WhileJurassic World Rebirthaims to reboot the franchise, the upcoming outing is already repeating two of theJurassic Worldtrilogy’s biggest mistakes. The originalJurassic Parktrilogy is far from perfect, and there is one major reason for this. Director Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel is a self-contained survival horror that didn’t necessarily need a sequel, even if the legendary director was convinced to return for 1997’s humdrum follow-up,The Lost World: Jurassic Park.Jurassic Park’s endingties together the story in narrative and thematic terms and doesn’t leave much room for a follow-up.
Jurassic World 4 Rebooting The Franchise Makes 1 Decision Already Very Confusing
After the failure of Jurassic World: Dominion, the new movie is set to be a complete reboot. That complicates one crucial decision for the franchise.
As such, the sequels couldn’t focus on a theme park overrun with dinosaurs but rather on rescue missions and asecret second island. In 2015,Jurassic Worlddodged this problem by focusing on a new, bigger, more successful theme park. Unlike the original movie’s titular attraction, Jurassic World was open to the public. This bigger, sillier take on the original movie’s story wasn’t perfect, but it did recaptureJurassic Park’s structure. However,Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdomand particularlyJurassic World: Dominion’s endingcompletely derailed this storyline. These sequels set dinosaurs loose in the human world, irrevocably altering the franchise’s premise in the process.
Jurassic World 4’s Main Character Is An Action Hero, Not A Regular Person
Scarlett Johansson Plays An Experienced Spy In Jurassic World 4
Initially, the announcement of2025’sJurassic World Rebirthsounded promising.Jurassic World Rebirthwas set to be a wholesale reboot for the franchise, featuring none of the legacy characters seen in theJurassic Parkmovies or theJurassic Worldtrilogy. Directed byGodzilla’s Gareth Edwards,Jurassic World Rebirth’s script was penned by originalJurassic Parkscreenwriter David Koepp. This combination of new talent and reliable stalwarts seemed to bode well for the reboot’s future, but the upcoming movie’s synopsis release cast a shadow over Jurassic World Rebirth’s potential. The reboot repeats not one, but two major mistakes.
Jurassic World Rebirthstars Scarlett Johansson and, per the synopsis, the actor will play a “Covert ops expert” named Zora Bennett. Bennett is tasked, along with an elite team, with “Extracting DNA from the three most gargantuan dinosaur species left alive.” Like Chris Pratt’s character inJurassic World,Scarlett Johansson’sJurassic World Rebirthcharacter is more of an action hero than a regular person, which makes her plight less scary.Jurassic World’s reboot ignores Jurassic Park’s original appeal, much like theJurassic Worldtrilogy, as Spielberg’s blockbuster pitted regular people against dinosaurs in a plot that left their survival in question.
The Jurassic World series made it clear that Chris Pratt’s heroic Owen Grady was never in any real danger.
The reasonJurassic World Dominion’s cast of legacy charactersdidn’t work was that viewers knew the sequel wouldn’t kill off beloved figures like Dr. Ellie Sattler, Dr. Alan Grant, or Dr. Ian Malcolm. However, the original movie was less sympathetic. Trained professionals like Muldoon died throughout its unpredictable story, and only a handful of characters were left alive in the ending. In contrast, theJurassic Worldseries made it clear that Chris Pratt’s heroic Owen Grady was never in any real danger, and this rendered its sequels increasingly silly. ByJurassic World Dominion, the franchise devolved into a goofy “Spies vs Dinosaurs” story.
Jurassic World 4 Ignores Jurassic World: Dominion’s Best Twist (Again)
Jurassic World Refuses To Engage With Human/ Dinosaur Co-Existence
The news that Johansson’s Bennett will be an action heroine rather than an ordinary citizen is disheartening, butJurassic World Rebirth’s synopsis does offer some hope for fans of the originalJurassic Parktrilogy. The synopsis notes that Bennett’s mission will collide with a “Civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic reptiles,” meaning there will be under-prepared, relatable protagonists in the reboot. This calls to mind the setup of2001’s underratedJurassic Park III, wherein an embittered older Grant finds himself tasked with helping inexperienced civilians save their son from the wilds of Isla Sorna.
Viewers are still not getting any answers to what the world is like when humans and dinosaurs coexist side-by-side.
Unfortunately, this good news comes with a caveat. The synopsis also reveals that, whileJurassic World Rebirthtakes place in the same timeline as the earlierJurassic Worldmovies, the reboot will not take advantage of their best twist. Per the synopsis,Jurassic WorldRebirthtakes place half a decade after the ending ofJurassic World Dominion, when “The planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs.” This twist means that, seven years afterJurassic World Fallen Kingdom’s endingpromised this, viewers are still not getting any answers to what the world is like when humans and dinosaurs coexist side-by-side.
This is particularly unfortunate sinceJurassic World Dominion’s most inspired moments stemmed from this same promise. The sequel’s opening sequence, aNowThisnews report on how humanity has adapted to living with dinosaurs, was more inventive, playful, and original than the proceeding story of corporate subterfuge and secret genetic testing.Jurassic World Rebirthneeded to reset the franchise timeline or embrace the wackiness of a dinosaur-filled human world, but the reboot has instead chosen the worst of both worlds.Jurassic World Rebirthhasn’t dropped the convoluted lore of theJurassic Worldtrilogy, but has abandoned its most interesting twist.
Jurassic World 4 Looking Like More Of The Same Is A Big Concern
The Synopsis Promises A Huge Cast, Corporate Intrigue, and Overpowered Heroes
Like theJurassic Worldtrilogy,Jurassic World Rebirth’s synopsis promises more of the same from the franchise. The huge cast ensures there will be plenty of main characters, something that causedJurassic World Dominion’s overstuffed story to struggle. The synopsis centers on corporate intrigue and an action movie protagonist, two things that made theJurassic Worldsequels painfully dull.Jurassic World 4could have avoidedthese low points from theJurassic Worldtrilogy, but the reboot is instead sticking to familiar themes and plot elements. This bodes badly given the declining critical progression of theJurassic Worldtrilogy.
Jurassic World Rebirthis set to be released on August 10, 2025.
Jurassic Worldearned relatively solid, if unspectacular, reviews in 2015. 2018’s Jurassic World Fallen Kingdomwas less successful, and many of its critical write-ups noted that the movie’s messy story was a major issue.Jurassic World Dominionearned the worst reviews of the franchise so far in 2022, butJurassic World Rebirthis repeating the mistakes of its predecessordespite this. Only time will tell ifJurassic World Rebirthcan salvage the series, but the fact that the reboot shares theJurassic Worldtrilogy’s action movie protagonist and continues to ignore the trilogy’s best twist doesn’t bode well.
