Jurassic World Rebirth [Film Review]
Jurassic World Rebirth
Released: July 3, 2025
Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Ed Skrein.
The dinosaurs are back to their scary, animalistic ways and once again humans are back to the bottom of the food chain.
It's no secret that Jurassic World went from being a billion dollar franchise to the laughing stock of Hollywood with fans and critics alike slamming the rebooted series after disastrous outings for both Fallen Kingdom and Dominion. One of the key complaints was that the movies steered too far away from the original Jurassic Park source material and focused more on the story of its characters, rather than the dinosaurs we all came to see first and foremost. With each film's release, the decline in movie-goers was hard to ignore, and this was reflected in the opening scenes of Jurassic World Rebirth, which touched on humanity losing interest in dinosaurs - who have been living freely in the real world since their release in Dominion.
Rather than trying to dig upwards, the seventh entry decides to take the standalone approach and introduces a new cast of fearless protagonists who are commissioned for a top-secret mission to extract DNA from the largest living species in order to help produce a cure for brain disease. Anything for a great cause right? Dinosaurs are dying in the real world because they can't live in our conditions and so the team must head close to the equator to the secluded Ile Saint-Hubert island - which also happens to host a former secret InGen research laboratory... you can guess what went wrong there right?
Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) leads the strategically planned (ha!) charge alongside paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), team leader Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) and a list of forgettable future lunch items to retrieve samples from a Mosasaurus, a Titanosaurus and a Quetzalcoatlus egg; but as expected, it's not as easy as it sounds. Before they even get started, the team receive a mayday call from Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) who takes the honours of being the worst co-parent in human history after setting sail across dino-infested waters in the Atlantic Ocean with his two daughters Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Isabella (Audrina Miranda) - and Teresa's obnoxiously hateable boyfriend, Xavier (David Iacono). When the family come up second best to a Mosasaurus, their rescue becomes priority number one, much to the disapproval of Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) - the pharmaceutical rep funding the extraction expedition.
When the group are set upon by a pack of Spinosauruses, both parties are forcibly split up and must endure the Island's elements (while continuing with their extraction mission) in a scenario that makes this movie so special - dino survival horror - with plenty of call backs to the original series alongside scientifically accurate portrayals of dino behaviour which should get your inner-child screaming with delight. Not only are we met with a T-Rex chase scene reminiscent of the first Jurassic Park, but the mutated/experimental species (Mutadons and Distortus Rex) add to the shock horror of the film's thrilling cat and mouse chase scenes.
Now, over the past week I have seen review after review tearing this film apart for its supposed basic storyline and plot - but I question whether those reviewers wanted to rip into the film because internet pile-ons are "so hot right now" or if they don't understand the purpose of popcorn creature features. Flashing back to the original Jurassic Park, the scene with the raptors in the kitchen is ingrained in my memory forever as one of the scariest cinematic moments for a child to witness at the time, and taking my little man along has instiled the same fear in him - to which he excitedly asked if we could see the movie again, simply for the rush and excitement of wondering - what would you do in the same situation?
In saying that, it's not without its flaws. Too much emphasis was put on the D-Rex being a menacing experiment gone wrong, only for it to show up in a handful of scenes - many of which were hard to make out due to the darkened shots - and I highly doubt the characters were unable to see/hear the T-Rex get up and walk away prior to the raft scene (when you see it, you'll know what I mean), but I'm letting that slip simply because they introduced something from the Michael Crichton novel that many long-term fans will salivate over.
This entry isn't going to redefine cinema, but it does reignite the flame in an otherwise extinct franchise that has entertained the masses for the better part of the past 32 years and will result in servicing fans and their kids something to rave about for years to come.
Jurassic World Rebirth is an unsettling thrill ride into the dark side of the franchise, tapping into its survival horror roots with edge of your seat action and fearsome dinos long missed since the originals.
Rating: 4/5
Review by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul
Jurassic World Rebirth is in Australian cinemas now.
