Jurassic World Rebirth Review
Jurassic World Rebirth is a sometimes fun but ultimately hollow sequel.
Jurassic Park Rebirth. Universal Pictures / Amblin Entertainment
Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, The Creator, Godzilla) directed the latest Jurassic Park sequel, the seventh in the series and follow-up to the Jurassic World trilogy that ended in 2022 with the dismal Jurassic World Dominion. Rebirth is a step up from that entry, but still falls short of reaching the heights of the original movie, which it constantly references.
Dinosaurs, free from the Park, had spread all over the planet—hence, “Jurassic World.” At the start of the film, we’re told that within a few years, all died due to unfavorable environmental conditions, except for those living along the equator. Being a dangerous place, every government has made travel there illegal. Scummy pharma exec Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) hires mercenary Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and dino expert Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) to journey to this forbidden zone to get genetic material from the three biggest dinosaurs of land, sea, and air because it’s needed to develop new drugs to treat heart disease. They set off on their journey, and things quickly go south, as you can probably imagine.
Jurassic Park Rebirth. Universal Pictures / Amblin Entertainment
The cast is rounded off by two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as smuggler Duncan Kincaid, and Manuel Garcia-Ruffo, Luna Blaise, Audrina Miranda, and David Iacono, making up a family unfortunate enough to get caught up in the events. The ensemble as a whole is good, and I don’t think any of them is at fault for the film's issues.
One of the central conceits of the film is that the island we visit was home to labs that were tasked with creating hybrid dinosaurs through gene manipulation, so we see some creatures that are entirely fabricated. The movie doesn’t take advantage of these monsters in an interesting way, making them feel like an afterthought. The final confrontation with the ridiculously named “D-Rex” is forgettable. There’s a big lost opportunity here.
Edwards constantly references iconic images from Spielberg’s 1993 original, but outside of the original context, there’s nothing meaningful outside of “hey, remember that?” The movie is an empty echo of Jurassic Park. At least a couple of sequences simply rehash scenes from the first movie. The action, despite having some great moments, doesn’t have anything new to say. Edwards and screenwriter David Koepp don’t dare to do anything truly different. That said, I can’t help but feel joy when watching dinosaurs do their thing in these movies, and I’ll keep watching them as long as they make them. The creatures look great.
Jurassic Park Rebirth. Universal Pictures / Amblin Entertainment
Jurassic World Rebirth is worth seeing on the big screen, thanks to the spectacle of its visual effects. If you missed the films in the last trilogy, you can still see this movie without needing the context. It may be a mediocre movie, but it’s still a lot of fun.
Jurassic World Rebirth opened in theaters on July 2, 2025.
