in Indian cinemas Friday, July 4 in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Jurassic World Rebirth kicks off with exactly the kind of silly setup you expect at this point from the franchise. A containment facility meltdown happens because of… a Snickers packet. Yep, we’re doing that. On top of that, it all takes place on a brand-new island no one’s ever mentioned before, instead of the many others Jurassic Park already ruined.
This is a standalone sequel set five years after the whole locust mess from Jurassic World Dominion. Dinosaurs aren’t exactly thriving anymore, except in a few isolated pockets near the equator where the environment suits them.
Enter Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a covert operations expert with a shady past, who gets roped into a mission by pharmaceutical rep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend).
The job is to head into dangerous dino territory, collect DNA samples, and help make a miracle drug for human diseases. Easy money. Helping her out are paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), team leader Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), and the usual squad of action-movie specialists.
The goal sounds like it was ripped straight from a video game: bag samples of one land dino, one sea dino, and one airborne dino. Of course, things immediately spiral when they stumble upon a shipwrecked family, the Delgados, near the island. And now it becomes rescue mission plus dinosaur disaster ahead for everyone involved.
Jurassic World Rebirth – Trailer 1 Stills
Some fun dino action, but the stakes fizzle out fast
Credit where it’s due, Rebirth takes its time building character moments before going full dinosaur chaos, and that mostly works. The early Mosasaurus boat chase scene is easily one of the highlights, bringing solid tension, some decent scares, and even a few deaths in true Jurassic Park fashion.
But here’s the problem. After that, the stakes practically evaporate. Once the main characters start shrugging off deaths and the supporting cast thins out, it’s obvious who’s sticking around till the end. Suddenly, that dino danger doesn’t feel so dangerous.
There’s a decent T-rex scene later on, but it’s not your regular T-rex.
Turns out, this island hides an old Jurassic Park research facility, complete with mutated dinosaurs courtesy of past genetic experiments.
That twist gives the creature design a weird edge, and seeing these mutant creatures wreak havoc is admittedly a fun touch, even if the film doesn’t lean into it as much as it could’ve
The cast tries, the writing doesn’t help much
While Johansson and the rest of the squad carry the action side of things, the Delgados get their own survival subplot. Dad Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda), plus Teresa’s boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) all get roped into the madness on the island separately. Thankfully, the performances across the board are solid.
Johansson plays Zora with the right mix of world-weary and badass, while Jonathan Bailey does a charming performance as the nerdy palaeontologist. The Delgado family dynamic is believable enough, and the whole cast honestly gives it more than the script deserves.
Because unfortunately, the writing just doesn’t do them any favours. Characters make baffling, painfully dumb choices, and not in the fun, self-aware way that some older Jurassic films pulled off. It’s the kind of writing that makes you sigh rather than laugh.
The film does pace out its dinosaur reveals decently, though. You won’t feel short-changed on dino screen time, and when the creatures show up, the action is entertaining. Alexandre Desplat’s score is serviceable, but the real nostalgia hit comes when those classic John Williams themes sneak in. The only downside is that it reminds you how far this franchise has fallen from that iconic first film.
