Even though there was a lot of anticipation leading up to the release of the film,Jurassic World Rebirth’sreviews have been quite negative. Currently, the movie has a disappointing score of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes (viaRotten Tomatoes). This is unfortunate, especially sinceRebirthwas meant to start a new era for the long-running franchise.
Besides the first film, which was masterfully directed by Steven Spielberg, practicallyeveryJurassic Park/Worldmoviehas disappointed critics and audiences. The previous twoJurassic Worldmovies beforeRebirth, in particular, were huge let-downs. However, based on the trailers for the movie, fans had hope thatJurassic World Rebirthcould be the best movie in the franchise in years.
Unfortunately, just like the last two movies in the franchise,reviews forJurassic World Rebirthhave been very negative. Even thoughJurassic World Rebirthhas been a box office success, reviewers have criticized several aspects of its story. Therefore,here are eight common criticisms that have resulted inJurassic World Rebirth’sreviews and Rotten Tomatoes score being very negative:
8Jurassic World Rebirth Fails To Recapture The Magic Of Spielberg’s Original
The First Jurassic Park Movie Remains Unmatched
Before the release of the movie, fans of the franchise hoped thatJurassic World Rebirthwould successfullycapture the feeling of watching the originalJurassic Parkmovie. Basically every other movie in the franchise has failed to do this, proving just how excellent the original film is. EvenThe Lost World: Jurassic Park, which was also directed by Spielberg, failed to recapture the feeling of the original.
However, it seemed like Gareth Edwards was the perfect choice to potentially execute this goal. After all, he has directed several acclaimed blockbusters throughout his career, such asGodzillaandRogue One: A Star Wars Story.Edwards is clearly inspired by Spielberg, but still failed to instill the sense of wonder inRebirththat the original movie had.
In addition to Edwards,Rebirthalso brought David Koepp back, the writer of the franchise’s first movie. Obviously, this was exciting for longtime fans of the franchise, but Koepp also failed to include the same sense of wonder. In fact,Koepp’s writing is significantly weaker inRebirththan it was in the original movie. AsSlate’sSam Adams notes in his review, “Koepp’s return feels as if he’s been dragged in by the ear, mumbling sullenly in the corner and wishing he were anywhere else.”
7The Mission In Jurassic World Rebirth Doesn’t Make A Lot Of Sense
Jurassic World Rebirth’s Characters Are Looking For The Biggest Dinosaurs
Even though the last film in the franchise, 2022’sJurassic World Dominion, established that dinosaurs shared most areas of Earth with humans,Rebirthimmediately retcons this idea and establishes that the previously extinct creatures now only live on islands near the equator. Not long intoJurassic World Rebirth, it becomes clear that most humans have seemingly forgotten about dinosaurs.
The mission inRebirthdoesn’t really make much sense, or at least isn’t explained properly.
However, dinosaurs can actually benefit humanity since their enlarged hearts can help people live longer. After discovering this, Rupert Friend’s Martin Krebs, the stereotypical greedy businessman, recruits Scarlett Johansson’s Zora Bennett to lead a mission to the island of Ile Saint-Hubert, which served as the testing facility for the original Jurassic Park. While on this mission,they must collect DNA samples from the biggest dinosaurs of the land, air, and sea.
However, several fans have pointed out that this mission doesn’t actually make sense. Since Martin, Zora, and the rest of the team want the DNA of the dinosaurs with the largest hearts, it shouldn’t matter whether they primarily reside on land, in water, or in the air. For example,the T-rex inJurassic World Rebirthis way bigger than the Quetzalcoatlus. This proves that the mission inRebirthdoesn’t really make much sense, or at least isn’t explained properly.
6Jurassic World Rebirth’s Story Is Far Too Familiar
Jurassic World Rebirth Doesn’t Try Anything New
Speaking of Friend’s businessman character, it also needs to be mentioned that the story ofJurassic World Rebirthis far too familiar. Unfortunately,the newest movie in the series tells the exact same story as many of the previous films. Referring to Friend’s character,Rolling Stone’sDavid Fear states, “Just because the area is completely off limits doesn’t mean that some profit-hungry douchebag won’t hire mercenaries to escort him there.”
Friend’s Martin Krebs is a perfect example of a character that feels plucked out of a previous entry, but this is a problem with practically every character inJurassic World Rebirth. Because of this, nothing in the movie feels new at all. Once again, the franchise examines themes such as greed and humans playing God.
It should be mentioned that there’s nothing particularly wrong with these themes. The firstJurassic Parkmovie brilliantly explores both of these ideas. However,Rebirthmakes it clear that the franchise has become so repetitive, which is a major reason why the last couple movies received negative reviews, as well. Therefore,it’s disappointing thatJurassic World Rebirthdidn’t do anything new and unexpected with its story.
5The Pacing In Jurassic World Rebirth Is Awkward (Which Takes Away Tension)
Jurassic World Rebirth Juggles Too Many Characters
In his review, Fear also criticizes howJurassic World Rebirthconstantly jumps back and forth between the movie’s two groups, these being Zora’s crew and the Delgado family. He writes, “Not even Koepp can keep you from feeling that such ping-ponging back and forth ends up leeching the tension from both stories long before the groups inevitably join forces again.”
Jumping back and forth between these two groups gets tiresome after a while. Since these groups are separated for the majority of the movie, this is a major problem. The decision to separate the groups also negatively impacts the pacing of the film, which is already very strange. Whilethe first and third acts of the movie are surprisingly short, the second act feels way too long.
This is a problem that many critics have pointed out in their reviews. At certain points,Jurassic World Rebirthfeels way too rushed, but other sequences feel like they are dragged out for a very long time. Because of this,the pacing of the film is quite awkward, which leads toJurassic World Rebirthnot including as much tension and thrills as was promised by the trailers.
4Jurassic World Rebirth’s Characters Aren’t Interesting
All The Characters In Jurassic World Rebirth Will Be Forgotten Soon
Of course, these pacing issues may have been forgiven if critics and audiences actually enjoyed spending time with the movie’s characters. Unfortunately,in addition to feeling like copies of previous characters from the franchise, everyone inJurassic World Rebirthis very uninteresting.
It seems likeJurassic World Rebirthis trying to recreate the iconic trio from the originalJurassic Park.
AsThe Atlantic’sDavid Sims writes in his review,Jurassic World Rebirthis “a plodding, disenchanting experience that adds some more roaring dinosaurs in exchange for any memorable characters or narrative stakes.” With Zora Bennett, Henry Loomis, and Duncan Kincaid,it seems likeJurassic World Rebirthis trying to recreate the iconic trio from the originalJurassic Park.
Perhaps this is why Universal wanted Duncan to survive at theend ofJurassic World Rebirth. It’s very possible that Universal wants these three characters to all return in a potential sequel, but that is not at all what audiences and critics are asking for. Unfortunately,the three primary protagonists and all the supporting characters inJurassic World Rebirthare very boring, which has inevitably led to some negative reviews.
3The Actors Don’t Do Jurassic World Rebirth Any Favors
Jurassic World Rebirth’s Script Doesn’t Allow The Actors To Shine
Even thoughJurassic World Rebirthhas a stacked cast which features Oscar winners, A-listers, and Hollywood up-and-comers, nobody gives their best performance in the movie. Since Scarlett Johansson is the main character in the movie, let’s first focus on her. Unfortunately, it seems like Johansson is only inJurassic World Rebirthfor the paycheck, which is a shame since she is usually an incredible actor.
Mahershala Ali has a few moments to shine inJurassic World Rebirth, particularly when he is trying to sacrifice himself to save Isabella at the end of the film. However,even though Ali is a two-time Oscar winner,Jurassic World Rebirthdoesn’t give him enough to work with. Just like all the other characters in this film, Duncan is criminally underwritten.
Out of the main trio, Jonathan Bailey perhaps gives the best performance.It seems like Bailey is having fun with the roleand at least wants to be in the movie. However, even though he has once again proven that he is destined for Hollywood stardom just eight months after the release ofWicked, he doesn’t necessarily get a lot of chances to excel inJurassic World Rebirth.
2The Hybrid Dinosaurs In Jurassic World Rebirth Are Scary (But Still Underwhelming)
The D-Rex Is The Most Dangerous Dinosaur In Jurassic World Rebirth
The firstJurassic Worldmovie changed the franchise forever by introducing the concept of genetically-altered hybrid dinosaurs. Even though including hybrid dinosaurs was controversial in the previous threeJurassic Worldmovies,Rebirthcontinues this trend.Jurassic World Rebirthintroduces audiences to Mutadons and the D-rex, which is supposed to be the movie’s big bad.
However, asThe Daily Beast’sNick Schager notes in his review,the hybrid dinosaurs inJurassic World Rebirtharen’t as scary as they should be. Speaking about the D-rex, Schager writes, “That mega-ultra-goliath is meant to be this harrowing tale’s pièce de résistance, but there’s something dispiritingly underwhelming about it, especially when juxtaposed with the eternally formidable and ferocious T-Rex.”
There are definitely a lot ofdinosaurs inJurassic World Rebirth. However, many critics agree thatthe real dinosaurs, such as the T-rex, the mosasaurus, and the spinosaurus', are scarier and more fun to watch than the hybrid dinosaurs. Therefore, this suggests that the franchise needs to finally abandon the idea of hybrid dinosaurs, as it seems they have way overstayed their welcome (if they were ever welcome at all).
1Jurassic World Rebirth Doesn’t Make Audiences Excited About The Franchise’s Future
Where Will The Jurassic World Franchise Go From Here?
Because of all the aforementioned criticisms,it doesn’t feel like many critics are excited about the future of the franchise. Before the release ofJurassic World Rebirth, fans and critics claimed that the series had already gone on for too long. Despite this, there was hope thatRebirthcould turn things around for the franchise.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. In his review of the movie,The Globe and Mail’sBarry Hertz bluntly writes, “Rebirth? This is a burial.” AfterRebirth’sunderwhelming ending, it’s unclear what the future of the franchise looks like. However, based on most reviews, it doesn’t seem like many critics care. More than anything else,Jurassic World Rebirthneeded to make people excited about the franchise again, but it unfortunately fails to do this.
Sources:Slate,Rolling Stone,The Atlantic,The Daily Beast,The Globe and Mail
