Jurassic World Rebirth – Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours 13 minutes, Director – Gareth Edwards

A research team heads on a deadly mission to an island populated by dinosaurs, some mutated, to find a cure for heart disease, joined by a family they find stranded in the ocean.

18 months ago we didn’t know we would be getting a new instalment in the Jurassic Park/ World franchise. While having been worked on shortly after the release of 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion, based on an idea from Steven Spielberg and developed by screenwriter David Koepp, you could jump to accusing the film of having been made in a rush. However, while one or two slight instances might provide this feeling knowing the somewhat quick turnaround for the film, the main rush provided by Jurassic World Rebirth is a theme park style surge of excitement in its various sequences of dinosaur action.

Returning to a humans-in-a-dinosaur-environment basis, Rebirth sees a research team heading to an island near the equator where dinosaurs thrive, with the rest of the world seeing a decline in numbers having become bored and more inconvenienced by them than anything else, in the hope of finding DNA that could help create a life-saving cure for heart disease. However on the way the team (featuring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend and Jonathan Bailey) pick up a family (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, Audrina Miranda and David Iacono) who are left stranded in the middle of the ocean after a mosasaur attacks their small sailboat.

It takes a bit of time to actually get to the island with all the build-up, and it’s not long until both parties are quickly separated after their brief uniting, when crashing into the location. From there we’re treated to a handful of sequences building up to the big finale, each involving a different dinosaur. The structuring is certainly somewhat simplistic, and can sometimes feel as if it’s putting a bit too much focus on the dinosaurs, but there’s no denying that they still have an effect.

Director Gareth Edwards clearly has a love for the creatures, and working with the visual effects in this regard after what was achieved with a mid-budget sci-fi such as The Creator. Plus, the T-Rex remains just as cool as it ever did and the river-side chase involving the creature is successful largely because of its presence. Yet, much like the film as a whole there’s a good bit of build up to it. It seems that each scene in Rebirth either has to build up to its point or stretches the point out a bit too much – causing the film to feel ever so slightly too long, perhaps fitting better closer to two-hours rather than two-and-a-quarter.

Part of this feeling may also come from the fact there there are effectively two stories being told with the separated group of characters, and perhaps the film could do without the presence of the Delgado family, despite the characters being involved in some good sequences. Their introduction feels like something of a tangent and each of their appearances as they try to make their way to a village they’ve been told about on the other side of the island make for a clear subplot which provides a bookend leaning into the main narrative arc, before the introduction proper of the D-Rex.

While having been featured in toy promotions and some marketing, if possible, the D-Rex is a creature that’s best witnessed for the first time in the film. A mutation straight from a shudder-inducing body horror, designed on the island as a way to bring back interest in dinosaurs around the world, the towering beast certainly provides a creeping sense of fear in the latter stages, while prior dinosaurs manage to create a sense of tension in their up-close moments.

The sense of wonder around some of the sights isn’t quite present, no matter how much Alexandre Desplat uses John Williams’ iconic Jurassic Park theme – only one time really feeling as if it’s been earned. But, there’s still a tension and excitement to be found within the individual moments which make up most of Jurassic World Rebirth’s slightly stretched run-time.

While the run-time might be stretched with drawn out or overly built up points, the individual sequences of dinosaur action that make up most of Jurassic World Rebirth have a thrill and tension that helps keep things going for the most part. There may not quite be wonder, but there is a fearful edge in the latter stages.