Irony can be so delicious. Early in this seventh installment in the Jurassic series, a character dismisses the concept of dinosaur-themed amusement parks as “engineered entertainment.” While this latest film introduces fresh characters, it hardly builds on a franchise born in 1993.
Those new characters include Scarlett Johansson as Zora Bennett, a mercenary and former military covert operative; Doctor Henry Loomis, a paleontologist, played by Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton); and Rupert Friend (Asteroid City) as Martin Krebs, a pharmaceutical company executive at ParkerGenix, who hires them to retrieve biological samples from the largest prehistoric dino-specimens (land, water and air), now living on an equatorial island in the Atlantic Ocean. To lead the expedition, Zora recruits her longtime friend and associate Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali, an Academy Award winner for both Moonlight and Green Book). Footnote: Bailey assumed another role in this project, clarinet in hand. Jonathan Bailey Performs Clarinet Solo for Jurassic World | TikTok
Screenwriter David Koepp, whose credits include scripts for the Indiana Jones, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man and Jurassic Park franchises, introduces another group of characters to this tale: a family shipwrecked on the same island while sailing around it. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer) portrays the father.
Back in 2022, Jurassic World Dominion extended and concluded the original Jurassic storyline, while bringing back no fewer than seven actors from the series. While its narrative lacked cohesion, it did introduce several substantive ideas–yes, actual ideas–to engage viewers, along with all of the de-extinct creatures. It addressed laboratory tampering with organisms and crops, along with animal cruelty, pestilence and black markets. Jurassic Park Rebirth has one idea, basically: that "science is for everyone," to quote Doctor Loomis. Alas, it only gets mentioned, as opposed to developed.
That leaves us with two groups of human “specimens,” separated for much of the movie, doing their best to survive the dinosaurs, navigate the all-too-familiar cinematic tropes, and escape the island. The actors all do professional work, but not very interesting work, given the screenplay and the dialogue.
On the other hand, the dinosaurs (and other creatures) wreak plenty of CGI havoc. They include the aquatic Mosasaurus, the terrestrial Titanosaurus and the avian Quetzalcoatlus. The collection of the biomaterial samples from them happens with relative ease after some dangerous preludes. In fact, the extended scene in which the intrepid human adventurers rappel down a steep rock face to access a nesting place produces genuine thrills. The filmmaking team (led by British director Gareth Edwards, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) cleverly manipulates the elements of height, depth, space and perspective in a way that really stands out. They also introduce a very photogenic Brontosaurus.
As you might expect, the imprint of executive producer Steven Spielberg, the creative force behind this immensely successful franchise, appears throughout this newest entry. You’ll note the petting of a docile dinosaur. Another that looks and behaves much like a puppy. And the focus on the children–the children who face danger, demonstrate resourcefulness and represent our greatest humanity. Beyond that, the series has squandered much of its potential.
While the storytelling is neither deep nor original, the dino-effects are impressive, and the jungle setting (with Malta and Thailand subbing for the fictional Ile. Saint-Hubert) is suitably atmospheric. Special credit to the British cinematographer John Mathieson (an Oscar nominee for Gladiator and The Phantom of the Opera). In the final act, he achieves remarkable, eerie results with his nocturnal imagery riddled with shadows and flares suggestive of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, followed by an epilogue drenched in a variation of sepia tone.
Composer Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water) has crafted a strong score with multiple distinct elements. He also provides his own continuity to the production by embedding John Williams’ iconic theme into the music at appropriate moments. You can listen for that, and you can watch for a visual homage to the late author Michael Crichton, who wrote the Jurassic Park novel.
Overall, Rebirth has a been-there-seen-that-before quality to it. Plenty of creatures remain to populate any sequels, in addition to the human characters. Undoubtedly, still more box office success awaits. Yet, as irony would have it, this is a classic example of “engineered entertainment” for the big screen.
