Hey Ma, they’re making another Jurassic Park movie.
Well, here we are again. After a few years, we have a new film in the Jurassic Park series coming out this July. Titled Jurassic World: Rebirth, it will focus on an entirely new set of characters after completing the initial trilogy with Chris Pratt and Dallas Bryce Howard. Taking place after Jurassic World: Dominion, many of the dinosaurs have failed to adapt to the complex environments of Earth and have retreated to tropical islands and other areas that closely resemble their prehistoric climate. A couple of scientists and a group of mercenaries are tasked with going to an isolated island to get dinosaur DNA for drug research. The island is the former research facility of the original park and houses the most dangerous specimens including mutated hybrids and failed experiments. They have to work alongside a local family stranded on the island to get the DNA and survive the many dangerous creatures that call this place home.
I come from an odd place with the Jurassic series since none of the movies were released when I was growing up. Jurassic World came out when I was a teenager and that was aimed at people with more familiarity with the series. I didn’t even see the original until it was re-released in theaters a few years ago in 3D (which was worth the trouble since watching it on a big screen elevated the experience so much). As such, I am not as attached to this series as most people are, and even had a dinosaur phase as a kid. However, I also recognize that the franchise has been spinning its wheels with its recent entries. They aren’t the most egregious examples of recent reboots, but they don’t stay in the public eye for so long after they make a billion at the box office. At this point, I am open to a good Jurassic Park sequel, but the trends feel stacked against it and I would want to approach this one with caution in case it doesn’t work out. The first movie is one of the best blockbusters ever made so it makes the sequels feel worse in the sense that they don’t even come close to the qualities of that first film and mostly stew in mediocrity.
The film has a lot of things going for it at least. The director this time around is Gareth Edwards. He directed Rouge One and The Creator and is very talented in terms of detail and action. This is probably the best-looking of these movies in a while since while the Jurassic World films weren’t bad-looking, they felt off in terms of their overreliance on CGI and color contrast compared to the older films. The writer for the original film, David Koepp, is also here and has stated that he was very excited with the pitch he had for this film. Given that the script of the first film is one of the more iconic and well-constructed in terms of blockbuster fare, Koepp being on board does give a bit more optimism especially given his long-term experience in screenwriting compared to his recent contemporaries.
In my eyes, what this film needs to nail down more than anything is the human characters. The previous trilogy had two big issues. Human characters weren’t engaging, and the films were weighed down by overcomplicated and stupid plots that sometimes treated the dinosaurs like an afterthought (locusts, really). The plot issue seems to be fixed here since Rebirth feels like a back-to-basics movie rather than some overly layered story and Edwards has stated that they want to have a major focus on making the dinosaurs scarier again. However, if the characters are just archetypes or hollow vessels for bad quips, then the set pieces won’t work as well as they could. The reason the first movie works so well is that the characters are very endearing and identifiable. The audience’s attachment to them elevates the danger and suspense during the chaos. Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and especially Mahershala Ali are all phenomenal actors who are known for their engaging character work in many films. But even so, it is down to the script and direction to allow these performers to be capable of embodying likable and relatable characters. If that is done well, then I feel more confident in this film working out.
As for the new dinosaur hybrid, well, I’ll reserve judgment for that when we get a better look at it. I am not opposed to more sci-fi concepts with the cloning and creation of dinosaurs. It just has to be something dealt with with care and subtlety since it could go off the rails quickly. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom introduced the idea of human clones but in a way that was so out of left field and haphazard that the next film undid the plot beat by adding technicalities. Also, if you didn’t know, one of the ideas for an unmade Jurassic Park 4 in the 2000s involved human dinosaur hybrids. Ideas in that direction just feel too out of sync with the tone and approach these films have usually taken.
Even with all my opinions, I still feel this movie will be incredibly successful. All of the recent Jurassic World films have made over a billion dollars. Even Dominion, which was widely hated, still crossed over that mark. I guess the general public just likes dinosaurs that much and plenty of kids still hold that sense of wonder and curiosity towards them. Even so, I just hope that this one turns out to be worthwhile. If we are going to keep going back to the drying well of old franchises, the least that can be done is to make them interesting and decent rather than just reheated nostalgia.
