‘Let the franchise go extinct’ cry critics as Jurassic World Rebirth makes rotten debut

The first reviews of Jurassic World Rebirth have landed and it’s been a decidedly mixed bag for the creature feature, with some calling for the franchise ‘to go extinct’.

With critical responses totted up on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes it’s currently sitting at a rotten rating of 54% from 98 professional reactions.

But while this is far from ideal for filmmaker Gareth Edwards’ seventh feature-length entry in the franchise, it is not a series low point.

Starring Scarlett Johansson as former military operative Zora Bennett, Jonathan Bailey as bespectacled palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis, Rupert Friend as pharmaceutical rep Martin Krebs and Mahershala Ali as team leader Duncan Kincaid, Jurassic World Rebirth starts afresh, 32 years after dinosaurs were brought back when public interest is waning.

This rag-tag group braves the forbidden isolated equatorial regions where dinosaurs still roam freely on a secret mission to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures in the hopes of a major medical breakthrough.

But in the wreckage of the park and previous human experiments, life has also continued to find a way in unexpected forms too.

‘How can a movie about mutant dinosaurs be this forgettable to look at? It’s a shame,’ wrote critic Danny Leigh for the Financial Times, also describing the movie as ‘a lumbering beast’.

‘The Jurassic sequels were bad enough when they made an effort to evolve – they’re even less worth seeing now that they already come pre-fossilised,’ added Indie Wire’s David Ehrlich, while The Cinematic Reel’s review suggested: ‘If this is the franchise’s big reset, maybe it’s time Universal finally let the dinosaurs and the Jurassic Park franchise go extinct.

Caryn James for the BBC observed in her two-star review: ‘Jurassic World Rebirth has major stars in Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey, and better-designed creatures than ever, but so few thrills that it may be the weakest of the Jurassic franchise.’

However, other critics were much more effusive in their praise.

For The Independent, Clarisse Loughery insisted that Rebirth ‘is making the dinosaur cool again’, while Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian wrote in his four-star review: ‘Now, against all odds, these dinosaurs have had a brand refresh: a brighter, breezier, funnier, incomparably better acted and better written film.’

The Telegraph’s Tim Robey went even further, awarding a full five stars and adding: ‘It’s easily the best-looking, best-sounding film since the first. But it takes a deep, personal love of the medium for a director to deliver such crunchy impact, thrills, spills and euphoric highs.

These more positive reactions have saved Jurassic World Rebirth from ranking as poorly as some of its predecessors.

Kicking off with the original Jurassic Park back in 1993 – which revolutionised how dinosaurs are viewed in popular culture as well as being a roaring good time – it was legendary Steven Spielberg who was initially at the helm as the director, returning for sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997.

Unsurprisingly this first outing boasts an impressive 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, although the sequel plunges down to 56%.

This initial trilogy was capped off with Jurassic Park III in 2001 before a second trilogy began with a fresh cast in 2015 with Jurassic World.

While this reboot earned 72%, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion followed in 2018 and 2022, respectively, and received the lowest ratings of all at just 47% and then 29%.

Jurassic World Rebirth is out in cinemas on July 2.

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