I Have Not Liked A Single Jurassic World Movie Except For Rebirth. Here's Why The Latest Film In The Franchise Has Finally Gotten Me On Board

I'm sorry, but there's only one genuinely great Jurassic Park movie, and that's the original.

Based on the Michael Crichton novel of the same name, all of the subsequent films have been either just okay for me, or verging on terrible, with The Lost World and Jurassic Park III being in the “just okay” category, and the Jurassic World movies being in the “verging on terrible” category.

Or, at least that's what I thought until I watched Jurassic World Rebirth, which is the most recent movie in the Jurassic World saga. And, while my colleague, Mike Reyes, wasn’t the biggest fan of the movie, given his review, Rebirth is actually the first film in the Jurassic World franchise that I genuinely liked. Here’s why.

I Feel Like This Movie Wasn't Just Trying To Be Jurassic Park 2.0

Do you want to know one thing I really don’t like? When legacy sequels try to throw in as much fan service as possible (Think the Star Wars sequels. Or, even more egregious, the later Ghostbusters films).

Now, I must applaud the first Jurassic World since I feel like they did their best to try to avoid this. What I mean is, with the first Jurassic World, we got mostly all new characters, save for B.D. Wong from the first movie, as well as a brand new park. That said, it really did kind of feel like a modern day retelling of the first movie when it all was said and done.

The second World movie, Fallen Kingdom, initially felt like it was trying something new with the whole volcano thing, but when it all came down to it, it still felt like it was trying to recapture the magic of the earlier Jurassic Park movies.

Dominion was the weird one with the locusts, but it also relied on bringing back fan favorites like Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, and Ellie Sattler. And, as I alluded to earlier, I don’t like when characters from older movies get trotted back into later ones since even with a brand new plot, it still feels like it’s trying to relive the past.

However, Jurassic World Rebirth is different. It doesn’t feel like it’s trying to make you remember all about the previous Jurassic Park movies. Instead, with its simple, almost video game-y plot, its new characters, and even its new dino (The D-Rex!), it really does feel like a rebirth of sorts that’s wholly unique from the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies, which I genuinely like.

I Enjoyed The Super Silly Plot This Time Around, Too

Let me be real with you. Aside from the first Jurassic World movie, I think Fallen Kingdom, and especially Dominion had really silly plots. That said, even though I love so-bad-they’re-good movies, I didn’t like the silly plots in those two films. Dominion especially just felt like the series was going off the deep end at times, and I was already tired of plot devices like cloned daughters, and dinosaurs living with humans.

Even so, I really like the super basic plot of Jurassic World Rebirth. A skilled team goes out to an island that houses the dinosaurs that were too weird for the original park, and the team is there to get blood samples (One from a land dinosaur, one from a sea “dinosaur” –aka a mosasaur, and one from a flying “dinosaur”--a pterosaur).

The blood samples from these massive, almost boss-like creatures will provide a possible cure for heart disease, and so the team shoots needles into creatures, only for the needles to fly up with a parachute once the blood has been extracted.

I mean, is that kind of stupid? Yes. But is it also fun? I think so! And, fun is kind of what I feel has been missing from these Jurassic World movies. Because, look. There is no way that any movie can recapture the wonder of that first Jurassic Park movie (which is also one of those rare films that is arguably superior to the book).

That said, Jurassic World Rebirth doesn’t even seem to be trying to be like the old films. It’s just a silly, enjoyable movie with dinosaurs, and for somebody who has now seen four of these World movies, “silly” and “enjoyable” is all I really need.

I Actually Enjoyed The New Characters As Well

No disrespect to Chris Pratt or Bryce Dallas Howard, but I don’t think I would have even watched Jurassic World Rebirth if they returned for this fourth film. And, that’s because I’m pretty sick of Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, who Pratt and Howard played respectively.

I’m also sick of Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, and Ellie Sattler. In fact, I’m just sick of everything connected to Jurassic Park/World at this point frankly. So, really, I welcomed any new characters that we were going to get, and they didn't necessarily have to be good, three-dimensional characters, either. Just different.

These low expectations were good, because the new characters are as basic as you can get.

Scarlett Johansson is our star, and she plays a mercenary. What kind? Does it really matter? She's good during action scenes. Mahershala Ali plays the team leader who pilots the boat. And he, uh…leads (and is also probably a good swimmer). Jonathan Bailey is a scientist who chews mints loudly, and Rupert Friend is an evil businessman.

We also have a father with two kids, and he takes along his eldest daughter's boyfriend as well. The boyfriend is annoying at first, but then turns out to be a good guy by the end. Yes, all of these characters are pretty paint-by-numbers, but they're also a nice change of pace from the previous World movies, and that works for me!

For Once, Everything Worked In The Story

This might seem like an odd thing to compliment, but for once in one of these World movies, I feel like everything just works. Let me explain.

The main story consists of the mission to retrieve the blood samples from the various dinosaurs. For that story, we have our main team, led by Johansson and Ali. They only have a limited time since a helicopter is going to come to pick them up, so that's solid.

The secondary story concerns the father, his two children, and the boyfriend in tow. The dad, played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, is your standard protective father. He winds up sailing into dino territory, and the main team picks them up on a rescue mission. The family manages to get separated from the main team, and they also wander the island (as well as get featured in arguably the best scene in the whole movie).

And, do you know what? It all just works. The old World movies just felt like a hodgepodge of ideas, and I was often bored by both A and B stories with the other films.

But, by making everything as basic and one-note as possible in Rebirth, I actually found myself engaged in the entire package. This actually makes me excited for another World movie, which leads me to my final point.

In The End, I'd Actually Want To See Another World Movie, Which I Can't Say I Did In The Past

Do you remember the Hobbit movies? Besides being the worst films in The Lord of the Rings saga, they also got progressively worse as they went along.

I bring this up since it’s the same way I felt about the Jurassic World movies. Yes, I had seen all of them, but like the Hobbit flicks, I felt like I HAD to, rather than wanted to. I mean, once I commit to something, it’s hard for me to let go.

Even so, when it came to the Jurassic World movies, three was enough for me. And, after how bad Dominion was, I had settled on not watching another one ever again for the rest of my life. In fact, if not for my son wanting to see this new one (It was his first Jurassic movie in the theaters), I honestly would have skipped out on this one.

However, now that I saw it, I want to see another one, which I can’t believe I’m saying. But, I like the new direction of this franchise, and I’d even like to see these characters return for another adventure. How weird is that?