Warning: Major spoilers for Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

Gareth Edwards’ stand-alone sequel Jurᴀssic World Rebirth breathed new life into the Jurᴀssic Park franchise, and in doing so made up for one of the most common complaints that fans had about Jurᴀssic World Dominion. The new chapter in the dinosaur sci-fi action series scaled back from the globe-trotting adventures of the previous installments in favor of a self-contained story.

Set five years after the events of Dominion, the world of Jurᴀssic World Rebirth has lost all interest in dinosaurs. Most wild dinosaurs have died off, and what few remain have collected and are thriving in oxygen-rich environments near the Earth’s equator, in climates that more closely approximate the ancient world from whence their DNA comes.

While audiences and critics remain divided about Jurᴀssic World Rebirth, it’s impossible to deny that it brings the franchise back to its roots. Built upon a repeated twist from the original trilogy of Jurᴀssic Park movies, Rebirth does an admirable job at undoing one of the biggest flaws in the final chapter of the first Jurᴀssic World trilogy.

Jurᴀssic World Dominion’s Biggest Complaint Was The Lackluster Dinosaur Visuals

Dinosaurs Were A Background Element Of A Globe-Trotting Adventure Movie

Jurᴀssic World Dominion attempted to bridge the gap between the two generations of Jurᴀssic Park-based movies by combining the most iconic cast members from each trilogy, but the end result was an overstuffed, over-CGI’d mess. With so many human characters to focus on, plus a globe-spanning plot that ranged across several continents, dinosaurs became little more than window dressing.

To be clear, the movie is loaded with different dinosaurs, and there are actually some fascinating species represented, like the cave-dwelling dimetrodon, the feathered pyroraptotor, and the gargantuan dreadnoughtus. But each of them makes a brief appearance or runs through a quick plot break, and then is never returned to.

None of the dinosaurs felt like true marvels, even the mᴀssive giganotosaurus, who is the center of the last big action set piece. The formerly breathtaking animals were lost in a morᴀss of CGI and explosions.

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Made Dinosaurs The Standout

They Even Made Them Seem Legitimately Scary Again

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth had no such issues. When the dinosaurs were on-screen, they were treated with deference, made to look majestic and powerful as they were in the original movie. Each key scene featuring dinosaurs was centered around the dinosaur itself, with the human characters serving as the minor inconveniences (or in some cases, snacks) that they were.

Rebirth also made the dinosaurs feel legitimately scary again, which certainly wasn’t the case with Jurᴀssic World Dominion. The T. rex river scene introduced a whole new reason to be afraid of the T. rex, while the spinosaurus/mosasaurus group hunting scene gave off some major Jaws vibes. The mutadons brought some of the original velociraptor juice to the proceedings, while also being even uglier and more monstrous.

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Remembers What Made The Jurᴀssic Park Franchise Entertaining

Dinosaurs Are Once Again Portrayed With Larger-Than-Life Majesty

When it comes right down to it, people show up to Jurᴀssic Park movies to see dinosaurs. Each trip to the theater to see one of those movies is an attempt to capture a bite-sized portion of that awestruck emotion that Dr. Alan Grant has when he first sees a brachiosaurus in the original Jurᴀssic Park.

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth remembers that central premise, and whether you enjoyed the writing or the human characters or anything else about the movie, it’s impossible to deny that the dinosaurs were the stars. It went a long way towards making up for the mistakes of its predecessor in the franchise, if nothing else.