Jurassic World: Rebirth, in many ways, revitalized the franchise. The film has far better reviews than its immediate predecessor, Jurassic World Dominion, which received a 29% Tomatometer. In comparison, Rebirth has a much more mixed 51% Tomatometer and a 71% Popcornmeter from audiences.
One of the more positive responses came from ScreenRant’s Mary Kassel. She gave the movie 7 out of 10 stars, noting its “brilliant action sequences” and its clever return to the fundamentals. Rebirth’s most-praised highlights include its visual effects. These dinosaurs are some of the scariest yet, bearing their giant teeth and rippling through the water only to emerge terrifyingly.
That said, not all of Jurassic World: Rebirth’s narrative elements are created equally. Rebirth’s ending, for example, features a pretty big plot hole when it shows that Duncan has survived a vicious D-rex attack, but does not explain how. Another narrative issue arrives earlier in the film, and really wastes an opportunity.
Jurassic World Rebirth Wastes Dinosaurs Being In The Real World
It Writes This Off Early On
In the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ending, dinosaurs are no longer on their island and have been released into the world. This became more evident in Dominion, where humans were expected to co-exist with the dinosaurs. As such, one might think that any follow-up films would focus heavily on this plot point.
Technically speaking, Jurassic World: Rebirth continues this narrative arc. In the beginning, an aging dinosaur holds up traffic by collapsing in the streets of San Francisco. This instantly positions dinosaurs in the real world, following the plot established in the previous films.
However, Rebirth essentially kills any interesting aspect of this plot point. Instead of following this thread, the movie decides that the dinosaurs are dying out. Thus, Rebirth has hand-waved any real consequences of Fallen Kingdom.
Frustratingly, this marked the second time that the Jurassic World franchise had done such a thing. After Fallen Kingdom, it was thought that Dominion would heavily focus on the dinosaurs living in the wild. Instead, they positioned genetically engineered locusts as the biggest problem, evading the dinosaur’s co-existence plot line.
Dinosaurs in the real world are not an unseen concept, but they are by far the most interesting plot element that the Jurassic World films present. For some reason, though, all the post-Fallen Kingdom feature films sidestep this plot point in favor of smaller-scale or overdone themes.
As a result, Rebirth returns to a lot of the structures from earlier franchise films. These sometimes do work effectively, but it is ultimately still a story where scientists and some civilians approach an isolated island. This effectively wastes a key point of interest in the franchise.
Jurassic World: Battle At Big Rock Used This Idea Brilliantly
But It Is Only A Short Film
However, one movie properly addresses the issues surrounding dinosaurs’ introduction into the real world. This is Jurassic World: Battle at Big Rock, a Colin Trevorrow short film that was released in 2019.
The dinosaurs are genuinely terrifying in Battle At Big Rock, adding excitement while still creating a sense of awe around them.
Despite a 10-minute runtime, the film’s plot perfectly captures the post-Fallen Kingdom ideas about dinosaurs in the real world. The film follows the story of a family who goes camping at Big Rock National Park. Little do they know, this site is now filled with dinosaurs. The film jumps into action quickly, showing what would happen in an everyday interaction between dinosaurs and humans.
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Every Dinosaur-Related Death In Jurassic World Rebirth, Ranked By Brutality
Jurassic World Rebirth includes several brutal deaths which are caused by the different dinosaurs residing on the franchise’s newest island.
The dinosaurs are genuinely terrifying, adding excitement while still creating a sense of awe around them. Battle at Big Rock cleverly integrates humans and dinosaurs to tell its action-packed story. For instance, an Allosaurus attacks the camping family’s RV, showing the prehistoric creature’s interaction with man-made products.
Trevorrow’s short is proof that the dinosaur-and-human-world merging concept can work in a modern-day Jurassic World film. If only one of the feature-length movies were to take on this plot, they could explore one of the franchise’s most interesting threads.
Could Jurassic World 5 Use Dinosaurs In The Real World?
It Seems Unlikely
With Rebirth doing so well at the box office, it seems inevitable that Jurassic World 5 will happen in some capacity. As with any new installment, this movie provides a chance for new situations and plot lines to be explored. They could, theoretically, position dinosaurs in the human world again.
If the next movie is to come chronologically after Jurassic World: Rebirth, however, it seems unlikely that they will end up doing so. The movie established that dinosaurs are dying out in the human-inhabited environment. The only real way to see them flourish would be to retcon this plot point, which would surely frustrate audiences.
Rebirth might be able to reintroduce urban dinosaurs since the plot hinges on this group of scientists doing intense DNA work. This could lead to a renewed interest in the once-extinct lifeforms, or cause them to make some miraculous recovery.
For the time being, however, Jurassic World: Battle at Big Rock remains the only movie that truly gets this concept right. It’s a shame that Trevorrow was only awarded the chance to do this in short form, and focused more on locusts in Dominion. This remains one of the franchise’s opportunities, which hopefully further shorts or spinoffs can delve into after Jurassic World: Rebirth.
