Jurassic World Rebirth Review: Scarlett Johansson slays, Jonathan Bailey squints, and Dinos wait for a better script

Jurassic World Rebirth Review: It's been 32 years since the dinosaurs returned, and the world has somehow built a life around the anomaly. But that is not where it all stops—the greed has now exceeded the fear, and medical companies now aim to fetch the DNA of the dinosaurs that are now captivated far on an island close to the equator. They aim to create a drug that can save the lives of heart patients. Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and Dr Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) are hired to do the job and take with them Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) and his team. As they move to the island, they are welcomed by a dinosaur that can now swim and is, of course, deadly. Can they survive this wild, deadly island while fetching the DNAs of three prehistoric dinosaurs?

Jurassic World Rebirth Review:

The Jurassic Park franchise has defined a very integral part of growing up for me and many from my generation, who grew up fascinated by the beasts unleashing havoc film after film while humans somehow saved the day and hope. A guy at the screening named 12 dinos to win a merchandise bag—that is the level of fandom we’re talking about. Through some seven-odd movies, the franchise has been one of the leading ones and one with the highest recall value, even when the last few were duds and took it towards extinction. So, when the studio announced ‘Rebirth,’ they went meta and meant the rebirth of the franchise. The announcement featured Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali—three massive stars with a reach maybe even more massive than a T-Rex.

It was clear that this was a desperate attempt to not let the franchise go extinct for the first time—and the dinosaurs for the second time; that too without an asteroid. Days went by, and we are finally watching Jurassic World Rebirth on the big screen with big stars and probably even bigger dinosaurs. But is that enough to revive a franchise that is associated with wilderness and also with the surprise of the best characters being killed? Certainly not. Even if Rebirth is a halfway return to form, the other half is a conveniently choreographed mess that screams the sass and power of the stars, and the many dinosaurs deserved much better.

But let us talk about merits first. Jurassic World Rebirth, for a massive chunk, is reminiscent of how Steven Spielberg would have imagined a revival if the franchise ever needed life support under his watch. The storytelling is as simple as it gets, the core is humanity, and the message is that everyone has the right to co-exist. That the lines need to be drawn, and even these massive beasts must be left to their own without us messing with their lives. The most interesting thing about director Gareth Edwards’ Rebirth is that it manages to blend real geopolitical problems and conflicts in a script that is talking about a fictional world. It talks about over three decades since the dinosaurs returned and how the world has made peace with the fact that they are back and must now co-exist. The greed has even seeped into the dino zone, where there was once only fear.

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What is also interesting is how the script that comes from David Koepp’s pen acknowledges how the human impact on the environment has affected even the dinosaurs, who cannot survive across the land and can only breathe near the equator. So, the humans have pushed them towards the equator and made sure there is no contact between them. But that is not where it all stops—someone even tried to mutate these beasts and created hybrids. Which means now dinosaurs can swim and fly. The imagination is vivid, wild, and so beautiful at first glance that one would be completely sold on the thought.

But that is where the imagination stops and doesn't bloom into the beautiful story that it should have. What it instead leads to is a quick change of heart, a love-for-humanity monologue, “Let’s run from the dinos and save the day.” There is nothing more beyond that because the script doesn't allow it. There is no novelty to the drama, to the conflict that arises beyond the base that lends itself to so much drama. There is no remote acknowledgement of the danger bed that these many characters have dropped onto, and not even an attempt by the dinosaurs to venture out of their captivity. These beasts are, at the end of the day, wild animals who do not immediately think with their brains. How would they not even try to follow these humans even a bit outside the range that is set for them? Very convenient.

Convenient is the word written all over how the characters are placed at every moment in Rebirth. Some characters from the word go are written to die, some to survive with broken bones, and some to go through a change of heart. That Zora is hungry for money in the first five minutes is a clear indication that she will have a change of heart. Those three stars are in the centre with backstories attached to them—they are not eligible to die even after one of them has fallen in front of a T-Rex as tall as a building. Deaths are convenient, and who to save is even more. This makes Jurassic World Rebirth very predictable.

Acting performances are excellent, as Scarlett Johansson makes sure she brings every drop of her Black Widow sass to the screen, while Jonathan Bailey balances that with his nerdy act. No one in this big, wide world would shed happy tears seeing a dinosaur live and breathing in front of them like the charming star does, and he makes you believe in that act. Mahershala Ali also adds so much more to this ensemble as he brings as much depth as possible. The set pieces are brilliant, and so is the CGI—you will be fascinated by the visual language of the film.

Jurassic World Rebirth Review: Final Verdict

Jurassic World Rebirth has everything right on the base level, where the urge to resurrect a franchise that is on the verge of extinction is visible. The problem is that the film cannot figure out what to do with the goodness that it has.

Jurassic World Rebirth is now in theatres. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more such reviews and everything else from the world of streaming and films.