresa’s boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono). There are reasons for this plot line. The first is because every Jurassic movie requires at least one child character to be in danger…actually, I can’t think of any other reasons.

I am not going to sit here and pretend I am deft in dinosaurs, but ever since the first Jurassic World, each film has had something to do with the mixing of different dinosaur DNA (Indominus Rex, the Indo Raptor, etc).In this movie, the island they land on is the one meant for ones deemed to dangerous for the public. Why did they do this in the first place? Because, as the movie states, the public is getting bored of them. “No one cares about these animals”.

What easily angered me the most is the talent behind this movie. I already mentioned the actors (Scar Jo has been on record that she had always wanted to be in a Jurassic movie, and she is doing her best to have fun), but those off screen are just as talented. Director Gareth Edwards has done works such as 2014’s Godzilla (which is clearly referenced in the opening of Rebirth), Rogue One, and The Creator (the latter with amazing CGI, which I would argue did not transfer quality to this movie). Writer David Koepp returns to the franchise after the second film (the last one Spielberg helmed). The staunch Alexandre Desplat composes the score, while John Mathieson (Gladiator) is the cinematographer. All of these talented people have had better projects, and will continue to have others in the future.

Parents, its hard to imagine a kid (especially young boys) who are not enthralled by dinosaurs at some point in their lives. Obviously, the film is spooky for young souls, but if they have seen any of the previous ones, they should be fine here. There is swearing and creepy images, but the gore is rather tame (otherwise it would not be rated PG-13).

I’ve said before in the reviews of the other sequels that this franchise is, if not extinct, very close to it. The notes I took during this movie revolved around too many questions. I won’t go into specifics so as not to spoil it for those who truly want to see the movie, but I will tread lightly with two questions: “How did the T-Rex get up so fast?” and “How did a certain character, while about to meet their demise, manage to keep on urinating?” I would continue to bad mouth the franchise, but that would be kicking a dead dinosaur…which is honestly more compelling than the movie.

When I left the theater, I noticed three high school guys going into the next showing. For the first time in recent memory, I was rather tempted to simply yell out,

“Don’t! It isn’t worth it!” 

“Jurassic World: Stillbirth” would have been a more apt title.

Overall: