Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) Universal/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure RT: 134 minutes Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language and a drug reference) Director: Gareth Edwards Screenplay: David Koepp Music: Alexandre Desplat Cinematography: John Mathieson Release date: July 2, 2025 (US) Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Niamh Finlay, Bechir Sylvain.
Rating: *** ½
Unlike the majority of filmgoers, I didn’t dislike the Jurassic World trilogy. I didn’t think any of them were great, but they weren’t bad either. There hasn’t been a great Jurassic movie since Jurassic Park (1993), the one that started all this dinosaur business. That is, until now.
The circumstances under which I saw the newest installment Jurassic World Rebirth were rather unusual. It was the AMC Screen Unseen feature on June 23. They don’t usually show blockbuster-type movie. They typically show smaller films (e.g. The Life of Chuck, 40 Acres) that most people haven’t heard of. The idea is to generate positive word of mouth. You don’t need to do that with Jurassic World Rebirth. People know what it is; they’re going to come out and see it. I, like everybody else I know, was shocked when word got out that this would be the Screen Unseen. I’m so glad it was. It’s great!
Directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One), Jurassic World Rebirth is the first time NONE of the characters from the original make an appearance. There’s a single mention of Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), but that’s it. This seventh installment in the series has a whole new set of characters (or dinosaur bait if you prefer) trespassing where they ought not to be. In this instance, it’s Ile Saint-Hubert, an island on which an InGen research facility was once located. They were experimenting on dinosaurs, creating new species, until things went south and they had to close down. Now the island is populated by dangerous prehistoric creatures.
It’s now illegal for humans to travel to locales populated by dinosaurs. This is why pharmaceutical company rep Martin Krebs (Friend, Homeland) has to go off the books for a special mission. He needs DNA from the three biggest creatures to make a new drug with massive life-saving potential. It’s a cure for heart disease. He hires covert operative (or mercenary if you prefer) Zora Bennett (Johansson, Black Widow) to lead a team, which includes paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Bailey, Bridgerton), to the island to obtain the necessary genetic material. Transportation is provided by boat captain Duncan Kincaid (Ali, Green Book).
Along the way, the team picks up a shipwrecked family- dad Reuben (Rulfo, The Magnificent Seven), teen daughter Teresa (Blaise, Manifest), her boyfriend Xavier (Iacono, Fear Street: Prom Queen) and youngest daughter Isabella (Miranda) – after their boat is capsized by a giant prehistoric aquatic creature. They all end up on the island where they chased and hunted by dinosaurs of all varieties including one called a D-Rex, basically a mutant T-Rex.
Anymore, the big summer blockbusters leave me with a hollow feeling. Jurassic World Rebirth is the first movie this summer not to do that. It’s great! I enjoyed as much as I did the original Jurassic Park more than 30 years ago. It’s thrilling, it’s fun and contains plenty of chomp-chomp action. The dinosaurs, a combination of animatronics and CGI, look cool, especially the D-Rex. Some are fierce; a few, like the Aquilops adopted by the little girl, are cute. Initially terrified of dinosaurs, she gets over it quickly once she bonds with “Dolores”. The special effects in Jurassic World Rebirth are really quite good, but not as impressive as they were in ’93.
One of the most predictable things about Jurassic World Rebirth is the fate of the characters. You pretty much know who’s going to live and who’s going to end up as dinosaur chow. That’s fine; it’s part of the fun. The cast does a good job. I love Johansson as an actress, but I wasn’t completely sold on her as a tough mercenary. She’s played bad ass characters before- e.g. Lucy, the MCU films- but she seems a little out of element here. To her credit, she’s a lot better than Bryce Dallas Howard in the previous JW movies. I don’t think it’s any big secret that Friend’s character turns out to be a bad guy. He’s a greedy corporate type who claims of altruism are total BS. He plays a great villain. Bailey does a fine job as the nerdy scientist who legitimately has good intentions.
Jurassic World Rebirth is the kind of movie you surrender yourself to on a Saturday afternoon. It’s silly yet smart. Edwards doesn’t weigh things down with more talk about playing God. It’s just a movie where people, most of them not too bright, get chased by dinosaurs. It has plenty of action and a few scary scenes. It’s a fun summer movie. Just sit back and enjoy.
