Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) has received a lot of criticism, and undeservedly so. It’s actually a lot of fun, in a popcorn family-friendly kind of way, true enough, but there are always worse things to complain about.

By Emad Aysha
The movie also has a subtle political and moral subtext, which I’ll address later. I’d rate it at the same level as Jurassic Park III (2001) in terms of excitement and likability, and certainly above the other Jurassic World comeback movies.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t a whole lot of problems, mind you. There are aplenty. The first annoying thing is the ‘look’ of the characters. They look as cloned as the dinosaurs. They hardly have any distinguishing features, and their performances are low-key at best.

They’re all average, and that includes their height and build. (The first guy who gets killed by the genetic freak D-Rex looks like Gareth Edwards for some reason. He dies because he’s a litterbug, eating too many candy bars – hint, hint).

The story is also somewhat convoluted, with ex-mercenaries Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) hired to obtain blood samples from three giant dinosaurs to find a cure for heart disease.

Zora used to work for outfits like Blackwater, typically stationed in Muslim countries, and her excuse was that she was involved in rescue and extraction missions. This is her chance to retire and also make amends for not being there for her mother’s death.

Duncan has his stereotyped sob-story, and typically there’s a (stupid) family that gets mixed up in all this because they decided to take a sailing vacation in dangerous waters, full of quarantined dino freaks along with the regular giants.

CLASH OF THE TITANS: Scarlett Johansson witnessing mating giants from a Dutch angle, giving scale and scope to something already larger than life.

However, despite all the cheesiness, convenient plotting, and poor editing, the movie still works remarkably well. The thing they got right here was the sense of wonder that’s at the heart of the appeal of the franchise and science fiction more generally.

The scene with the titanosaurus couple, in particular, puts you back in the frame of mind of the first movie, when they see the brachiosaurus, and the sense of awe that comes with it. It’s also nice that it’s a mating couple, part of the thematic hints to the story.

The scene with the T-Rex chasing the annoying family, and under the water no less, brings back the T-Rex scene from the first movie —the sheer dread, scale, and stalking power, with breathtaking special effects to boot.

The Mosasaurus scene is also really cool, especially when Zora is trying to shoot it, reminiscent of Jaws (Quint shooting at the great white shark), but in a whale-like fashion and with extra dinosaurs helping the Mosasaurus in a symbiotic manner (another hint).

TERRITORIAL WATERS: Freedom of the seas is not a principle that dinosaurs adhere to anymore than residents of the Third World.[Universal Pictures]

The scene with the family inside the deserted shop is also a callback to the original scene with the Raptors after the kids in the first movie, but in a new and refreshing way, easy and in keeping with the themes here. The flying monsters here are genetic hybrids themselves.

The movie is clearly about family and sticking together, or caring for the home front. Americans are busy travelling around the world, making it safe for democracy, while distracting us from the real problems that need attention. Not to mention pollution, global warming and Covid.

Family and respecting nature were central themes in the original Steven Spielberg classic, immortalised in the characters of Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum. You can see these themes of togetherness in the opening scene, where the scientist who gets gobbled must use the key simultaneously with his partner to open the facility.

But there’s more politics here, given the clear war on terror allusions. The D-Rex, which is positive nightmare fuel, is a freak because the humans made him that way.

The dinosaurs are not inherently evil; instead, they are protecting their territory. They pretty much tell you this when they wonder why the mosasaurus attacks the yacht. And the symbiosis is a potent lesson to human beings.

If rival animals can cooperate, why can’t man, with all his supposed intellectual superiority? The family that the T-Rex chased disturbed it while it was napping.

SNACK TIME: The T-Rex, back by popular demand. In 'Jurassic Park III' he'd become as much a minority as the family he's after on here!

The third giant dinosaur they go after, not coincidentally, is just defending its nest and places its eggs in old, ancient human remains —a tomb or temple of some kind —an allusion to the developing world and Western encroachment, stealing resources, and artefacts, and making people extinct.

The D-Rex also has an abnormally large head, as if its brain is human. It has six limbs, with very human-like hands, and it drags itself along with its large forearms – reminds me of the alien in Cloverfield (2008), which knocks out the Statue of Liberty.

This is what people in the Third World end up looking like when you interfere in their internal affairs, turning them defensively into monsters. The truth is, we are the monsters. That’s why the corporate exec guy Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) is happy to let the girl slide overboard to keep their mission a secret.

TAG TEAM: When people stop cooperating to the benefit of each other, and the planet, all hell literally breaks loose.

The science and ethics stuff is good too, such as making the heart-disease discoveries public domain to prevent the corporation monopolising it through patents and charging too much and screwing poor patients.

It’s a very real aspect of the business world we inhabit. The scientist, Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), fills this role. He is geekily portrayed with his big ears and habit of speedily crunching breath mints that he should be sucked on slowly.

The only thing that doesn’t fit is the annoying family – I presume they are Hispanic. I suppose they are supposed to be poster boys for modern integration, but they are unlikable, and their being there is inexplicable.

The little girl getting the herbivore dinosaur, I assume, is about inclusion, but it still doesn’t serve a plot function. 

So, all in all, a very delightful mess!!