5 Things ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Should Do To Reinvigorate The Franchise
· Thought CatalogMake Jurassic suspenseful again.
Updated 4 minutes ago, June 30, 2025
It’s been a long time coming, but Summer 2025 is officially the Era of Blockbuster Reboots.
First, Final Destination Bloodlines injected new, uh, plasma into the franchise (didn’t want to say “blood”; sounded redundant). Next, we have yet another Superman origin story and Fantastic 4 redo on the horizon. On top of those, we also have Jurassic World: Rebirth to look forward to. Is there anything that Hollywood won’t screw up and then give a 17th chance to? Oh, there is? It’s called queer TV? Anyway, don’t call Rebirth a comeback, because the title says it all. This is a dinosaur renaissance, baby, and it’s time to right all the wrongs that the increasingly dulldicrous (dull + ludicrous) Jurassic World movies have committed. After all, there’s bound to be like three Rebirth sequels (Jurassic World Re-Rebirth; Jurassic World Re-Rebirth 2.0; Jurassic World Dead), so the franchise may as well right itself.
Here’s everything that Jurassic World Rebirth needs to accomplish to save this prehistoric franchise.
1. Stop inventing Frankendinos
The original Jurassic Park remains the best Jurassic movie to this day, and that’s partly because it took dinosaurs seriously. Sure, it served up maximalist Hollywood action whenever possible, but it also drew upon realistic scientific explanations to guide its dinosaurs’ behavior. Not to sound all “it’s Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve,” but the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park acted how real dinosaurs should behave — as nature intended. There were no newfangled Indominus Rexes or Indoraptors with superhuman intelligence and a desire to kill humans in Saw-like torture traps. There were no scenes shot like horror films, where raptors who had been crossbred with sea urchins and dolphins could quickly learn how to operate heavy machinery. The Velociraptors Velociraptored and the Parasaurolophuses Parasaurolophused. (Actually, the Parasaurolophuses barely did anything, angering at least one avid fan of Parasaurolophuses who’s definitely not me.) Anyway, Jurassic World Rebirth needs to return to dino-basics!
2. Turn up the complexity
Sure, Jurassic World Dominion brought back Ian Malcolm and Ellie Sattler, but it mired them in a convoluted, soporific plot about locusts or something. The reason the first two Jurassic Park movies worked was because they centered compelling, multi-dimensional characters — not basic rugged action heroes (cough Chris) or grating, screaming millennial caricatures (cough that screaming guy in Fallen Kingdom). Wow, people really used to hate millennials. We didn’t even do anything to y’all and you just took away our whole housing market!
Anyway, Jurassic World Rebirth can avoid this pitfall as long as its protagonists demonstrate recognizable human traits and don’t just fall prey to a hackneyed love story in the middle of a Pterodactyl attack. Oh, and make us care about the people who get eaten, please! Don’t just toss a random female assistant into the jaws of a Mosasaurus.
3. Make Jurassic suspenseful again
In their quest to make everything bigger — bigger dinos, bigger stakes, bigger explosions — the Jurassic World movies forgot how to build reasonable tension. What made Jurassic Park great was how it ratcheted up suspense and terror: a rippling puddle, a fence going dark, the sudden profile of a T-Rex in the rain. Rebirth should similarly heighten audience anticipation through horror and thriller tropes — without resorting to lazy clichés.
4. More Parasaurolophuses
I have it on good authority that a lot of real people have been clamoring for more Parasaurolophuses and that if Rebirth doesn’t heavily feature them in at least one A-Plot, then these person people will permanently boycott the franchise! I, of course, would have to agree with all these non-invented people, because Parasaurolophuses, in addition to looking effortlessly cool with their sleek head bananas, are theorized to be excellent sprinters. This would make for heartpounding action scenes.
5. Remember that whole Human vs. Nature thing
Another theme elevating Jurassic Park was the human folly that propelled every major plot development. If not for arrogance, the dinosaurs wouldn’t have existed; if not for greed, the T-Rex wouldn’t have escaped; if not for pride, more characters would have survived. With Rebirth, let’s bring back that timeless theme of Human vs. Nature, in which humans must learn to live alongside nature and not try to conquer it. That would truly ensure the rebirth of this franchise. Also: More Parasaurolophuses.
Jurassic World Rebirth releases in theaters July 2, 2025.