Jurassic World Rebirth

_Jurassic World Rebirth_ tries to revive the magic but mostly goes through the motions. The dinosaurs look fine, but the sense of wonder’s long gone. The plot recycles old beats—corporate greed, a betrayal, someone shouting “Run!”—while new characters feel like action figures with catchphrases. A few set pieces land, and it’s refreshing to see a Hispanic family in the lead, even if they feel a bit gimmicky. It’s not bad, just safe. If you want thrills, it delivers. Just don’t expect awe.

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"Jurassic World Rebirth ends up reflecting the franchise's current state. A visually competent product, with talent in front of and behind the camera, but lost in its lack of purpose and narrative ambition.

The cast is excellent, but the characters are hollow. The dinosaurs are still impressive, but their presence no longer holds the same weight. And the themes - once so rich and provocative - have been replaced by modern dilemmas that, while valid, don't truly belong in this universe.

Maybe it's time to accept that life does, indeed, find a way - but that way isn't always through continuation. Sometimes, the best thing we can do… is let go."

Rating: C+

"Jurassic World Rebirth" proves, yet again, how fossilised this franchise has become.

The ossification of fresh ideas is glaring, with a tedious, formulaic story, a lack of narrative depth and equally shallow characterisations.Expositions competently done but in isolation, that's not saying much.

In short, this is a superficially polished but nonetheless lazy effort, that adds nothing of value to a creatively exhausted franchise.

In summary, an unoriginal, uninspiring, generally a lazy effort, that moves this franchise ever closer, to cinematic extinction.

Eh, sure better than the last couple outings but also pretty forgettable. Nice everyone involved, including Scarlett Johansson, director Gareth Edwards and the screenwriter David Koepp, got a paycheck but can't say I'll remember this one come next week. Most positive thing I have to say is it doesn't overstay its welcome as it is under two hours when you take out the credits. **2.75/5**

Sometimes movies have a way of surprising us in unexpectedly pleasant ways. And this latest installment in the “Jurassic” franchise is just such a case. Admittedly, I had more than a few reservations going into this one; I couldn’t help but think that this was a cinematic commodity that had run its course, that it was essentially out of gas to offer anything new of genuine value, and, to a certain degree, that’s true, at least where originality is concerned. However, despite the picture’s expected plunge into familiar territory, director Gareth Edwards’s latest feature offering is nevertheless highly entertaining, even if not particularly groundbreaking. Perhaps that rests with the fact that this is arguably the most Spielbergian installment in the series, in many ways reflective of the iconic production that launched the franchise in 1993. In yet another story involving self-serving agenda-driven characters placing themselves in tremendous peril by venturing into a world of dangerous, genetically manipulated dinosaurs recklessly brought back to life for profit and entertainment purposes, the film follows a narrative formula that most viewers will find more than a little recognizable. But what helps to set this installment apart from many of its predecessors is the quality of the filmmaking itself, specifically its ability to effectively build and maintain tension, its capacity for presenting story arc elements in fresh and inventive ways, and its overall production values, most notably its fine (and occasionally unanticipated) special effects and its efforts in upping the talent quotient of the cast with such commendable additions as Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali. Most importantly, though, this offering is to be applauded for its continuity in staying on track in terms of tone, self-aware of what kind of a movie it truly wants to be. This differentiates “Rebirth” from many of its previous releases, which often couldn’t decide whether they wanted to tell bona fide sci-fi-based tales or present themselves as campy romps (as seen, for example, in the now-famous (or is it infamous?) Bryce Dallas Howard high heel sequences in the first “Jurassic World” offering (2015)). What’s more, Spielberg’s influence in bringing this production to life is clearly present in the finished product, both in terms of honoring the merits of the series’ premiere installment, as well as in its respectful homages to the auteur’s classic 1975 offering, “Jaws.” To be sure, there are some aspects here that are wholly predictable (such as little doubt as to which characters will be offed and when), and there are times when the pacing could stand to be brisker, particularly when the film strives (sometimes a little too hard) to invoke a greater degree of character depth and development than what has typically been the case in previous “Jurassic” releases. In addition, the picture suffers from occasional plot holes, several contrived narrative devices (including one egregiously silly element near the film’s outset that nearly cost me my hopes for the remainder of the release) and more than a little blatantly shameless product placement shots. On balance, though, this is a surprisingly good picture in a series that’s now seven installments deep, an accomplishment that few franchises (other than the “Star Trek” and “007” series) can boast. Don’t be too quick to sell this one short; it may not be perfect, but it’s certainly enjoyable summertime action-adventure fare that makes for a good time on a lazy Saturday afternoon when you don’t feel like going outside to brave the heat.

Well at least there is one scene where huge great dinosaurs walk, accompanied by John Williams’s original theme, to remember - but otherwise this is a really disappointing video-game of a film that offers us nothing at all that the Jurassic franchise hasn’t already. By now, these great creatures have largely been taken care of by Mother Nature and have been reduced to living in small groups in equatorial zones around the world where they just want to be left alone to eat and be eaten, protected from a humanity which is “expressly” prohibited from going there. The grasping “Krebs” (Rupert Friend - Orlando Bloom must have been busy) has a plan to cure heart disease and so recruits special ops veteran “Zora” (Scarlett Johansson) to help him secure the living DNA from three of the greatest of these creatures. They wouldn’t know one if they saw one though, so have to convince the nerdy scientist “Loomis” (Jonathan Bailey) to accompany them and their local fixer “Kincaid” (Mahershala Ali) and they head deep into these deadly waters. Meantime, a family are blithely sailing from Bermuda to Cape Town, apparently unaware of the dangers posed by these Vernian monsters. They are dad, young daughter, hormonal older daughter and her bone idle boyfriend, “Xavier” (David Iacono). Boy are they in for a shock when they cross some huge great, and angry, Mosasaurus and end up with most of their boat pointing the wrong way in the water, but with “Xavier” still able to catch some rays whilst they await rescue from, well you can guess who comes, and largely what happens from here on in. For much of the movie, we have two parallel storylines to underwhelm us: the unarmed yet remarkably resilient family have to find an abandoned HQ whilst the mercenaries play a sort of level-by-level game navigating the usual island full of beasties adventures that haven’t really advanced much since it’s nearest biological cousin - “Jurassic Park III” (2001). Oddly enough, I didn’t think these visual effects were anywhere near as effective as in the originals. Maybe we are all just too used to these great animals lumbering about on land, breaching like whales at sea, or swooping and pecking relentlessly from the air? Johansson does join in enthusiastically and Jonathan Bailey really has one one of those smiles on his face that suggests he is enjoying his days in front of the green screen knowing it has to be easier than singing “Not Getting Married” on stage eight times a week - and probably better paid. The others really only make up the numbers, though, with a few characters obviously designated as dino-fodder early-on as it rehashes scenarios from just about everything from “Indian Jones” to “Harry Potter”. It might be like comparing apples and pears, but I have to say I found the current “How to Train Your Dragon” a much more enjoyable adventure about man’s relationship with thick-skinned, scaly, predators, because this entirely forgettable film will do little more than slot nicely into the Christmas television schedules with little, if anything, to distinguish about it once it’s grand scale cinema run has concluded. PS: I don’t know about inventing a miracle-cure drug, but whoever designed JB’s glasses ought to patent a design that stays firmly affixed to his face the entire time without moving, cracking, breaking or even slipping down his nose!