Jurassic World: Rebirth – Film Review
Reviewed by Branden Zavaleta on the 8th of July 2025
Universal Pictures Australia by Gareth Edwards
Written by David Koepp
Produced by Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Ed Skrein
Cinematography John Mathieson
Edited by Jabez Olssen
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Rating: M
Running Time: 133 minutes
Release Date: the 3rd of July 2025
No matter what – above all else – a Jurassic Park movie needs cool dinosaurs. That’s what’s on the tin: a dino-adventure. That makes the reviewer’s job pretty easy. It boils down to one question: does Jurassic World: Rebirth have cool dinosaurs? And it does. It has loads of cool dinosaurs. Literally tons. They even invented new dinosaurs in that genetics lab to keep you guessing. So apart from that, every other delicately-considered, million-dollar decision is extra. The cherry on top. If you want to read about the finer minutiae of star power, colour grading, and the conflicting demographic appeal of the dual-plotlines, read on, but otherwise you’re set; cool dinosaurs confirmed.
What’s funny about these movies is that star power is in two parts: the actors and the dinosaurs themselves. Steven Spielberg made that T-Rex a star, and she’s been coasting off that success ever since. She’s in all of them and she’s in this one, but you can see her heart’s not in it. She’s retired. Literally sleeping through half the movie. When you spend so much time with the dinos in this movie, they need to be more than just dumb animals – a little personality and motivation goes a long way. Jurassic World (2015) had Grady (Chris Pratt) and his team of raptors. Jurassic World: Rebirth barely has a main dinosaur. The new big bad shows up at the end but doesn’t get much screen time or an epic fight. It feels tacked on, like a lazy shoe-in for the sales pitch.
In general, the formula for Rebirth is by the book. It hits the same notes as every other Jurassic Park movie: an A-plot with adult scientists and badasses getting killed off one-by-one, and a B-plot with kids escaping danger. One for the adults, one for the kids. A real family movie. A man gets gored in one scene, then you go on a white-water rapids adventure with pa. It’s an impossible balance that took Spielberg to work, and since then it’s been bumpy.
Rebirth is not the worst Jurassic Park movie, but it does rely heavily on how much you love its stars. Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali are charming, but it’s none of their best work. The script doesn’t lend itself to complexity. Each character has one scene to develop their characters – a sombre line like, ‘our kid died, so we divorced’ – then it’s time to go dino-whaling.
Surprisingly, this is sort of a strength for the B-plot, because the random family feels like people you’d meet on a rollercoaster. You don’t know them, but you get the idea, and all their screaming makes the experience more fun. They’re unknown actors and that works for it. They don’t rely on “she’s Black Widow”, or “this is like when he was in Predators” to carry their characters. Scar Jo might get butts in seats (no kidding, she hit “highest paid actor of all time” recently), but this random family is the better casting choice.
On the other hand, the colour grading feels like a cheap choice by the moneymen. The movie is naturally scenic – lush forests, deep oceans, cliffs in the clouds – the costume and prop department obviously put in a lot of work for stylish, colourful equipment too. And all these colour choices are washed out with a low contrast, grey/blue filter. It’s a colour grade that says “grim”, and it’s playing against its own strengths.
But it’s nothing that cool, million-dollar dinosaurs can’t overcome. They’ve got mosasaurs, spinosaurs, compies, and titanosaurs with tails like ballerina ribbons. You want dinos, you got dinos, and the all-terrain adventure through exotic lands is set dressing. They make the dinos look good.
Summary: Rebirth, another all-terrain adventure, is not the worst Jurassic Park movie, but it does rely heavily on how much you love its stars and cool dinosaurs. So many cool dinosaurs.
3
Fun
About the Author
Branden Zavaleta Based in Perth, Branden writes on the arts for a handful of Australian outlets. He's also a street & creative portrait photographer, who's work can be found @brandenzp on Instagram.
Related Posts
SMURFS | IN CINEMAS NOW! →
M3GAN 2.0 – Film Review →
F1 The Movie – Film Review →
