Jurassic World Rebirth is shaping up to be different from the Jurassic World trilogy, which starred Chris Pratt in the lead, while also paying homage to the first three Jurassic Park movies. Helmed by Gareth Edwards, Rebirth is scheduled to hit theatres on July 2. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, and Jonathan Bailey.
While Jurassic World (2015) and its sequels (Fallen Kingdom and Dominion) were much larger in scale, visuals, and destruction, they lacked a strong storyline to justify their grandeur and relied too heavily on the star power of Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Another factor that made the trilogy less impactful was its focus on human villains. For instance, the 2015 film featured BD Wong (Dr. Henry Wu) and the late Irrfan Khan (Simon Masrani, owner of Jurassic World) as the movie’s most influential figures. While they cannot be classified as villains in the traditional sense, their ambition to make dinosaurs bigger and scarier—while profiting massively—puts them in a morally questionable position.
By the time Masrani and Wu realise their mistakes, it is already too late. In Fallen Kingdom (2018), Rafe Spall’s Eli Mills serves as the primary antagonist. As one of the caretakers of the Lockwood estate, he secretly plans to sell the captured dinosaurs from Isla Nublar on the black market for immense financial gain.
Spall, as a villain, simply appeared bland and clichéd. Meanwhile, Wong’s portrayal of Dr. Wu was not as intriguing as in the 2015 entry, where the character exuded an extra layer of mystery and confidence. In Fallen Kingdom, his ambitions and ego get the better of him, leading him to create the Indoraptor—a transgenic, weaponised dinosaur designed to follow human commands, incorporating DNA from both Velociraptors and the Indominus Rex.
Dominion (2022) was a massive letdown in terms of storyline and characterisations. Even the highly anticipated return of veterans Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum couldn’t save the movie from being a complete mess. Adding fuel to the fire was the film’s villain, Campbell Scott’s Dr. Lewis Dodgson, who planned to sell dinosaurs on the black market and create an army of giant locusts.
Scott’s performance was Dominion’s biggest weak point, as his portrayal was too mundane and one-dimensional for a franchise like Jurassic World. This is where Jurassic World Rebirth sets itself apart.
Instead of focusing on family drama and annoying kids like the 2015 Jurassic World reboot, Rebirth takes inspiration from The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001). It places resourceful adults in dangerous situations where they must fight to survive against carnivorous dinosaurs.
We will not see a new theme park or villains selling dinosaurs on the black market this time. Instead, Jurassic World Rebirth follows Zora Bennett (Johansson) as she leads a mission alongside her team operative, Duncan Kincaid (Ali); a pharmaceutical representative (Friend); and paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Bailey).
Their objective is to infiltrate an abducted research facility and collect samples from three of the most dangerous dinosaurs to have ever existed—deemed too deadly to be kept at Jurassic Park.
A positive aspect of Rebirth is its subtle humanitarian theme. The human characters are working toward a medical breakthrough by collecting dinosaur DNA.
Moreover, in Jurassic World Dominion, we saw dinosaurs roaming freely in many parts of the world. However, the dinosaurs in Jurassic World Rebirth have a distinct advantage—they have inhabited their island for over 30 years, giving them complete familiarity and control over their territory.
The return to a restricted island setting in Jurassic World Rebirth is a promising sign. This film introduces a new location—a previously unnamed island distinct from Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna (the islands featured in earlier Jurassic Park movies). While those islands were near Costa Rica, this new island is located near Barbados, further east in the Caribbean. Stay tuned for more updates.
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