Jurassic World Rebirth is a silly, cheesy epic but it might have rebooted a once brilliant franchise facing extinction
(12A) 134mins
★★★★☆
MOST people think that the dinosaurs became extinct around 66million years ago.
But for me, the big bang happened in June 2022, when Jurassic World Dominion was released.
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The sixth instalment of my most beloved franchise was, quite frankly, an insult to all the giant reptiles who once ruled the Earth.
That lumbering and lazy sequel was all out of adrenaline, and it felt like the once-brilliant brand, which first burst on to the cinema screens in 1993 with Steven Spielberg 's breathtaking Jurassic Park, should now be fossilised for ever.
So taking a seat to watch this, the seventh in the movie series, I felt more trepidation than a palaeontologist being helicoptered into a new dinosaur park.
But, sometimes, film finds a way.
And I am delighted to report that Rebirth, which is out on Wednesday, has had a few shocks from the dino-fibrillator to get the heart of the original movies beating again.
It has a shiny new cast, including Oscar-nominated Scarlett Johansson, plenty of made-by-mad-scientists monsters and, notably, a script from David Koepp, who wrote the screenplay for Spielberg's Jurassic Park and 1997's The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
The first scene is a classic — that split-second of human error meaning those wily dinosaurs can take back control.
In this particular scenario, it is a scientist whose greedy desire for a Snickers bar while on the job means that a very deadly dino can escape.
And eat a lot of people en route.
Greed is a consistent theme, as we soon meet covert operative Zora Bennett (Johannson), who along with palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), has been employed to go on a secret mission by Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), the boss of a pharmaceutical company.
Jurassic World Dominion trailer
It has been five years since the events of Dominion (whatever they were) and Earth has become an inhospitable place for dinosaurs.
They roam around cities without so much as a double take from humans — and are generally eye-rolled and loathed.
But out on a remote, forbidden island in the Atlantic Ocean — once used as a research facility — they are flourishing.
The trio, plus leader Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) take to the seas with the promise of earning big money if they can get blood samples from three specific breeds of dinosaurs.
Their DNA holds the key to saving countless human lives — and making the pharmaceutical company countless millions.
And, as you might have guessed, they have to get pretty close to the megamonsters to get the sample.
Oh, and it is also stipulated that they have to be alive and well when it is taken. Hurrah.
It is all is nicely set up for an action-packed battle of man versus dino food.
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British director Gareth Edwards brings a breath of fresh air to the stale brand, and has embraced more CGI than ever before, making it more of a monster movie than a dinosaur one.
Especially when we are introduced to Distortus rex, a mutant T.Rex with six limbs due to the scientific experiments on the mammals over the decades.
Some of the action out at sea feels new to the series and the performances by Johannson and our two Brits-doing-American-accents, Bailey and Friend, are very watchable indeed.
Yes, it's silly, sometimes cheesy, and you know who will live and die quicker than watching a re-run of Midsomer Murders.
But Jurassic World Rebirth is a rip-roaring, entertaining stomp back to the heart of the franchise.
It will, once again, have several generations jumping out of their cinema seats.
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Dino facts
There are roughly 700 known species of extinct dinosaurs.
The reptiles had lived on Earth for about 245million years.
English naturalist Sir Richard Owen coined the term Dinosauria, derived from the Greek deinos, meaning 'fearfully great', and sauros, meaning 'lizard'.
Dinosaur fossils have been found on all seven continents.
All non-avian dinosaurs became extinct about 66million years ago.
Modern birds and dinosaurs share a common ancestor.
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