'Jurassic World: Rebirth' review: Life needs to stop finding a way of making these movies

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

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The seventh (!) installment in a franchise that hasn’t come anywhere near the highs of its 1993 blockbuster origin, Gareth Edwards’ “Jurassic World: Rebirth” might be the best argument yet for this series to finally go the way of the dinosaurs. While it’s a slight step up from “Jurassic World: Dominion,” arguably the worst big-budget blockbuster of the century, “Rebirth” still fumbles the ball where it matters most: delivering the dino carnage fans actually come to see.

I could make a case that “Jurassic Park III” is better than its reputation suggests, if only because it breezes by in 90 fat-free minutes. And I still have a soft spot for 2015’s “Jurassic World,” which, at the very least, tried expanding the series in new and occasionally invigorating ways. But the buck has to stop somewhere, and life really needs to stop finding a way to will these movies into existence. Universal executives looked at their 2025 summer slate and fast-tracked “Rebirth” simply because… why not?

On paper, the film had potential. Original “Jurassic Park” screenwriter David Koepp was brought back into the fold, and Edwards showed early promise with “Godzilla” and “Rogue One” (although the latter was largely finished by Doug Liman, so take that with a grain of salt). But “Rebirth,” essentially a reboot of a reboot, winds up more like a dissection of our culture’s obsessive, and increasingly exhausting, relationship with this franchise.

Ironically, the movie opens with a decent prologue where a mutant T-Rex escapes military confinement, followed by jarring title cards informing us that the world has moved on from dinosaurs. Society is tired of them. In one scene, a dino lies stuck under a bridge, spray-painted with graffiti. That would’ve been an interesting thread to explore, humanity coexisting with these once-wondrous creatures, now desensitized to their presence. But that idea is tossed aside almost immediately for another tired island expedition, complete with soldiers, scientists, and greedy big-pharma execs. It’s a setup we’ve seen a hundred times before.

This time, the mission is led by Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), a snarky pharmaceutical rep who wants the DNA of three rare dinosaurs living on a remote, off-the-grid island. He’s not trying to clone them or unleash them on cities; instead, he’s attempting to create a medicine that could cure heart disease. A refreshingly grounded motivation, at least initially.

To complete the job, Krebs hires elite mercenary Zora Bennet (Scarlett Johansson), who ropes in paleontologist Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) and a team of specialists led by Mahershala Ali’s wry boat captain Duncan Kincaid. Their task: extract blood samples from dinos across land, sea, and air. That premise alone has the makings of a thrilling and inventive action-adventure. But “Rebirth” never captures even a fraction of the magic Spielberg conjured three decades ago.

Some of the blame lies in the film’s most baffling creative decision: an entire subplot following a vacationing family crossing the Atlantic. We meet Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his daughters Isabella (Audrina Miranda) and Teresa (Luna Blaise), and Teresa’s insufferable boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono). They seem destined to be dino bait but inexplicably end up tagging along with the mercenary crew. Their storyline adds nothing of value, feeling like an afterthought that only distracts from the central plot. Worse, the family and mercenary threads rarely intersect in meaningful ways, resulting in a disjointed narrative where neither side truly pays off.

There’s exactly one sequence that briefly recaptures the original’s tension: a stripped-down, suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse with a T-Rex. It’s quiet, simple, and effective. For a moment, I remembered what it felt like to be awed by these creatures. But it doesn’t last. The rest of the movie is poorly lit, bogged down by mediocre CGI, and overstuffed with limp action scenes that feel designed more for contractual obligation than creative excitement.

“Rebirth” flirts with having a theme, something about science being for everyone, not just the rich , but that final beat lands with all the impact of a wet towel. The performances are mostly flat, save for Ali, whose character is saddled with a vague tragic backstory. Bailey gets one nice moment when the iconic John Williams score kicks in, and Johansson has a fun “Jaws” riff, but that’s about it.

In the end, “Rebirth” adds nothing new to this exhausted franchise. It feels less like a movie and more like a corporate checkbox ticked off by a studio needing a summer tentpole. The film barely connects to previous installments, and with Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum nowhere in sight, the stakes feel inconsequential. The sad truth? There are probably many more of these coming. You just wish someone at Universal would finally listen to Dr. Ian Malcolm: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Grade: D 

JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH opens in theaters Wednesday, July 2nd