‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’ Is a Derivative and Entertaining Summer Blockbuster

Jurassic Park’s seventh installment is far from its worst

Accurate portrayal of author turning off his brain and gawking at scary dinos / Universal

Martin Scorcese once likened Marvel movies to theme parks. If that’s true, I’d argue that Jurassic Park films are like trips to the zoo. Or the museum. Or your friendly neighborhood geneticist with a god complex.

Perhaps this analogy doesn’t work as elegantly as I had hoped, but I digress.

Dinosaurs have always held a unique allure for me. And unlike my early affection for fire trucks and elevator buttons, the fascination has hardly dwindled with time. It’s endlessly remarkable to think that giant lizards once roamed this strange place we call home — and that the same law of evolution that separated people from primates and plants once saw colossal creatures crawling free from the oceans before towering above the trees.

Dinosaurs are a testament to the baffling diversity of forms that life can take, and their fossils are an enduring reminder of one of Planet Earth’s most enigmatic chapters. It’s a wonder how seldomly we sit in amazement before the fact that such beings ever existed, and the Jurassic Park franchise, for all of its flaws, has managed to keep that sense of awe —  and terror — alive for viewers better than textbooks ever could.

For most fans, the call to see Jurassic World: Rebirth is to see the T-rexes, velociraptors, and pterosaurs reprise their roles as abominable, prehistoric beasts. The movie’s appeal lies almost entirely in its special effects rather than a well-written script.

As its name implies, Jurassic World: Rebirth stands as somewhat of a reboot for the series. Or a re-reboot would be more accurate. (Sadly they haven’t taken me up on my “Jurassic Galaxy” or “Jurassic Universe” name suggestions just yet, but surely my idea has made its way to their drawing board. There’s always time for another trilogy!)

Jurassic World: Rebirth is also a return to form. It ditches the loose and meandering side plots and puts the features that make the franchise most memorable front and center. While the narrative still stumbles through some predictable beats, there’s a clarity of purpose here that the previous film sorely lacked.

Yet as with Marvel movies, it’s not always fair to compare the finished product to the likes of stories with fleshed-out characters and fully realized narratives. Insulting the creative voids that define most action movies often feels like criticizing roller coasters for not being philosophical enough — or dentist appointments for not being sufficiently reflective of the human condition.

I have a weakness for the films that excel within their scope, and the recent Jurassic World iterations have met that mark. They don’t try to break new ground. But they stomp all over it — and with an ever-realistic array of ever-mutating off-breeds that now put even The Simpsons’ three-eyed fish to shame.

The last couple of Jurassic World entries had at least as many holes and absurdities as can be found in a Fast and Furious film, it’s true. But they still offer enough in the way of seat-rumbling chaos to forgive their deficits. Despite Jurassic World: Dominion being a generally convoluted mess, and leaping between plots fast enough to give viewers whiplash, I thought it established an ending that was about as conclusive as the bloated saga would ever find.

The announcement of a seventh movie in the universe was the first that left me asking, “Really? Isn’t it about time to throw in the towel?” But by the time its promos began to emerge, I was at least as prepared to feel like a kid again as I was going into Toy Story 4. I set aside my aspersions and decided to reserve them for even more empty rehashes like Pinnochio (2022), The Little Mermaid (2023), Mufasa (2024), and Snow White (2025).

Is Jurassic World: Rebirth an equally opportunistic cash grab? Arguably.

Am I willing to forgive its faults for a sufficiently fearsome ensemble of Cretaceous period predators? Absolutely.

Are Mahershala Ali’s devilish good looks and charisma enough for me to set aside some pretty glaring narrative shortcomings? Look, I’m only human.

It’s a given for many viewers that sequels can rarely rise to the heights of originals. Many are content simply watching these sorts of blockbusters skate by on the laurels of previously established franchise heights. Having our nostalgia bone scratched is nearly enough reason to go to theaters.

I’m not usually a very tough critic when it comes to the features that are treated primarily as vehicles for spectacle. When viewed in theaters, they serve their functions well and I recommend them accordingly. But as a gamer, I admit there are times when I can’t help but wonder why the iterative improvement that’s treated as the driving force behind most Mario, Kirby, and Grand Theft Auto games so scarcely carries over to the world of television and film.

There are occasional followups that rise above debuts, but but oftentimes it seems that the best fans can hope for as any movie or TV series continues on is that it doesn’t lose its identity or fall apart. The linear improvement that’s treated as the law of the land throughout so much of the world of electronics barely seems to transfer to these franchises that span whole decades.

And producers are right to wager that we’ll continue filing into theaters regardless. When escapism is my primary motivation behind any trip to the cinema, it’s easy to settle for brainrot or bombast for the sake of bombast.

Still, I can’t help but find something sad in the way we’ve been forced to accept that the idea of a Jurassic Park entry that rises beyond the heights of the original is an impossible dream. Special effects have improved dramatically, the tools that are available to us as writers are far more advanced than we had when the original Jurassic Park released, and many of the minds behind that progenitor film remain alive and active.

Maybe there’s just no recreating the magic of seeing a T-rex rattle a theater for the first time. But to look at the improvements that happen between video game generations, and how they continue to evoke that familiar sense of awe in gamers as the years go on, it’s hard not to feel a bit cynical sometimes about the state of cinema. Jurassic World: Rebirth is what it needed to be, but little more. The producers certainly didn’t alter its core DNA.

Despite Steven Spielberg’s purported involvement with the film, I’m not fully convinced that the task of actually writing a script wasn’t just outsourced to ChatGPT. That’s not to say that the net result doesn’t still deliver a dose of the sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat excitement fans were anticipating, only that to be a summer blockbuster these days hinges much more on visual effects than narrative depth. And in the case of Jurassic World: Rebirth, the scale is tipped entirely toward spectacle.

But should “Jurassic Universe” finally make its way to the big screen, I’ll be in line on opening weekend, popcorn in hand, knowing full well that the franchise lost the plot back when Bill Clinton was still in office.