8 Reasons Jurᴀssic World Rebirth’s Reviews & Rotten Tomatoes Score Are So Negative

Even though there was a lot of anticipation leading up to the release of the film, Jurᴀssic World Rebirth’s reviews have been quite negative. Currently, the movie has a disappointing score of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes (via Rotten Tomatoes). This is unfortunate, especially since Rebirth was meant to start a new era for the long-running franchise.

Besides the first film, which was masterfully directed by Steven Spielberg, practically every Jurᴀssic Park/World movie has disappointed critics and audiences. The previous two Jurᴀssic World movies before Rebirth, in particular, were huge let-downs. However, based on the trailers for the movie, fans had hope that Jurᴀssic World Rebirth could be the best movie in the franchise in years.

Unfortunately, just like the last two movies in the franchise, reviews for Jurᴀssic World Rebirth have been very negative. Even though Jurᴀssic World Rebirth has been a box office success, reviewers have criticized several aspects of its story. Therefore, here are eight common criticisms that have resulted in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth’s reviews and Rotten Tomatoes score being very negative:

8

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Fails To Recapture The Magic Of Spielberg’s Original

The First Jurᴀssic Park Movie Remains Unmatched

Before the release of the movie, fans of the franchise hoped that Jurᴀssic World Rebirth would successfully capture the feeling of watching the original Jurᴀssic Park movie. Basically every other movie in the franchise has failed to do this, proving just how excellent the original film is. Even The Lost World: Jurᴀssic Park, which was also directed by Spielberg, failed to recapture the feeling of the original.

However, it seemed like Gareth Edwards was the perfect choice to potentially execute this goal. After all, he has directed several acclaimed blockbusters throughout his career, such as Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Edwards is clearly inspired by Spielberg, but still failed to instill the sense of wonder in Rebirth that the original movie had.

In addition to Edwards, Rebirth also brought David Koepp back, the writer of the franchise’s first movie. Obviously, this was exciting for longtime fans of the franchise, but Koepp also failed to include the same sense of wonder. In fact, Koepp’s writing is significantly weaker in Rebirth than it was in the original movie. As Slate’s Sam Adams notes in his review, “Koepp’s return feels as if he’s been dragged in by the ear, mumbling sullenly in the corner and wishing he were anywhere else.

7

The Mission In Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Doesn’t Make A Lot Of Sense

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth’s Characters Are Looking For The Biggest Dinosaurs

Scarlett Johansson looking worried as Zora Bennett in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

Even though the last film in the franchise, 2022’s Jurᴀssic World Dominion, established that dinosaurs shared most areas of Earth with humans, Rebirth immediately retcons this idea and establishes that the previously extinct creatures now only live on islands near the equator. Not long into Jurᴀssic World Rebirth, it becomes clear that most humans have seemingly forgotten about dinosaurs.

The mission in Rebirth doesn’t really make much sense, or at least isn’t explained properly.

However, dinosaurs can actually benefit humanity since their enlarged hearts can help people live longer. After discovering this, Rupert Friend’s Martin Krebs, the stereotypical greedy businessman, recruits Scarlett Johansson’s Zora Bennett to lead a mission to the island of Ile Saint-Hubert, which served as the testing facility for the original Jurᴀssic Park. While on this mission, they must collect DNA samples from the biggest dinosaurs of the land, air, and sea.

However, several fans have pointed out that this mission doesn’t actually make sense. Since Martin, Zora, and the rest of the team want the DNA of the dinosaurs with the largest hearts, it shouldn’t matter whether they primarily reside on land, in water, or in the air. For example, the T-rex in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth is way bigger than the Quetzalcoatlus. This proves that the mission in Rebirth doesn’t really make much sense, or at least isn’t explained properly.

6

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth’s Story Is Far Too Familiar

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Doesn’t Try Anything New

Dinosaurs in a valley in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

Speaking of Friend’s businessman character, it also needs to be mentioned that the story of Jurᴀssic World Rebirth is far too familiar. Unfortunately, the newest movie in the series tells the exact same story as many of the previous films. Referring to Friend’s character, Rolling Stone’s David Fear states, “Just because the area is completely off limits doesn’t mean that some profit-hungry douchebag won’t hire mercenaries to escort him there.

Friend’s Martin Krebs is a perfect example of a character that feels plucked out of a previous entry, but this is a problem with practically every character in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth. Because of this, nothing in the movie feels new at all. Once again, the franchise examines themes such as greed and humans playing God.

It should be mentioned that there’s nothing particularly wrong with these themes. The first Jurᴀssic Park movie brilliantly explores both of these ideas. However, Rebirth makes it clear that the franchise has become so repeтιтive, which is a major reason why the last couple movies received negative reviews, as well. Therefore, it’s disappointing that Jurᴀssic World Rebirth didn’t do anything new and unexpected with its story.

5

The Pacing In Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Is Awkward (Which Takes Away Tension)

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Juggles Too Many Characters

Jonathan Bailey as Dr. Henry Loomis from Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

In his review, Fear also criticizes how Jurᴀssic World Rebirth constantly jumps back and forth between the movie’s two groups, these being Zora’s crew and the Delgado family. He writes, “Not even Koepp can keep you from feeling that such ping-ponging back and forth ends up leeching the tension from both stories long before the groups inevitably join forces again.

Jumping back and forth between these two groups gets tiresome after a while. Since these groups are separated for the majority of the movie, this is a major problem. The decision to separate the groups also negatively impacts the pacing of the film, which is already very strange. While the first and third acts of the movie are surprisingly short, the second act feels way too long.

This is a problem that many critics have pointed out in their reviews. At certain points, Jurᴀssic World Rebirth feels way too rushed, but other sequences feel like they are dragged out for a very long time. Because of this, the pacing of the film is quite awkward, which leads to Jurᴀssic World Rebirth not including as much tension and thrills as was promised by the trailers.

4

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth’s Characters Aren’t Interesting

All The Characters In Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Will Be Forgotten Soon

Of course, these pacing issues may have been forgiven if critics and audiences actually enjoyed spending time with the movie’s characters. Unfortunately, in addition to feeling like copies of previous characters from the franchise, everyone in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth is very uninteresting.

It seems like Jurᴀssic World Rebirth is trying to recreate the iconic trio from the original Jurᴀssic Park.

As The Atlantic’s David Sims writes in his review, Jurᴀssic World Rebirth is “a plodding, disenchanting experience that adds some more roaring dinosaurs in exchange for any memorable characters or narrative stakes.” With Zora Bennett, Henry Loomis, and Duncan Kincaid, it seems like Jurᴀssic World Rebirth is trying to recreate the iconic trio from the original Jurᴀssic Park.

Perhaps this is why Universal wanted Duncan to survive at the end of Jurᴀssic World Rebirth. It’s very possible that Universal wants these three characters to all return in a potential sequel, but that is not at all what audiences and critics are asking for. Unfortunately, the three primary protagonists and all the supporting characters in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth are very boring, which has inevitably led to some negative reviews.

3

The Actors Don’t Do Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Any Favors

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth’s Script Doesn’t Allow The Actors To Shine

Scarlett Johansson smiles as Zora Bennett in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

Even though Jurᴀssic World Rebirth has a stacked cast which features Oscar winners, A-listers, and Hollywood up-and-comers, nobody gives their best performance in the movie. Since Scarlett Johansson is the main character in the movie, let’s first focus on her. Unfortunately, it seems like Johansson is only in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth for the paycheck, which is a shame since she is usually an incredible actor.

Mahershala Ali has a few moments to shine in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth, particularly when he is trying to sacrifice himself to save Isabella at the end of the film. However, even though Ali is a two-time Oscar winner, Jurᴀssic World Rebirth doesn’t give him enough to work with. Just like all the other characters in this film, Duncan is criminally underwritten.

Out of the main trio, Jonathan Bailey perhaps gives the best performance. It seems like Bailey is having fun with the role and at least wants to be in the movie. However, even though he has once again proven that he is destined for Hollywood stardom just eight months after the release of Wicked, he doesn’t necessarily get a lot of chances to excel in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth.

2

The Hybrid Dinosaurs In Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Are Scary (But Still Underwhelming)

The D-Rex Is The Most Dangerous Dinosaur In Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

The D-Rex grabs a suited and screaming person with its claw in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth

The first Jurᴀssic World movie changed the franchise forever by introducing the concept of genetically-altered hybrid dinosaurs. Even though including hybrid dinosaurs was controversial in the previous three Jurᴀssic World movies, Rebirth continues this trend. Jurᴀssic World Rebirth introduces audiences to Mutadons and the D-rex, which is supposed to be the movie’s big bad.

However, as The Daily Beast’s Nick Schager notes in his review, the hybrid dinosaurs in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth aren’t as scary as they should be. Speaking about the D-rex, Schager writes, “That mega-ultra-goliath is meant to be this harrowing tale’s pièce de résistance, but there’s something dispiritingly underwhelming about it, especially when juxtaposed with the eternally formidable and ferocious T-Rex.

There are definitely a lot of dinosaurs in Jurᴀssic World Rebirth. However, many critics agree that the real dinosaurs, such as the T-rex, the mosasaurus, and the spinosaurus’, are scarier and more fun to watch than the hybrid dinosaurs. Therefore, this suggests that the franchise needs to finally abandon the idea of hybrid dinosaurs, as it seems they have way overstayed their welcome (if they were ever welcome at all).

1

Jurᴀssic World Rebirth Doesn’t Make Audiences Excited About The Franchise’s Future

Where Will The Jurᴀssic World Franchise Go From Here?

Because of all the aforementioned criticisms, it doesn’t feel like many critics are excited about the future of the franchise. Before the release of Jurᴀssic World Rebirth, fans and critics claimed that the series had already gone on for too long. Despite this, there was hope that Rebirth could turn things around for the franchise.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. In his review of the movie, The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz bluntly writes, “Rebirth? This is a burial.” After Rebirth’s underwhelming ending, it’s unclear what the future of the franchise looks like. However, based on most reviews, it doesn’t seem like many critics care. More than anything else, Jurᴀssic World Rebirth needed to make people excited about the franchise again, but it unfortunately fails to do this.

Sources: Slate, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, The Globe and Mail

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