Jurassic World Rebirthmanaged to accomplish something that the trilogy before it was afraid to do. In many ways,Jurassic World Rebirth’s reviewsregarded it as a return to form for the franchise. It was better received than both its predecessors, andJurassic World Rebirth’s box office successhas proven it to resonate with general audiences.
The film was praised for going back to basics;Jurassic World Rebirthtakes place on a secluded island filled with dinosaurs as experts and civilians alike attempt to survive.Jurassic World Rebirth’s Easter eggsto the original movie proved just how much the film attempted to reference 1993’sJurassic Parkin a way the prior movies did not.
One of these references linked directly to aJurassic World Rebirthcharacter. Via this character, the film was able to include an aspect of the franchise that the previousJurassic Worldtrilogy felt afraid of doing.
Jurassic World Rebirth Finally Gives The Franchise An Alan Grant Replacement
Thanks to Jonathan Bailey’s Dr. Henry Loomis,Jurassic World Rebirthintroduced its Alan Grant replacement. In the prior threeJurassic Worldfilms, the focus was placed on Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing. Looking at the former, he was a very different character from Sam Neill’s Alan Grant.
Grant was a paleontologist and, while he had his heroic moments, was less of an outright action hero than Owen Grady was. InJurassic World Rebirth, Loomis fits this bill. Scarlett Johannson’s Zora was the militaristic presence inJurassic World Rebirth, with Loomis going along as the scientific expert. This echoes why Grant was invited to the original Jurassic Park.
Jurassic World Rebirtheven connects Loomis and Grantby stating that the former studied under the latter. The links between the two did not stop there, withJurassic World Rebirthrecreating several iconic scenes from the original 1993 movie using Loomis. The scene involving the Titanosaurus herd was akin to the first sighting of the Brachiosaurus inJurassic Park,with Loomis' wonder aligning with Grant’s.
The final scene ofJurassic World Rebirthalso recreates the final scene ofJurassic Park, with Loomis looking at dolphins in the water just as Grant was looking at the birds flying into the sunset. Evidently, Loomis was created as a replacement for Alan Grant, proving another way thatJurassic World Rebirthreturned the franchise to its roots.
As alluded to,Jurassic World’s former trilogy took a different route with Owen Grady.Jurassic World Dominiondid try and give Owen and Alan some common ground, but there is no denying the former was depicted more as an action-first characterthan someone with an inherent love for and knowledge of dinosaurs.
Jurassic World Rebirth, however, was much more on the nose about how Loomis was like Grant. The aforementioned decision to have Loomis be a student of Grant made this clear, with the franchise finally having its potential long-term replacement for Sam Neill’s character over a decade afterJurassic World’s soft reboot.
