SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains minor spoilers for Jurassic World Rebirth. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!
Generally speaking, I like the ongoing legacyquel strategy that Hollywood has developed as a means of continuing/developing franchises. It’s certainly an improvement over the industry doing both remakes and reboots, and I won’t lie and say that I don’t appreciate the hit of nostalgia that comes with seeing actors coming back to reprise a part they haven’t played in 30 years. There is also a creative challenge that comes with filmmakers having to tell a story set within an existing continuity to which they have to be faithful. It can be interesting to see how established elements are forced to evolve when matched with modern sensibilities, technology, and more.
the Jurassic Park franchise. The overall quality of the movies in the Jurassic World trilogy – Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Jurassic World Dominion – is a mixed bag, but all of the hallmarks are present. There are new protagonists to follow, but heavy ties to the original remain, with the idea of a dinosaur theme park reexamined with a 21st century perspective and characters from the canon returning after being away for decades (BD Wong’s Dr. Henry Wu is in all three blockbusters and is joined by Laura Dern’s Dr. Ellie Sattler, Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm, and Sam Neill’s Dr. Alan Grant in Dominion). It’s textbook legacyquel stuff.
Jurassic World: Rebirth has arrived, and it’s notably a horse of a different color. It’s not a reboot, as nothing about the continuity from the previous six movies has been specifically altered or ignored, but it is an entirely new story. The protagonists and antagonists are all fresh faces (there aren’t even cameos or surprise appearances from classic characters), and nobody is of a mind to try and create another dino-centric park. Instead, it’s simply a blockbuster adventure story that happens to be set in a world where dinosaurs exist.
To be frank, it’s not a film that I particularly enjoyed, as my opinion mostly lines up with the thoughts in CinemaBlend’s two-star Jurassic World: Rebirth review – but I’m nonetheless excited for what it could mean for the future of the franchise, as the creative opportunities are seemingly endless. Akin to Star Wars having now moved beyond the vaunted Skywalker Saga, there theoretically now exists potential for filmmakers to explore any kind of original story they want involving the resurrected creatures of prehistory and craft a wide variety of narratives with wildly different genres and characters. There is nothing that has to be specifically “continued;” the world is open for weird and wild exploration.
Funny enough, the best way to explain this might be to break down the stories featured in Jurassic World: Rebirth. My biggest issue with the film is that it tries to juggle two narratives that simply never coalesce properly: a team of mercenaries is on the hunt for blood/tissue samples from dinosaurs that can theoretically advance medical science, and a family on a boating trip finds themselves capsized in dino-filled waters. These two adventures clash in a way that ultimately hurts the movie, and in this new era of the Jurassic Park franchise, it didn’t need to be this way. Instead, these stories could have each been their own blockbuster with independent tones and stakes, and they could have helped evolve what audiences expect from a title in this popular series. It’s a mistake to learn from going forward.
Needless to say, it will be very interesting to see where the movies go from here (another project has not yet been announced as being in development). As much as I like both Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, I will be very disappointed if it’s reported that the next installment sees their characters return, as it would be a sign of a major opportunity being ignored. In the aftermath of Jurassic World Rebirth, there is tremendous potential for creative franchise-building, and I hope that the filmmakers and executives guiding the canon recognize and capitalize.