He Haw, the gargantuan 4th of July Holiday weekend opening of Jurassic World Rebirth has hit the theaters, and I was excited to see it a couple of days before the official release. Seeing how this franchise has been going on for several years and movies that I own all of up until this one, (not that I like them all) says something not just about he franchise, but also me. Does that I mean this one would be good or that I would like it? Read on to see.
This American science fiction action thriller film was directed by Gareth Edwards and written by David Koepp. A standalone sequel to Jurassic World Dominion (2022), it is the fourth Jurassic World film and the seventh installment overall in the Jurassic Park franchise. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Ed Skrein. (This paragraph taken from Wikipedia)
One would wonder how many different stories regarding the cloning of dinosaurs any one group or person could come up with? From creation to island life, research to coming to the mainland, we have all kinds of stories from the likes of Kong Kong to Godzilla, and that’s unfortunately what we’ve seen so many times in other films, even films in this franchise, but first, let’s talk about a few different things.
I would love to share positive things about the direction, plot, special effects, and other aspects. While the film, shot in Thailand, is beautiful, I wonder if this was the real star of the movie. While there are some good moments of acting, there are also some moments where actors seem to be going through the motions. The characters are so flat at times that it becomes easy to forget they’re part of the cast. This doesn’t just hold for the main cast going to get live DNA samples from mutated dinosaurs, but the stranded family at sea, whose ship is capsized by some newer sea creatures that have the ability to enact revenge and kill people. That seems to be the case with most dinosaurs, except for one almost comical scene where emotions escape due to being next to these gargantuan creatures you’ve studied but don’t know for sure, because they are, after all, mutated and cross-bred with other dinosaurs. There is also a sort of puppy, a little guy that will undoubtedly see dinosaur toys in the very near future, if not in stores already.
I did appreciate the conflict shown between a father, his eldest daughter, and her new boyfriend, who comes across as lazy and manipulative. While we see a process of change and what is intended as growth for most of the film, he still comes across as a waste of oxygen.
We also see the dangers of lying, especially from those primarily seeking capitalistic gain. Of course, this process is so predictable that it becomes easy to see either lazy writing, poor editing, or a lack of direction. We also see, thankfully, less of a character we never like anyway.
Then, while there are these weaknesses, we also have the dinosaurs. One would think, after all of these years and the advent and growth of CGI and AI, the dinosaurs would be wonderfully brilliant in lifelike appearance, but the truth is, the dinosaurs in the earlier films, even the first Jurassic Park, come across as more realistic. For me, while there may be those who will disagree, go back and look, at that point I think many will also say, “yeah, he’s right.”. I do appreciate the writer staying true to Michael Creighton’s view that we as humans impact the future of the earth far less than we think, she will continue to exist long after us.
Now, with all of the above said, many may think I hated the movie, but that’s not true. Despite some terrible aspects of the movie, I still enjoyed it. I mean, seriously, when you cross Jaws with Dinosaurs, there’s something almost evil about enjoying bad guys getting chomped up on screen.
Seriously, I did not think this was going to be an Oscar contender. I had hoped for great special effects, but I would be disappointed if this one even gets a nomination, and that’s after seeing it on a giant screen with a terrific sound system.
The closing question comes to me as to what you want when going to a movie, especially one hyped as much as Jurassic World Rebirth. For me, I didn’t expect a Citizen Kane or even a Godfather or movie of the sort. I just wanted a fun dinosaur movie, and to be honest, in the end, that’s what I got
For me, it’s not a great movie, but it’s still a good one. On a scale of 1-10 for the 4 letters in the word good, I’ll take that from 10 to give it a score of 6. What does that mean? Jurassic World Rebirth is a fun, worthwhile matinee-priced time in the theater.
