‘Jurassic World Rebirth’: Still roaring after all these years

Gareth Edwards’ dino blockbuster brings back the big thrills—even if the plot feels fossilized.

By James Verneire/Boston Movie News

It’s been 32 years since Richard Attenborough’s Dr. Frankenstein-like industrialist, John Hammond, brought dinosaurs back to life and thrilled children and adults alike. However, it was really director Steven Spielberg, using groundbreaking visual effects and other techniques, who made the dinosaurs come alive. This is a large part of the magic of movies, their ability to summon forth creatures of fantasy, myth and prehistory, a tradition going back to 19^th century French magician/filmmaker Georges Melies (and later the master Ray Harryhausen) and the groundbreaking “The Lost World,” a 1925 silent adventure film based on a novel by Sherlock Holmes inventor Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring stop-motion dinosaurs from pioneering, visual effects master Willis O’Brien (“King Kong”).

“Jurassic World: Rebirth,” the latest installment in a series of films inspired by Michael Crichton’s 1990 best-selling science fiction novel “Jurassic Park,” is the seventh film, following two trilogies. This outing boasts “Black Widow” herself Scarlett Johansson as mercenary Zora Bennett, who accepts an assignment from big pharma creep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) to travel to an equatorial belt to get blood samples from three different “colossal” dinosaurs that live there to create a drug that will save lives and make “trillions” for a drug manufacturer. Much like an Indiana Jones film, Zora aka “Z” puts together a team of specialists to accompany her. These include handsome and also nerdy paleontologist Dr. Loomis (likable “Bridgerton” veteran Jonathan Bailey) and fellow adventurer Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali, a huge asset as usual). Also along for the ride, although by accident are father and sailor Reuben Delgado (a very good Manuel Garcia Rulfo, “A Man Called Otto”), his young daughter Isabella (scene-stealer Audrina Miranda), older daughter Teresa (a solid Luna Blaise) and Teresa’s lazy, seemingly good-for-nothing boyfriend Xavier (a very amusing David Iacono).

Returning to the franchise is screenwriter David Koepp (Spielberg is an executive producer), who wrote the screenplay for the original film and its sequel, “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997). Koepp has also adapted “Mission: Impossible” films, “Indiana Jones” films and “Spider-Man” (2002).

“Jurassic World: Rebirth” is more akin to “Jurassic World: Remake,” as it, like most sequels, aims to recreate the highlights of the original film that fueled a sensation and became a rite-of-passage movie for its time. In a laboratory eerily resembling the one in the original Bond film “Dr. No” (1962), a scientist in a spacesuit-like outfit becomes big beef taco for a giant beastie (the very violent film pushes PG-13 envelope for sure). Lensed by the redoubtable John Mathieson (“Gladiator II”), who shot on 35mm film to give the movie a retro 1990s look, “Jurassic Park: Rebirth” shifts briefly to New York City (the film was also shot in Thailand and Malta) and proves that the Brooklyn Bridge is every bit as divine as a brontosaurus. Zora learns that she must get blood samples from a land creature, a sea creature and a flying creature. Before setting ashore on this film’s version of “King Kong”’s Skull Island, the boat taking Zora and company to the dinos is diverted to rescue Reuben and his family, whose sailboat has been capsized by the sea monster.

The screenplay for “Jurassic World: Rebirth” is really a clever tasting menu in which people are the edibles. “Who’s next?” is the game. I can’t say that I was very surprised by anything. But Koepp is not a giant in his field for nothing. He and director Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) know how to choreograph big, fun, Spielbergian action scenes with CG dinosaurs.

Some may wonder why Dr. Loomis does not have a second syringe for Zora to fire at the sea creature in hand. But, the relationship between Isabella and a critter resembling a tiny, upright triceratops that she dubs “Dolores” is likely to make kids love this film, even if the images of dinosaurs chomping down on people traumatize them for life. Pterosaurs stand in for raptors in a scene in which Isabella plays hide-and-seek with the winged devils in a market. A giant beak-snapping sequence set on the side of a cliff would make the great Harryhausen green with envy. And when is the last time you came across a franchise film that advocates for universal health care? Throughout it all, we hear variations on themes originally composed by the great John Williams, as well as the suspenseful tinglings and musings of Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat. Music and movie magic blend perfectly together.

‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language and a drug reference.

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali

Director: Gareth Edwards

Writer: David Koepp

Running time: 2 hours, 14 minutes

Where to Watch: in theaters

Grade: B+