Jurassic World Rebirth

We are somewhere in a city in the United States. After much discussion and careful consideration, Zora Bennett accepts a mysterious, dangerous, and above all, forbidden mission. With her small team of scientists that she has just assembled and under the orders of her sponsor Martin Kribs, a pharmaceutical representative, she is ready to go. All that remains is to quickly find a boat willing to take the group to a remote island near Ecuador. Why such a distant and secret mission? This is where dinosaurs live, where the climate is conducive to their survival and far from any human beings. The scientists must take DNA from three different species of these prehistoric monsters. According to medical research, the substances contained in each of their hearts could cure and prolong the lives of heart patients.

Led by Duncan, the captain of the boat, they set off on their journey and quest for hope, all with the image of these dinosaurs in their minds, which both attract and frighten them.  As soon as we approach the island, we are captivated by the wild beauty of the jungle, its green mountains and the cries of birds. Everything seems peaceful. Emotion, the pleasure of contemplating an original landscape, and the impression of stepping back in time. But this picture-postcard atmosphere is quickly disturbed by a huge rumbling sound in the distance. The group goes from one discovery to another, encountering sea, land, and air monsters, each more terrifying than the last.

Alongside this team of researchers, new characters appear on screen, caught in a storm. They are a family on board a small boat, on vacation to relax, but now they must try to keep their boat afloat, as they are destabilized by the raging sea and have their work cut out for them. They too will experience crazy and unexpected adventures.

Director Gareth Edwards has successfully recreated the atmosphere of a change of scenery, a return to the roots of Jurassic Park, and the appeal of these prehistoric monsters, which, as one of the characters reminds us, had fallen into disuse. The visual effects are remarkable both on land and at sea, with monsters that are certainly more realistic and frightening than others. This feature film starts slowly with more intimate passages and conversations between characters, but the film grows in interest and intensity in the second half, where the action and anxiety culminate. It has everything: car chases, escalation, suspense, bravery, betrayal, fear, emotion, and loyalty. The actors are well cast and excellent in their various roles. Duncan, the boat's captain, and Zora are perfect, motivated in their roles as leaders of the group of scientists, as is Reuben Delgado as the devoted father.

The only thing that bothered us was that the script was split into two parallel stories: on one side, a team of serious scientists searching for DNA, and on the other, a father and his children on vacation, lost in the middle of the ocean. The film brings them together by pure chance, but as we follow the exciting journey of this family with attention and suspense, we almost forget the other important group and the main theme of the film, namely scientific research. With these successive scene changes, we lose the thread of the story and interest by separating the two stories. The film loses some of its depth and credibility. The length is just right, and it's an entertaining film that will delight young and old fans of prehistoric animals and wildlife films with landscapes unspoiled by human pollution.

Jurassic World Rebirth
Directed by Gareth Edwards
Written by David Koepp
Based on Characters by Michael Crichton
Produced by Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ed Skrein
Cinematography: John Mathieson
Edited by Jabez Olssen
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Production companies: Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, The Kennedy/Marshall Company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates: June 17, 2025 (Leicester Square), July 2, 2025 (United States), July 4, 2025 (France)
Running time: 133 minutes

Seen on 17 June 2025 at Le Grand Rex cinema

Cookie's Mark:

Jurassic World: Rebirth doesn't arrive with a roar, but with the heavy, weary sigh of a franchise that moves forward more out of obligation than inspiration. Directed by Gareth Edwards, a filmmaker whose sense of scale and atmosphere already elevated the narrative genre in Godzilla and Rogue One, this seventh installment of the Jurassic saga is paradoxically both technically accomplished and emotionally hollow. Screenwriter David Koepp, who helped launch the original Jurassic Park in 1993 alongside Steven Spielberg, brings an ironic, even nostalgic understanding of the subject matter. But the result is a strange hybrid, halfway between B-movie spectacle, conscious homage, and the rebirth of a legacy that never quite understands what it is reviving. The reverential awe that once characterized this franchise has been replaced by a kind of mechanical professionalism. Dinosaurs are no longer majestic anomalies; they are simply part of the scenery, roaring on cue like overworked animatronics in an amusement park, while a bloated human cast attempts, with little success, to recreate the wonder that once defined this cinematic universe.

This time around, the franchise presses the reset button with a thinly veiled independent storyline: dinosaurs, now largely forgotten by humanity due to extinction caused by climate change, survive only in a tropical equatorial strip forbidden to humans. Enter the world of Big Pharma, with Martin Krebs, the deliciously repugnant character played by Rupert Friend, who is on a secret mission to recover the blood of three species of colossal dinosaurs in order to find a cure for heart disease. It's the kind of absurd and ambitious premise that only a franchise like Jurassic Park could attempt with any seriousness, because, of course, who else but dinosaurs have the biggest hearts? It's justification enough for Zora Bennett, a mercenary played by Scarlett Johansson, to assemble her team, including Duncan Kincaid, a soft-spoken boat captain played by Mahershala Ali, and Dr. Henry Loomis, a bespectacled paleontologist played by Jonathan Bailey, and head to the “restricted zone” where genetically modified monsters still roam free. True to the spirit of the series, what begins as a scientific heist degenerates into chaos, with shipwrecks, separated teams, and the obligatory shipwrecked family, including Manuel Garcia-Rulfo's father, Reuben Delgado, and his daughters, Luna Blaise and Audrina Miranda, who serve mainly as narrative ballast and cannon fodder to put the children in danger.

It's impossible to ignore that Jurassic World: Rebirth, despite its new faces and creatures, is a Frankenstein's monster made of recycled ideas. The plot may revolve around a new trio of creatures—Mosasaurus, Titanosaurus, and Quetzalcoatlus—but the structure is taken directly from The Lost World and Jurassic Park III. The film even opens with a flashback in which a genetically modified Distortus Rex escapes from a containment center because, seriously, a chocolate bar wrapper fell on the floor. This tone, both serious and ridiculous, permeates the entire film. The majestic dinosaurs are often treated with disconcerting casualness, as in a scene early in the film where a long-necked sauropod blocks traffic in New York City without causing much more than a few annoyed honks. The sense of grandeur that made the original Jurassic Park such a transcendent experience is diluted here into routine spectacle. When Dr. Loomis, played by Jonathan Bailey, sees a titanosaur for the first time, he delivers the kind of respectful and admiring monologue that made Dr. Alan Grant, played by Sam Neill, famous, but this time it feels more like a contractual obligation than a revelatory moment.

And yet, it must be acknowledged that Jurassic World: Rebirth does occasionally manage to recreate the magic of yesteryear. A scene in the middle of the film, in which a T-Rex attacks a raft in rapids, is a highlight, not only because of the tension, but also because Gareth Edwards finally lets himself indulge in the primal terror that made Steven Spielberg's original film so unforgettable. There's a visceral thrill in seeing Isabella, played by Audrina Miranda, separated from her family, drifting toward the gaping jaws of danger, before being saved at the last second. In these sequences, Gareth Edwards' talent for scale and suspense shines through. His dinosaurs, when they are brought to the fore, retain their ability to inspire awe, even if the film itself seems strangely indifferent to their fate. The Distortus Rex, with its alien appearance and strangely human eyes, is visually striking but underused, a metaphor for the film's central flaw: it introduces new ideas only to abandon them in favor of safer ground.

The actors do what they can. Scarlett Johansson, usually cold and sarcastic, brings surprising warmth to Zora, a character weighed down by vague trauma and a high salary. Her chemistry with Jonathan Bailey adds a touch of lightness and humanity. Bailey, meanwhile, plays Dr. Loomis not as an action hero, but as a clumsy, socially anxious academic who is overwhelmed by events. Their dynamic, which reverses the usual roles of the Jurassic formula, is refreshing, even if the script does little to exploit its potential. Mahershala Ali, meanwhile, brings gravitas to an underdeveloped role, his grief over the loss of a child barely explored but deeply felt in every silent glance. And Rupert Friend's oily performance as Krebs is so openly villainous that it borders on caricature, a necessary contrast to the film's otherwise understated emotional register.

What Jurassic World: Rebirth ultimately lacks is conviction. The film hints at an ecological allegory—climate change, corporate exploitation, the commodification of life itself—but never commits. Ethical dilemmas are raised only to be swept aside by the next dinosaur attack. The script references animal rights, habitat loss, and the moral bankruptcy of big pharmaceutical companies, but these themes are mere background noise for the real attraction: the special effects. And yet even these seem tired. The tactile realism of the animatronic dinosaurs is gone, replaced by smooth but soulless digital models. The creatures are beautiful, to be sure, but they rarely surprise. It feels like we've seen it all before, and worse, that the filmmakers know it and are simply hoping we'll enjoy the ride anyway.

Perhaps the most revealing moment is when Loomis, played by Jonathan Bailey, quietly admits that he wants to die in a shallow sea and be preserved in the mud, fossilized and forgotten. The line is meant to be humorous, but it is poignantly relevant. That's the impression left by Jurassic World: Rebirth: a fossilized franchise, trapped in amber, admired more for what it was than for what it is. And yet, even in its most superficial scenes, there is a glimmer of life, a reminder that dinosaurs, even overexposed ones, still have the power to captivate.
 If only the humans running this franchise could find the courage to evolve alongside them. Jurassic World: Rebirth is a misleading title. It's not really a rebirth. It's a rerun dressed up in new clothes, a sequel that follows the same well-trodden path without daring to forge its own.

But amid the roar of genetically modified predators and Alexandre Desplat's grandiose, John Williams-inspired score, there's just enough of that primitive spark left to remind us why we got interested in this saga in the first place. Will it be enough to sustain another sequel? No one knows. But as Dr. Henry Loomis says, life always finds a way. And in Hollywood, so do sequels.

Jurassic World Rebirth
Directed by Gareth Edwards
Written by David Koepp
Based on Characters by Michael Crichton
Produced by Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ed Skrein
Cinematography: John Mathieson
Edited by Jabez Olssen
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Production companies: Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, The Kennedy/Marshall Company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates: June 17, 2025 (Leicester Square), July 2, 2025 (United States), July 4, 2025 (France)
Running time: 133 minutes

Seen on July 4 2025 at Gaumont Disney Village, Theater 2, seat C19

Mulder's Mark: