Jurassic World Rebirth Review: Spectacle Without Soul in a Franchise Running on Fumes

Jurassic World Rebirth promises a fresh era for a franchise that has long been chasing the magic of its 1993 origin. With a new cast, a new director in Gareth Edwards, and a chance to reboot the narrative away from the convoluted Fallen Kingdom/Dominion detour, there was real potential here. But while the dinosaurs remain as thrilling as ever, everything else feels like a draft that made it to the big screen without anyone stopping to ask whether the story was ready.

– “Jurassic World Rebirth” brings back the “Jurassic Park” franchise with a focus on capitalism as the real monster. Directed by Gareth Edwards, it offers thrilling dinosaur sequences but suffers from a script that has too many characters with little depth.
– Notable cast members, including Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, and Rupert Friend, perform well but are let down by needless conversations and subplots. The film contains visually impressive cinematography from John Mathieson and a stirring score from Alexandre Desplat.
– The story involves Johansson’s character, mercenary Zora Bennett, leading a team to an island inhabited by DNA-rich hybrid dinosaurs for a Big Pharma tycoon. The film attempts to tap into the nostalgia for earlier “Jurassic” films but is ultimately viewed as a film with diminishing returns.

The most obvious strength is the visual presentation. When the dinosaurs are on screen, the movie works. From the detailed creature animation to a few well-staged set pieces, like a river raft T-Rex encounter and a mosasaurus vs. ship battle, there’s excitement to be found. These moments feel big, chaotic, and cinematic. Unfortunately, they’re spaced out between stretches of exposition, character beats that go nowhere, and a plot that retreads the same ideas the series has covered multiple times before.

Scarlett Johansson leads the cast as Zora Bennett, a hardened mercenary in charge of securing dinosaur blood samples for a pharmaceutical company seeking a cure for heart disease. Johansson brings her trademark cool intensity to the role, but her character remains underdeveloped, existing primarily to sprint and shoot rather than evolve emotionally. Jonathan Bailey plays Dr. Henry Loomis, a paleontologist, and he handles the role with affable charm, though significant growth occurs only in broad strokes. Mahershala Ali fares worse; his character, Duncan Kincaid, is heavy on backstory but light on onscreen development, feeling tacked on without impact

Director Gareth Edwards is not to blame for the script’s shortcomings, but his direction leans too heavily on spectacle and not enough on performance. Edwards has a great eye for scale and mood, something he proved in Rogue One and Godzilla, but he has never been known for pulling out great emotional depth from his actors. Here, that limitation is more glaring. Without a grounded emotional core or believable relationships, even the film’s higher-stakes moments feel strangely muted.

The story is two different movies smashed together: the aforementioned chase for the dinosaur samples, and a family that is sailing the dinosaur-laden seas that gets caught up and trapped on the island. These are themes the series has touched on for decades, and Rebirth does little to add new weight or perspective. There are hints at larger questions about the hubris of humanity, ecological collapse, generational guilt, but they’re barely sketched in.

Structurally, Rebirth suffers from feeling rushed and underbaked. Dialogue is purely functional. Characters appear and disappear as needed. Plot points resolve as quickly as they’re introduced. The final act, which should be a crescendo of emotion and danger, is more of a checklist of expected beats. It all ends with a shrug.

That said, if your expectations are low and you’re in it for dinosaurs chomping or wandering while John Williams’ theme plays, you’ll probably find something to enjoy. The movie isn’t a total failure. It’s just frustrating to see so much potential wasted on something that feels so processed and lifeless.

Jurassic World Rebirth is not much of a resurrection. It feels like a movie made to keep the franchise alive, not to take it anywhere new. What it really needs is a pause, a moment to rethink what a Jurassic film can be beyond the same recycled beats. Until then, the franchise remains a shadow of its former self.

RATING: 2 out of 5 stars.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” is in theaters, July 3rd, 2025.