Sci-Fi Gareth Edwards's Jurassic World Rebirth

[Elayis]

Studios will learn from Minecraft and Mario is that they don't have to try too hard to be successful.

Studios learned that lesson with Pirates 4. I still remember a studio exec admitting that the movie was phoned in but audiences still gobbled it up anyways because of Depp and the brand.

 

[Zantera]

Having slept on it and thought more about it, the worse it gets. I honestly think you could make a Plinkett-style 1 ½ hour breakdown video on everything that's either dumb, wrong or doesn't work in this movie. The more I think about the more details I remember that didn't really align with something later in the movie but during a first viewing it might sneak under your radar because you're being bombarded with dinosaurs.

 

[BatLobster]

I'll say this too. This is the sort of mid-tier blockbuster that kind of makes me think of summers as a kid, where it all just goes down easy because you're just happy to be seated in an air-conditioned theater and letting it all wash over you. I happened to see this at the end of a very active and (HOT) outdoorsy vacation, so it was sort of just the thing to unwind and turn my brain off for a bit, admire the cinematography. I was sort of able to get in the right mindset. Not to mention pure escapism does have its appeal in these dark times.

That said, I wish that wasn't the bar. I want to see theatrical movies thrive, and they need to deliver on both fronts- the spectacle and the story. I think the 7th Jurassic movie, especially so soon after the last era of the franchise needed to try a bit harder to justify itself and not just give us more of the same. But this franchise seems to always be at the crossroads of either chasing (and failing to live up to) the cinematic lightning in a bottle of the first film or going further and further into B-movie ridiculousness or convoluted global scale. I'm not sure which is right, but I do feel like...if you look at the first film, the main characters don't feel like the cardboard cutouts we get here. I think Loomis gets close to something enjoyably quirky, but ends up feeling like a bit of Gary Stu. I love the IDEA of ScarJo and Ali adding some movie star gravitas, but can't help but feel like the "mercs with a tragic past" just feels a little too tired of a trope to be the emotional anchor of a franchise 7 films deep.

Still, the idea of humans and dinosaurs coexisting in the modern world, even 30 years later feels like it has endless potential for cinematic wonder so it's not surprising both the studio and we the audience seem to be perpetually willing to give the franchise one more chance.

 

[Zantera]

I feel bad for ScarJo because she is generally likeable in movies and can do a good job but her character in this film is weaker than Chris Pratt in the last trilogy. Similarly I feel bad for Mahershala Ali who is a great actor but you could get anyone to play this 'merc captain with a troubled past'. The fact that ScarJo lost some team member and that Mahershala lost his kid is something that only seems to exist for 1 scene of them looking sad (before the action starts) and then never brought up again.

They could have done a multitude of things here. Do something ballsy like kill off the dad in the family, have Mahershala's character take care of the younger daughter and form some bond. Similarly with ScarJo there wasn't much of a bond with her and Jonathan Bailey's character and you could have written it so maybe he reminded her of the team member she lost or have a Andrew Garfield saving Zendaya scene where she saves him from death and feels some kind of catharsis for a mistake she made in the past and now she could do it the right way.

And I ranted about it before but I'm so tired of them always doing the Burke character because whoever is making these movies loved Aliens as a kid and figured "we need a Paul Reiser type in here". Within 5 minutes I knew Rupert Friend was going to backstab our characters in the final third and meet his demise because of it. Why not for once subvert our expectations with the 'suit character' and have them turn out to not be the a-hole?

 

[Drizzle]

I feel bad for ScarJo because she is generally likeable in movies and can do a good job but her character in this film is weaker than Chris Pratt in the last trilogy. Similarly I feel bad for Mahershala Ali who is a great actor but you could get anyone to play this 'merc captain with a troubled past'. The fact that ScarJo lost some team member and that Mahershala lost his kid is something that only seems to exist for 1 scene of them looking sad (before the action starts) and then never brought up again.

They could have done a multitude of things here. Do something ballsy like kill off the dad in the family, have Mahershala's character take care of the younger daughter and form some bond. Similarly with ScarJo there wasn't much of a bond with her and Jonathan Bailey's character and you could have written it so maybe he reminded her of the team member she lost or have a Andrew Garfield saving Zendaya scene where she saves him from death and feels some kind of catharsis for a mistake she made in the past and now she could do it the right way.

And I ranted about it before but I'm so tired of them always doing the Burke character because whoever is making these movies loved Aliens as a kid and figured "we need a Paul Reiser type in here". Within 5 minutes I knew Rupert Friend was going to backstab our characters in the final third and meet his demise because of it. Why not for once subvert our expectations with the 'suit character' and have them turn out to not be the a-hole?

I disagree there. It's not like she had a lot to work with but Pratt might as well have been a G.I. Joe action figure in the last two World movies. The Raptor handler angle was interesting in the first Jurassic World but then he became a generic bland action hero.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I don’t feel bad for any of them because they wanted to be in this. And ScarJo even had the power to shape her character. It’s not like they were forced or even it was Pratt just on the cusp of stardom. They simply love the franchise and got a big paycheck while doing it.

Will they be back for the sequels? Probably. And smiling about it lol

 

[Boom]

They either need to completely reinvent the franchise or they need to put it on ice. The "people go to dinosaur island and get stuck there" trope has run its course.

 

[Spider-Fan]

They either need to completely reinvent the franchise or they need to put it on ice. The "people go to dinosaur island and get stuck there" trope has run its course.

Spoiler

They sort of actively sabotaged future sequel ideas beyond that though in this one. Unless they do yet another retcon and have the dinosaurs out there again. Otherwise, by limiting them to only some islands on the equator, they have limited what they can do story wise. It's just always going to be this now.

 

[Boom]

I've always liked the idea of Sorcerer meets Jurassic Park, where the main characters are trying to transport cargo by train or a truck convoy through a South American jungle densely populated with dinosaurs. They have to contend with various obstacles along the route, not to mention the threat of dinosaurs at any given time.

 

[Drizzle]

They either need to completely reinvent the franchise or they need to put it on ice. The "people go to dinosaur island and get stuck there" trope has run its course.

Spoiler

They had a fresh idea at the end of Fallen Kingdom with the concept of dinosaurs being introduced to the modern world but Dominion squandered it and Rebirth basically rubbed salt in the wound by saying "Any dinosaurs that aren't directly near or on the equator are pretty much dead." I really don't know why they wrote themselves into a corner with that.

 

[DarkKnight88]

It’s probably just too expensive. Yes I’d love to see Raptors attacking a people on a subway or a T-Rex running and pushing over cars on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Though, again, these are movies, they could always walk it back a bit and say

Spoiler

some special dinosaurs have wandered back into our cities and aren’t dying because reasons. They could certainly say the mutated ones are immune.

 

[Luigi]

'Twas fun, I liked it.

However, I didn't care at all for discount Bumpy.

 

[Drizzle]

It’s probably just too expensive. Yes I’d love to see Raptors attacking a people on a subway or a T-Rex running and pushing over cars on the Golden Gate Bridge.

If the Jurassic movies can't afford that then what franchise can?

 

[Pennywise]

'Jurassic World Rebirth' star Scarlett Johansson is now the highest-grossing lead actor

Thanks to the box office success of 'Jurassic World Rebirth,' Scarlett Johansson is now the highest-grossing lead actor in Hollywood. She surpasses MCU stars Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr.

ew.com

 

[donuts]

Enjoyed it more than I thought it would. It was a pretty okay entry in the franchise.

 

[Lily Adler]

I confess I like JP3 for its so bad it's good appeal.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I confess I like JP3 for its so bad it's good appeal.

JPIII is sometimes so bad it's funny, like the "ALAN!" Raptor dream. Also, the dinosaurs look great and the Spinosaurus is legit scary and it has good action scenes. But it also is really bad a lot of the time. You can tell the scenes were written like the night before

 

[Lily Adler]

JPIII is sometimes so bad it's funny, like the "ALAN!" Raptor dream. Also, the dinosaurs look great and the Spinosaurus is legit scary and it has good action scenes. But it also is really bad a lot of the time. You can tell the scenes were written like the night before

I think the Kirbys despite being played by good actors were horrible comic relief attempts. They were there to do the stupid thing that results in a dino chase.

 

[Lily Adler]

I think the Kirbys despite being played by good actors were horrible comic relief attempts. They were there to do the stupid thing that results in a dino chase.

Also wasn't one of the guys they hired as "mercenaries" the clown from Air Bud?

 

[donuts]

I think the Kirbys despite being played by good actors were horrible comic relief attempts. They were there to do the stupid thing that results in a dino chase.

Appearantly, they threw most of the character stuff regarding the Kirbys (co-written by Alexander Payne btw) out of the movie.

 

[Drizzle]

'Jurassic World Rebirth' star Scarlett Johansson is now the highest-grossing lead actor

Thanks to the box office success of 'Jurassic World Rebirth,' Scarlett Johansson is now the highest-grossing lead actor in Hollywood. She surpasses MCU stars Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr.

ew.com

That's pretty wild since her and Samuel L. Jackson have mostly been in the same MCU movies plus he's got three Star Wars movies under his belt. Good for ScarJo.

 

[donuts]

Also wasn't one of the guys they hired as "mercenaries" the clown from Air Bud?

Yeah

 

[DarkKnight88]

Appearantly, they threw most of the character stuff regarding the Kirbys (co-written by Alexander Payne btw) out of the movie.

Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor were actually brought in to save the movie. The script they had wasn’t working so they shot all the action/dinosaur scenes first. Then they changed the story around.

There was a great podcast series that actually tracked how it evolved with interviews from a lot of people involved in making the film (including William H. Macy).

 

[donuts]

Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor were actually brought in to save the movie. The script they had wasn’t working so they shot all the action/dinosaur scenes first. Then they changed the story around.

There was a great podcast series that actually tracked how it evolved with interviews from a lot of people involved in making the film (including William H. Macy).

Indeed, but according to Alexander Payne:

"We gave them a new script, and then we saw the movie, and it's all action. They took the rest out!"

And I also remember reading that most of what got the axe were character scenes involving the family.

 

[BobJM]

I’m not super critical of this franchise; but, for what it’s worth, I thought this was a fun entry and absolutely worth seeing. It’s about on par, maybe only slightly worse than JP3 but I think I’d rank it above all the Pratt films. IMO, while clearly the original is clearly the best, I think TLW and JP3 are perfectly fine.

The human characters in this were written paper-thin so that was disappointing, but otherwise I liked the main three. ScarJo felt the most out of place, but she’s still good enough to make it work. Though one could argue it’s Mahershala Ali is the surprise central protagonist with the best arc.

The family characters worked too, but the boyfriend was frustrating. He was just obnoxiously the worst lol. Once I realized he was getting a redemption arc, and not getting eaten, I thought we’d getting something more from him. But it was just more bad dialogue