I’m sorry, but there’s only one genuinely great Jurassic Park movie, and that’s the original.
Based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same name, all of the subsequent films have been either just okay for me, or verging on terrible, with The Lost World and Jurassic Park III being in the “just okay” category, and the Jurassic World movies being in the “verging on terrible” category.
Or, at least that’s what I thought until I watched Jurassic World Rebirth, which is the most recent movie in the Jurassic World saga. And, while my colleague, Mike Reyes, wasn’t the biggest fan of the movie, given his review, Rebirth is actually the first film in the Jurassic World franchise that I genuinely liked. Here’s why.
the later Ghostbusters films).
Now, I must applaud the first Jurassic World since I feel like they did their best to try to avoid this. What I mean is, with the first Jurassic World, we got mostly all new characters, save for B.D. Wong from the first movie, as well as a brand new park. That said, it really did kind of feel like a modern day retelling of the first movie when it all was said and done.
The second World movie, Fallen Kingdom, initially felt like it was trying something new with the whole volcano thing, but when it all came down to it, it still felt like it was trying to recapture the magic of the earlier Jurassic Park movies.
Dominion was the weird one with the locusts, but it also relied on bringing back fan favorites like Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, and Ellie Sattler. And, as I alluded to earlier, I don’t like when characters from older movies get trotted back into later ones since even with a brand new plot, it still feels like it’s trying to relive the past.
However, Jurassic World Rebirth is different. It doesn’t feel like it’s trying to make you remember all about the previous Jurassic Park movies. Instead, with its simple, almost video game-y plot, its new characters, and even its new dino (The D-Rex!), it really does feel like a rebirth of sorts that’s wholly unique from the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies, which I genuinely like.
arguably superior to the book).
That said, Jurassic World Rebirth doesn’t even seem to be trying to be like the old films. It’s just a silly, enjoyable movie with dinosaurs, and for somebody who has now seen four of these World movies, “silly” and “enjoyable” is all I really need.
Chris Pratt or Bryce Dallas Howard, but I don’t think I would have even watched Jurassic World Rebirth if they returned for this fourth film. And, that’s because I’m pretty sick of Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, who Pratt and Howard played respectively.
I’m also sick of Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, and Ellie Sattler. In fact, I’m just sick of everything connected to Jurassic Park/World at this point frankly. So, really, I welcomed any new characters that we were going to get, and they didn’t necessarily have to be good, three-dimensional characters, either. Just different.
These low expectations were good, because the new characters are as basic as you can get.
Scarlett Johansson is our star, and she plays a mercenary. What kind? Does it really matter? She’s good during action scenes. Mahershala Ali plays the team leader who pilots the boat. And he, uh…leads (and is also probably a good swimmer). Jonathan Bailey is a scientist who chews mints loudly, and Rupert Friend is an evil businessman.
We also have a father with two kids, and he takes along his eldest daughter’s boyfriend as well. The boyfriend is annoying at first, but then turns out to be a good guy by the end. Yes, all of these characters are pretty paint-by-numbers, but they’re also a nice change of pace from the previous World movies, and that works for me!
arguably the best scene in the whole movie).
And, do you know what? It all just works. The old World movies just felt like a hodgepodge of ideas, and I was often bored by both A and B stories with the other films.
But, by making everything as basic and one-note as possible in Rebirth, I actually found myself engaged in the entire package. This actually makes me excited for another World movie, which leads me to my final point.
the worst films in The Lord of the Rings saga, they also got progressively worse as they went along.
I bring this up since it’s the same way I felt about the Jurassic World movies. Yes, I had seen all of them, but like the Hobbit flicks, I felt like I HAD to, rather than wanted to. I mean, once I commit to something, it’s hard for me to let go.
Even so, when it came to the Jurassic World movies, three was enough for me. And, after how bad Dominion was, I had settled on not watching another one ever again for the rest of my life. In fact, if not for my son wanting to see this new one (It was his first Jurassic movie in the theaters), I honestly would have skipped out on this one.
However, now that I saw it, I want to see another one, which I can’t believe I’m saying. But, I like the new direction of this franchise, and I’d even like to see these characters return for another adventure. How weird is that?