Jurassic World Rebirth, the newest entry in the billion-dollar dinosaur franchise, fails to impress with its characters and story, despite a talented new cast and a chilling opening scene. Although director Gareth Edwards improves the visuals compared to past films, the movie repeats old problems, mainly bland human characters and not enough dinosaur action.
Set five years after Jurassic World Dominion, the film follows a group hired to visit a dangerous island where dinosaurs now live. The goal? Extract material from the dinosaurs to create powerful new medicines. The group includes Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a soldier-for-hire; Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a paleontologist; Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), a boat captain; and their boss, Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), a profit-driven pharmaceutical executive.
Despite the A-list cast, the characters are dull and forgettable. Unlike the original Jurassic Park—where viewers felt the same wonder as the characters—Rebirth has people who only care about money. There’s little passion for science, and any emotional backstory is barely explored.
Halfway into the film, a surprise second group of characters appears: a single dad (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his daughters, and a boyfriend. These characters add more talking and family drama, but no fresh insights into the dinosaurs or ethical debates. Their presence slows down the story even more.
Pacing is a major issue. After a scary but unrelated opening, the first third of the film is mostly people talking without saying much. The dinosaurs don’t show up for a long time, and when they do, there’s little excitement or danger. The characters rarely feel like they’re truly at risk, killing any suspense.
While Edwards is skilled at creating visual spectacle (as seen in Godzilla and Rogue One), he struggles to make the audience care about the characters. His attempt to build slow tension like in Jaws fails because nothing interesting is happening in between dinosaur scenes. And when the dinosaurs do appear, they’re not given enough importance or screen time.
Even though Jurassic World Rebirth tries to reboot the franchise with new faces and a darker tone, it repeats the same old mistakes. Without strong characters or meaningful science fiction elements, the film ends up being another forgettable sequel in a series that has lost its sense of wonder.