Jurassic World: Rebirth Movie Review

Released: 2nd July 2025 (UK and US)

Length: 133 Minutes

Certificate: 12A

Director: Gareth Edwards

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise and Ed Skrein

For more than three decades the Jurassic Park series has remained profitable in spite of diminishing critical returns. With Jurassic World, bloated action and references to the original swayed general audiences while slipping in quality. The seventh outing from Gareth Edwards tries to go back to basics, but it constantly stumbles along the way.

Sometime after the last film, most of the dinosaurs on Earth have died, unable to live in modern, highly populated areas. The remaining reptiles, including genetically modified abominations, reside near the equator after breaking out of the InGen labs years earlier. In this backdrop, the rich health executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) and a band of mercenaries sail to an abandoned island to harvest dinosaur blood for medical purposes. This includes Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), her old partner Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) and palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey). Along the way, the team picks up the Delgado family after their yacht is hit by a Mosasaur and the group soon find themselves stranded. The best thing I can say about Rebirth is how it discards hackneyed plot threads and takes a more straightforward approach, but it barely scrapes above the awful Jurassic World: Dominion. There are far too many contrived moments, convenient escapes and cumbersome scenes that remove most of the tension. For a film that claims to take a more standalone approach, it does a poor job developing the story and characters. At one point Dr Loomis brings up an intellectual discussion around man and our effect on the environment, but it isn’t woven in effectively. On top of that, it’s far too easy to tell who is going to live or die.

For the most part, the characters are hollow, predictable or badly written. Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey do some passable work in the lead roles, but their backstories have little effect on the core narrative. In the first act, Zora and Duncan bond over some shared trauma, but this character trait isn’t brought up again for most of the film. Henry Loomis also has the occasional conversation with Zora on ethics which doesn’t amount to much either. It’s the side characters who are truly awful; Reuben, Teresa and Isabella Delgado are fine, but Ed Skrein and Phillipine Velge have almost no material, Bechir Sylvain’s character has little depth and Xavier (David Iacono) is the same annoying boyfriend we’ve seen in so many modern blockbusters. His lines are really clunky and often bring the scenes to a halt. Krebs is no different from any other villain in the series; you could swap him out with most of the antagonists and the result would be the same. The main performers do their best and bring a hint of likeability, but you won’t feel very invested.

Jurassic World: Rebirth does have some strong technical work. The director knows how to present scale and his shots are a good fit for the series. An early face-off with the returning Spinosaurus works well and stands out from previous efforts. The ancient lizards are mostly computer-generated but when you see a colossal herd of Titanosaurs roaming through the grass, the film does a fine job replicating the sense of wonder. Some sequences like abseiling from Pterosaurs are well executed, but others can feel laughable. The most embarrassing moment involves the T-Rex and a seemingly indestructible dinghy. Somehow the filmmakers took the most iconic creature from the series and turned it into a neutered tickbox. Like most of its predecessors, the sense of danger is heavily diminished. The series has been stuck in a risk-averse limbo for years now and Rebirth shows no sign of improvement. The soundtrack from Alexandre Desplat uses some ambient remixes of past notes; on occasion it does match the majesty of the animals.

Jurassic World: Rebirth is yet another lacklustre sequel from a tired franchise. With Gareth Edwards directing, Steven Spielberg as executive producer and David Koep back as the writer, it’s baffling that the film turned out this way. Unless you’re a big fan of dinosaurs and monster movies, this production isn’t worth your time.

Rating: 2/5 Stars (Disappointing)