Jurassic World Rebirth Blu-ray Review: High Adventure Returns to a Jurassic World

The opening of Jurassic World Rebirth has an unfortunate start. Yet somehow it pulls itself out of the muck quickly enough to turn into a very entertaining entry in Michael Crichton’s science fiction world where dinosaurs have been genetically recreated to roam the world. Since the original Jurassic Park in 1993, there have been six more entries into the franchise, the last three of which have had the “World” moniker.

Jurassic World Rebirth was directed by Gareth Edwards and penned by David Koepp, who also wrote Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World. In the opening of the film, we learn that the world’s climate has made it so that all the dinosaurs have had to pack their bags and move to the equator. A dangerous circle surrounds the Earth that is almost totally uninhabited by humans.

Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), an ex-military badass, is recruited by a pharmaceutical company to work with a paleontologist, Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), to help secure blood samples from the three largest remaining dinosaurs. Of course, each dinosaur is a different type, and collectively they represent the water, the land, and the air. The samples are said to be the key to a new heart medication.

But this is a Jurassic World movie, and everyone in the movie world knows that people collect dinosaur DNA for spurious reasons. This is that unfortunate beginning: who in their right mind would trust a pharmaceutical company trying to secretly get dinosaur DNA? Zora, that’s who, and Dr. Henry Loomis, and everybody else who participates in the adventure. Luckily, if you can get over the silly first act, the movie opens itself to being a grand adventure.

There is a family sailing near the equator where the team is trying to collect samples. That family is so entertaining, so charming, so intrepid, and so funny that the entire tone of the film switches like a light. You will care about these people and want to see how, and whether or not, they can survive an uncaring world. For once, the dinosaurs don’t escape and wreak havoc; instead, they have a home and we have to invade it. That is the key change in the film that opens it up to interesting new vistas. Instead of finding a safe spot and hunkering down until help arrives, there is a job to do – getting that blood for the “heart medication.”

Bonus Features:

• Feature Commentary with Director Gareth Edwards, Production Designer James Clyne, and First Assistant Director Jack Ravenscroft
• Feature Commentary with Director Gareth Edwards, Editor Jabez Olssen, and Visual Effects Supervisor David Vickery
• Alternate Opening – An animatic version of an alternate first couple minutes
• Deleted Scene: Raptors – Incomplete animation for this deleted scene
• Deleted Scene: Mutadon Attack – Mostly completed animation for this deleted scene. It is a bit of a familiar scene from the first Jurassic Park and it was a good decision to give it the axe
• The World Evolves – Interviews with key players both on the production and acting sides.
• Off the Deep End – What it’s like to film on the ocean
• Trekking Through Thailand – What it is like to film in the jungles of Thailand
• Rex in the Rapids – Recreating a scene never used from the novel Jurassic Park
• Don’t Look Down –  Information on the creation and filming of the “Incan Nest”
• Mini-Mart Mayhem – Details on Act III
• Gag Reel – Meh
• Meet Dolores – How Dolores the baby Aquilops was created and interacted with
• Munched: Becoming Dino Food – Close look at how some of the most horrific deaths were choreographed and performed
• A Day at Skywalker Sound – Everything you could want to know about how to make dinosaur noises
• Hunting for Easter Eggs – In-depth discussion of Easter eggs found throughout the film
• Trailer

With entertaining action sequences, interesting characters, and a treasure trove of thoughtful Bonus Features, Jurassic World Rebirth is reminiscent of the first Jurassic Park with its beautiful vistas, hungry dinosaurs, and great sense of wonder.

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