“I can guarantee your safety … more or less.”
Some things cannot be beat, and they sure as heck can’t be repeated. An old vintage cola commercial used to tell us, “Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.” And Jurassic World Rebirth is going to do anything it can for 134 minutes to try and tell you that isn’t true, but we know better, don’t we? Anyone who has seen the original Jurassic Park has their favorite moments, but one scene has always stood out for me and so many other film fans I’ve spoken to. When the camera pans to that peaceful swamp pasture and you see tons of dinosaurs walking about without a care in the world. If you didn’t know how to react there, Sam Neill as Dr. Grant showed you how. His expression matched ours, and it was a wonderful cinematic moment of magic and wonder. You can never repeat that ever again. No matter how many Jurassic franchise movies or any other dinosaur movies might attempt to bring you that single moment, they never will. And that’s OK. There are moments in Jurassic World Rebirth were it is quite obvious that director Gareth Edwards attempts to repeat that moment. He telegraphs it particularly in a scene where we get a wide shot of dinosaurs and we hear that old John Williams theme, and Edwards is pulling hard on our heartstrings. Sorry, Gareth. It didn’t happen for anyone there. It’s not your fault. You did everything right. But, you see, Steven Spielberg already took us there, and we will never have it again, but truly, man, thanks so much for trying. You did deliver the best of the Jurassic World films and the best franchise film since the original. You’re just going to have to settle for that.
After using three films to set up the whole dinosaurs-loose-around-the-world, I was a little disappointed to see it was swept away in just a prologue text. We’re 17 years in the future from the last film. It turns out old Jeff Goldblum was right. The dinosaurs couldn’t really adapt to our world. They begin to die from disease and the modern climate. We’ve now reached a time where the last of the dinos are gone. But that’s not completely true. We discover that Ingen was doing some rather crazy experiments trying to create a designer dinosaur so that they could capture the world’s attention once again. Imagine a world where kids are actually bored with dinosaurs, and that’s the world in which Ingen was trying to get back on top. A really bad “accident” closed the facility, and we get treated to that information as our film begins.
Enter Big Pharma executive Martin Krebs, played by Rupert Friend. Scientists have discovered that there are three sets of the super-large dinosaurs who have something in their DNA that allowed them to live for more than a century in their day. It turns out his company plans to find this cardiac super-drug and make a fortune. So he assembles a team to go back to the island where the experiments occurred and get samples from one of each group of animals. He starts with Zora Bennett, played by Scarlett Johansson, who is what she calls a “situational security” expert, short for mercenary. Krebs is offering enough money for her to retire. The team includes Duncan Kincaid, played by Ali Mahershala. He owns a sweet boat and a lot of high-tech toys. Jonathan Baily plays our answer to Dr. Allan Grant. He’s Dr. Henry Loomis in a rather nice nod to Donald Pleasance from Halloween, and he runs a dinosaur museum/exhibit that is failing because of the decline in interest in dinosaurs. He closing down when Krebs hires him reluctantly to join the team as the dinosaur expert. In one of the few direct references to the original films, he was a student of Dr. Grant’s. So off they go to this mysterious island. Along the way they are chasing one of the big ocean-going titans that was tagged and can be traced. But they are not alone out on those soon-to-be-stormy seas.
Reuben Delgado, played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, is a sailboat enthusiast out with his two daughters and the elder daughter’s boyfriend for a sail across the seas. They encounter the sea creatures and end up hooked up with our mercenary crew. All of them end up in a shipwreck and set off on foot on the island. The rest is pretty much the amusement park ride you were hoping for as they struggle to survive and get their samples … not necessarily in that order. Plenty of the expected here, but I have to admit there really is more to this film than most in the franchise.
The first good news is the cast. This is the best cast these films have had in decades. I’m sorry, but Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt never had the cohesion and chemistry you’ll find here. These are wonderful performances with real life in these characters, so we care a little bit more what happens to them. Honestly, Scarlett Johansson is absolutely at her best here. I love this character and the nuance and humanity she puts in her performance. She’s as good here or better than she was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Hands down the best new character in the franchise, and I hope we get to see her in future Jurassic films. Ali Mahershala is also quite good, and her chemistry with him is a highlight of the film. These characters are as compelling as the dinosaurs, and that’s the secret sauce to making one of these films work.
I do love the way the film calls back to other favorite films. I got a very sweet Jaws rush as they hunt the sea creature. The frantic music as the ship races to keep up with the creature as Zora tries to hit it with a samples collection dart. There’s this rush to get another one as she’s hanging on for the next shot. It brought this huge flashback of Quint and Hooper trying to harpoon barrels into the shark. There is no way these images weren’t intentional. Instead of being cheap knock-offs, Edwards takes the time to really recapture the emotion of that kind of thing. Steven Spielberg is very much on tap here as they also give us an E.T. flashback. The young daughter encounters a baby dinosaur she coaxes to follow her with candy. Haven’t we seen that somewhere before? Once again it’s a wonderful homage without hitting us on the head with it. Edwards plays these moments out and trusts us to make the connection, all the while imagining the smile these recollections will put on the faces of his audience. Edwards has a true love for the material, and it shows. He has an almost Joe Dante childhood crush on the movies, and he invites us to come on in. The water’s fine.
Alexandre Desplat does the score, and it’s a little disappointing that they did not tap John Williams. I know Williams is getting older, but he hasn’t missed a beat, and I think he could have handled this one with one hand tied behind his back and his eyes closed. Still I credit Edwards for understanding how closely our love for these films is to Williams and his music. He inserts it in just the right places to serve as a transition or just an emotional beat he wants us to take. That includes the scene I talk about in the beginning where he tries to relive that one perfect moment. He failed there, but that’s about the only place he fails us. And again, it just wasn’t his fault. It can’t be done. “Nuff said.”
Video
Jurassic World: Rebirth is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The ultra-high-definition 2160p image is arrived at by an HEVC codec with an average bitrate of 75 mbps. The ultra high definition gets most of its bump from the fact that this was shot on film and made use of a native 4K digital intermediate. It sure makes a difference when you combine those elements. The film is allowed to live and breathe with the rest of the franchise, which, of course, began on film and a native 4K release. Those elements combined with an HDR-10 bump gives us a tremendous number of colors and terrific contrast. A lot of texture and color detail goes into creating these dinosaurs, and the subtle shadings and scale or hide texture help to truly bring these magnificent animals to life almost as if they really were hatched in a DNA lab. Blacks are deep and allow wonderful shadow definition, and that also includes underwater scenes where those details bring us some new elements to the Jurassic franchise. Colors are vivid, but it’s not just the dinosaurs. Water plays a huge role here, and you’ll find a ton of color layers in that green/blue aqua color range here, and it all just explodes on the screen for your home entertainment. Detail is abundant in every aspect of this image presentation. This one is absolutely a piece you can use to show off all of that fine high-end equipment in your own home theater. This is what they mean when they say picture perfect.
Audio
The Dolby Atmos audio presentation defaults to 7.1. These movies bring these beasts alive with just more than the fine image presentation. They live and breathe through sound from the crashing waves on the sea that are so real that you’ll smell that salt air in your own room. I’m disappointed that John Williams wasn’t invited to write the score, but what we get here has that Steven Spielberg energetic and emotional drive that Williams is so good at. Of course, they do include little subtle hints of his original score, and it brings quite an emotional rush to it all. The subs come alive. When a T-Rex roars, it shakes the room. From the first of these films I have particularly loved the sound design of the T-Rex, and I wasn’t at all disappointed here. Those dinosaurs will give your powered subs a chance to earn their keep here. It’s a killer combination that I like to call the score and the roar. But that’s only part of the experience. There are quiet moments including that simple slow-tempo piano version of the Williams score I spoke about in my review. Dialog comes through even during the most manic audio moments. Surrounds offer plenty of jungle sounds from birds to rustling trees. It’s a complete package here.
Special Features
The extras are found on both the UHD Blu-ray and the standard HD Blu-ray copy of the film along with two audio commentaries to load you up with great stories from the set and a lot of technical stuff.
Alternate Opening: (1:39) Here you get a slight change. The f/x are very crude, but the idea was we would see a huge CG bulldozer leveling epic CG trees to clear the island for their research.
Deleted Scenes: (4:17) There are two with a play-all option. In fact there’s a play-all option for the entire assembly of bonus features. Universal has been doing this for some time. It’s handy, but I like to see the various choices when they’re not all thrown together.
Hatching A New Era: (56:20) This is the big making-of feature, and it’s loaded with a ton of stuff. It’s in six parts, but there’s a handy play-all option here. They do this to avoid royalties issues with all of the participants.
The full cast and a large number of the crew give us some nice insights into pretty much every aspect of the film’s production. You get nice behind-the-scenes footage and a lot of candid moments that gives us a look at how much fun they all had making the film. The statements appear more sincere than I often find them. You’ll see a lot of concept art, and pretty much every set-piece in the film is broken down and fully examined. We get a good look at the Thailand and Malta filming locations and a lot of water fun.
Gag Reel: (1:52)
Meet Doloras: (3:57) Young actress Audrina Miranda brings us along when she first meets the animatronic puppet of Dolores, the baby dinosaur she befriends in the film. It’s actually stunning puppetry, and I can see how the young girl could get attached to this little guy, and it must have helped her play the character.
Munched – Becoming Dino Food: (5:74) This light piece focuses on the characters/actors who get eaten in the film. We get a nice behind-the-scenes look at those scenes and how they were pulled off. The actors have a lot of fun talking about how cool it is to get eaten by a dinosaur in a Jurassic movie.
A Day At Skywalker Sound: (10:21) I have often said that when Disney bought Lucasfilm the real money maker wasn’t Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or any of those things. The real gem in the deal was getting ILM and Skywalker Ranch Sound. Now they get a cut of everyone’s movie, because they have been the best in the biz for decades. Young Miranda once again guides us on her visit to Skywalker. She meets a few on the sound design crew, and they explain how the different elements work and how it leads to the final sound design on the film. She got to play around with the tools and get a real feel for what it’s all about. For those of you who don’t know as much about this aspect of filmmaking, this is a nice tutorial, and I think you’ll find what you learn increases your appreciation for how all of this is done.
Hunting For Easter Eggs: (6:25) There are a ton of hidden homage things here not only to the franchise but to Spielberg, particularly Jaws. I noted in my review how much the early part of the film brought me back to Jaws a bit. Watch this after the movie and see how many you spotted. I think I caught pretty much all of them plus a handful more. How well did you do?
Final Thoughts:
I’m not sure we needed it, but we got mutant dinosaurs when maybe that old T-Rex is still compelling today. Here the raptors are real raptors in the sense that they fly. The D-Rex, which is the big bad dinosaur here, looks too much like the xenomorph from the Alien films. I’m not sure if that was intended. Honestly the film didn’t win me over with the whole mutant dinosaur thing. Edwards could have pulled this off with the old standbys, but I get that real life imitates these films. There’s a belief that we have to come up with bigger, badder monsters to keep our attention. You don’t. Just keep giving us compelling films and we’ll keep coming back. I know I will. It turns out that Snickers bars are worse for you than we all thought. Wait until you see how much damage just one of those things can do. Anyway … this is intended to be the start of a new trilogy. What do I say about a second film? “Maybe we should make it quick.”
