Jonah Naplan   July 2, 2025

Steven Spielberg’s original 1993 “Jurassic Park” was an instant classic of adventure and thrills. It was simply revolutionary at the time, inspiring paranoia because the advanced moviemaking technology made the dinosaurs feel so real. Since then, the concept of these prehistoric creatures being scientifically bred in the modern world has paved way for six sequels, none of which have successfully captured the lightning in the bottle that illuminated the first movie. “Jurassic World Rebirth,” the newest entry into this long-running franchise, following “Dominion”—which we all assumed would be the last we’d see from this world—is the latest betrayal of Spielberg’s magic. It’s a largely languid, behemoth-sized blockbuster that greedily banks on the notion of seeing dinosaurs on the big screen, a selling point that loses its appeal the more it’s drawn out. Dragging along at 134 minutes, watching it made me wonder what the point was of tapping in new celebrities and switching up the plots if the movie was going to be so boring anyway. If only the sensible Ian Malcolm were here to give us an answer.

Set five years after the last adventure, “Jurassic World Rebirth” follows a motley crew of various types who travel to a forbidden island to gather dinosaur DNA that could potentially cure major diseases. Director Gareth Edwards (“The Creator,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Godzilla”) and writer David Koepp (who wrote the original “Jurassic Park” as well as both of Steven Soderbergh’s movies from this year, “Presence” and “Black Bag”) take a long time rounding up all these characters and sending them on their journey. The most important ones are Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a “situational” mercenary who you might find particularly unconvincing; Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a paleontologist whose chronic melancholy is the result of a lack of public interest in his dinosaur museum; Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), the crew’s boat captain whose history of dangerous jobs makes him a right fit for this journey; and Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), the Big Pharma executive who knows how to sweet talk but is only in it for the money and is constantly paranoid about maintaining the confidentiality of the mission.

There’s also a subplot involving a father (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his two daughters (Luna Blaise and Audrina Miranda), and the oldest’s boyfriend (David Iacono) who are trapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by hungry, water-dwelling carnivores. “Rebirth” cuts back to them regularly, and it’s the lousiest part of the movie, even when their escapade collides with our main set of characters on the island. This whole scenario acts as a flagrant reminder of how the entire movie is lacking in stakes, basically a chain of events that has its principal subjects running from one attack to another, and coming out on the other side with nary a scratch (can’t make these celebrities look bad!).

The action is relatively unimpressive, and for all the glitz and glamor of this big blockbuster (its epic budget of $180 million makes it one of the most expensive in the franchise to date, which is saying a lot), the CGI looks bafflingly cheap. All of the “dinosaur scenes,” which pit dinosaurs next to dinosaurs next to humans sometimes all in the same shot, feel unusually fake this time around. Still nothing can compare to the astonishing sight of seeing a crowd of brachiosaurus chow down on a feast of leaves for the first time, or a T-Rex chase down a helpless human in the midst of a torrential downfall. Edwards pays tribute to the first “Jurassic Park” with a sequence in a convenience store that directly parallels the iconic velociraptor kitchen scene. It’s perhaps the strongest moment in the entire movie, displaying a momentary understanding of what made the original so special. Then “Rebirth” goes back to whatever nonsense it was conjuring up before, as characters run around, yell each other’s names, and narrowly avoid dinosaur attacks, while things blow up behind them.

Not that the other movies had any logic, but this one is particularly dumb, relying heavily on coincidence and close calls to keep the adventure chugging along. The film’s attitude towards the stranded family is overly protective; it wouldn’t dare kill off anybody under the age of 21, even if these characters make some thoughtless or otherwise lazy choices throughout—it is a “family movie,” after all. That to say, it’s not as if anyone else meets their end here, either. If you’ve bought a ticket to “Jurassic World Rebirth” to see people snatched up and eaten by dinosaurs—one of the most satisfying elements of any of these movies—you’ll leave sorely disappointed. Where “Dominion” and “Fallen Kingdom” at least had the dinosaur carnage we paid for, there’s very little of that here. For the most part, Edwards and cinematographer John Mathieson focus their lens on the resplendent forests and creeks of the island, intercut between shots of the human characters delivering dull monologues to each other or addressing a conflict from the past or present that’s either physical or intellectual. We’re told that the vast majority of the world’s dinosaurs reside on this island because most other places have been rendered toxic—the last few movies have left off with these creatures assimilating into metropolitan society—but they must all be hiding behind bushes or up in trees.

None of the characters are especially interesting, and the hollow script doesn’t teach us more about them as it unfolds. Oscar-nominated actress Johansson is surprisingly bad here, adding nothing to a heroine who’s supposedly a “seasoned, tough-as-nails” type. Ali’s character is so nondescript for most of the runtime, but he does get a big moment in the third act that’s effective in context for whatever it’s worth. Friend doesn’t imbue his bad guy with anything beyond classic villainy clichés, failing to distinguish himself from other tyrannous billionaires who have oppressed the “Jurassic” predecessors. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bailey does the best job here, standing out as a wholly likeable and even somewhat convincing dinosaur nerd excited to see the creatures in their natural habitat.

There’s simply nothing in “Jurassic World Rebirth” that compares to the best moments this series has offered audiences over thirty-two years of action. Edwards’ attempts to rekindle the wonder of exploring an exotic land, running from ferocious creatures, and wandering through philosophical discussions of life’s interminable nature, all while an iconic John Williams score pounds down, feel mechanical, as if they were generated in the same lab that created these dinosaurs. It’s ultimately harmless and will likely continue the franchise tradition of earning roughly one gazillion dollars at the box office—though that might be a stretch considering other major titles it will compete with this month like “Superman” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”—but the visionary spark that once anchored this franchise has been stomped out.

Now playing in theaters.