I'll start by sharing the reaction of a young boy, probably around eleven years of age, who was together with his father. After the film was over, they were in the lobby on their way to the exit when they ran into people they knew--yet another father with his two boys. I was walking behind them. They exchanged greetings and then one of the fathers asked the other how the film was. Before he had a chance to answer, his son exclaimed that it was an exciting and scary film; his eyes widened and his face was full of wonder and excitement. You just knew that this must have been his first Jurassic Park/World film. His father smiled, but you could tell that he felt the same way, just that he had a more tempered reaction. At that moment, I realized that I felt the same--it was an exciting and scary film--even if we've seen most of it before in other Jurassic Park/World films. It didn't matter. This film captured the spirit of the early films, when the good and ethical people survived (mostly) and the bad and unethical people got crunched by the carnivorous dinosaurs. The demarcation between good and bad was easy to discern and no tears were lost on the demise of the bad people.
I love going to the movies and I always will. I love the summer blockbuster films (just not the super hero genre) and I love sitting together with other people who are there for the same reason--to be entertained. It's fun. Jurassic World: Rebirth is not a great film, but I never go to these kinds of films expecting great art. But it's a very good, tightly-edited film. I don't care if we've seen most of it before. Big (and in this film, mutant) carnivorous dinosaurs ARE scary and you wouldn't want to be eaten by one of them. That is the mark of good filmmaking, when you can transport the audience to that world and keep them on the edge of their seats. The teenage girls next to me in my row were commenting on the (often stupid) behavior of some of the characters. Much like we do at home when we're watching a movie. They were involved in the story, as I was. You root for the characters to get off the remote island where the dinosaurs live, alive, which they do of course, but minus some members of the original group.
Scarlett Johansson (former military covert operative), Mahershala Ali (boat owner and longtime friend of Johansson's character), and Jonathan Bailey (paleontologist) are all very good in their roles, but it was cool to see a pragmatic and unafraid female leader (Johansson) for a change. She kept a cool head in most of the borderline catastrophic situations. Refreshing.....
A fun summer film for sure, if you're looking for escapist entertainment: Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) - IMDb
