The first reactions to Jurassic World Rebirth have arrived — and it sounds like dinosaurs still rule the Earth. Those attending advance screenings of the new Jurassic World movie were among the first to see the Gareth Edwards-directed installment, which marks an all-new era in the Jurassic Park franchise that evolved into the Jurassic World trilogy of films starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. On July 2, a second franchise rebirth brings Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali to the most dangerous place on Earth: an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park inhabited by the worst of the worst dinosaurs that were left behind.
So, did critics endorse the Jurassic revival, or did they select Jurassic World Rebirth for extinction?
According to early social media reactions and critics’ reviews, it sounds like Rebirth skews closer to a Jurassic Park movie than Jurassic World. The social media response is mostly positive, with many praising Johansson, Bailey, and Ali’s performances in the film — as well as the dinosaur action.
“That reverence — for dinosaurs and for filmmaking — is what consistently allows Jurassic World Rebirth to soar,” writes ComicBook‘s Charlie Ridgley in a four-star Jurassic World Rebirth review. “It’s not concerned with a major plot about the end of life on the planet (it actually mentions such a thing as more of an inevitable fact), or about trying to build a sweeping love story with two characters nobody likes. Edwards knows you came for dinosaur thrills and, once the characters reach the island, he delivers those droves.”
ScreenRant‘s John Orquiola called Jurassic World Rebirth “the best Jurassic since Steven Spielberg 1993,” adding the dinosaur sequences “were thrilling to behold.” Hunter Bolding of ThatHashtagShow adds, “Scarlett Johansson still 100% has the movie star sauce. She’s shot like a star, presented like a star, and looks absolutely stunning.” The Reel Thoughts Podcast‘s Cohen Harrison Wyatt says Rebirth “is surprisingly pretty good—it has a clear story, stunning visuals, and action-packed set pieces. It channels the original’s nostalgia while pushing the franchise forward, which is a strong step in the right direction.”
Variety critic Peter Debruge writes that the “dino franchise returns to its origins,” noting, “The movie offers an updated version of the same basic ride Spielberg offered 32 years earlier, and yet, it hardly feels essential to the series’ overall mythology, nor does it signal where the franchise could be headed.”
In a review for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney writes, “There are some mighty new monsters on the prowl, but this is primarily an assembly of recycled story beats … Edwards clearly is a devoted Spielberg fan, embedding subtle homages throughout, notably in the open water sequences that recall Jaws. Jurassic World Rebirth is unlikely to top anyone’s ranked franchise list. But longtime fans (count me among them) should have a blast.”
RogerEbert.com critic Christy Lemire gave the film a thumbs down. “When people are in danger of being devoured by freakish, mutant dinosaurs, Jurassic World Rebirth can be a lot of fun. But it takes an awful lot of slogging through the jungle, literally and figuratively, to get there,” Lemire writes. “And there are some sporadic joys here in the clever sight gags, the sleight of hand, the bait and switch. These moments remind us of the mindless summertime excitement the Jurassic movies have long provided, albeit with diminishing returns. But that giant footprint just isn’t as imposing as it used to be.”
“Does Rebirth set up a promising new future for the franchise, as its title suggests? Not exactly — this feels very much like a stand-alone adventure,” according to a review from Consequence‘s Liz Shannon Miller. “But it does prove that it’s still possible to tell a suspenseful and exciting stand-alone story within this franchise; while it might not quite match the original, it at least doesn’t lose sight of its most compelling elements. Dinosaurs might be dying out. But the audience’s desire to watch them gobble up humans will never go extinct.”
Picking up five years after the events of 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion, Earth’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air within that tropical biosphere hold in their DNA the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind, according to pharmaceutical representative Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend).
Skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett (Johansson) is contracted to lead a skilled team on a top-secret mission to secure the genetic material from the still-living dinosaurs, enlisting trusted team member Duncan Kincaid (Ali) and paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Bailey). When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos — Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and daughters Isabella (Audrina Miranda) and Teresa (Luna Blaise), and her boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) — they all find themselves stranded on a forbidden island that had once housed an undisclosed research facility for Jurassic Park.
There, in a terrain populated by dinosaurs of vastly different species, they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that has been hidden from the world for decades: man-made, mutated dinosaurs.
Jurassic World Rebirth stomps into theaters July 2.
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