Summary
By now, everyone knows theJurassic Parkformula. Scientists clone dinosaurs, people come to the island, dinosaurs run wild. It’s generally a fun formula, but a formula nonetheless, a plot that requires the skill of a director like Steven Spielberg to elevate into something sublime.
The trailers forJurassic World: Rebirthsuggest that this seventh entry in the franchise will largely stick to the well-worn model. At the behest of a pharmaceutical company, mercenaries Zora Bennett and Duncan Kincaid (Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali) accompany scientist Dr. Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) to the original movie site Isla Nublar, where a miracle cure may lurk among the dinos. When they get there, they must survive the usual threats, including the T-rex, raptors, and the returning spinosaurus. However, the trailers also show off a pulp adventure quality to the movie, which might be enough to setJurassic Park: Rebirthapart from the others.
What is the Usual Jurassic Park Plot?
Adapted from the novel by Michael Crichton, 1993’sJurassic Parkcombined thrills and wonders to create a unique blockbuster. A master of capturing emotion on the screen, Spielberg made shots of Drs. Grant and Sattler (Sam Neilland Laura Dern) react to the recreated dinosaurs just as memorable as any encounter with a velociraptor. Speilberg and his screenwriter David Koepp understood that dinosaurs were awesome, in every sense of the word. They inspire awe and they terrify.
Every entry that followed has failed to nail that balance, even when Spielberg himself returned to directThe Lost World: Jurassic Park(1997). Although it had remarkable set pieces,The Lost Worldhad a mean glibness that led to a cruel scene of an innocent man getting ripped in two and another in which a preteen defeats raptors through gymnastics.Jurassic Park III(2001) andJurassic World(2015) tried to hit the same beats as the first film, but offered nothing new, feeling like a bland imitation of a better film.
The previous two entries,Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom(2018) andJurassic World: Dominion(2022) both swerve from the model, but not necessarily for the better. ForFallen Kingdom, director J. A. Bayona created a haunted house movie with dinosaurs instead of ghosts, resulting in some fun sequences but tonal inconsistencies. Dominion brought back Grant and Sattler, along withJeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm, but put them in a disappointing story about giant locusts instead of dinosaurs.
The problem is pretty disheartening forJurassic Parkfans. The movies either need to try (and usually fail) to match the tone of the first movie, or attempt to change the formula without going too far.
How Does Jurassic World: Rebirth Change the Franchise?
Although the plot synopsis forJurassic World: Rebirthpromises lots of the standard franchise fare, the trailer includes some surprising moments. One shot sees Dr. Loomis holding a jar within some ruins, a beam of light falling on himlike he’s Indiana Jonesholding treasure. Another scene involves Loomis and Bennett rappelling off a cliff, struggling not to avoid a dinosaur but to simply make their pulley system work.
In other words, theRebirthtrailer includes quite a bit of classic adventure, the sort of stuff one would find in a pulp novel about explorers in uncharted lands. Previous movies have certainly had their adventure elements, as when Grant led the kids up and down the electric fence in the first film. In fact, the titleThe Lost Worldreferred to a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel that inspired several heroic tales to follow.
ButRebirthpushes the adventure element forward further than any before. In place of scientists like Grant or experts like Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Rebirth puts mercenaries in the lead. Bennet and Kincaid enter the fray with plenty of equipment and experience, more prepared for a fight than any character from a previous film. Furthermore, the fact that they’re played by A-listers and not character actors and stunt people suggest that they’ll live through the film, not just get killed off in interesting ways.
Between the characters' expertise and the plot armor afforded top-level talent, Bennett and Kincaid will surely face terrible challenges. And that’s a good thing, because they allowRebirthdirector Gareth Edwards and returningscreenwriter David Koeppto craft set pieces that thrill and fit within the world of the franchise, without relying on the same dino-driven scares.
Bennett and Kincaid (and probably poor Loomis) can scale a mountainside or traverse a running river because that’s part of the terrain on Isla Nublar. They can embark on daring escapes and attempt last-minute rescues because they walk in the footsteps of pulp heroes of the past, the same types of heroes that regularly battled with dinosaurs.
Taking advantage of the adventure aspects of the leads can helpRebirthto put a slight twiston the familiar formulawithout abandoning it altogether.
Will Jurassic World: Rebirth Improve the Franchise?
All of that said, thetrailer forJurassic World: Rebirthisn’t just derring-do. The heroes also travel to the original island research lab, where they find “the worst of the worst,” mutated dinosaurs that never made it to the main attraction.
Edwards and Koepp have been talking about these mutant dinosaurs as if they’re the real attraction. They seem to think that audiences don’t care about the classic dinos, and therefore, they need to make new mixtures to scare moviegoers.
While there might be some truth to the filmmakers' concerns, dinosaurs are the entire point ofaJurassic Parkmovie. To make new monsters, even monsters based on dinos, is to undermine the central appeal of these films.
Going a classic adventure route won’t undermine the dinosaurs. It won’t feel as alien to the franchise as the haunted houses and huge bugs that have been tried before. Instead, the adventures leave room for dinosaurs to roar and chomp, but will also give audiences a break from the thunder lizards while Bennett and Kincaid try to brave the elements.
The adventure focus alone isn’t enough to makeJurassic World: Rebirthan equal tothe 1993 original. But it will try something that the other sequels haven’t done, makingRebirththe best chance to keep the franchise from going extinct.
