Although Jurassic World Rebirth was meant to start a new era for the Jurassic Park franchise, it ended up doubling down on the series’ worst dinosaur problem. Since the first Jurassic Park, the series has struggled to move forward, as it is hard to top the incredible premise of the first movie. Some films have found success, with 2015’s Jurassic World arguably being the franchise’s best sequel. However, things have been on the decline in recent years, and this is a problem that Jurassic World 5 has to fix.
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After the conclusion of the first Jurassic World trilogy, Universal obviously wasn’t going to die. Thus, Jurassic World Rebirth was born. Rather than focusing on Claire, Owen, and the rest of the characters from the previous saga, Rebirth set up a new story with an all-new cast of characters. Unfortunately, this story wasn’t very good. Jurassic World Rebirth received bad reviews from critics and fans, leaving the future of the franchise uncertain once again.
Dinosaur Hybrids Have Been Boring Since Jurassic World
The original three Jurassic Park movies focused on real dinosaurs, so when Jurassic World needed to evolve the franchise’s formula, it introduced something entirely new: dinosaur hybrids. Beginning with the Indominus rex, the franchise shifted focus to fictional dinosaurs. As the main antagonist of the 2015 film, the Indominus rex had all kinds of new abilities that weren’t present in real dinosaurs, with its enhanced stealth, strength, and speed coming from the DNA of other animals that it was made from.
Although it wasn’t as well-reviewed as the original film, Jurassic World was a massive financial hit. Sequels had to be made, and Universal decided to build on the previous film’s story by introducing even more hybrids. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom focused on the Indoraptors, while Jurassic World Dominion continued this by introducing the Joker-inspired Giganotosaurus, among other hybrid animals.
Each entry in the Jurassic World trilogy more heavily relied on hybrids than the last, and because of this, each entry was lamer than the last. It was clear that these movies weren’t actually interested in the science of hybrid dinosaurs. Instead, the filmmakers just designed bigger dinosaurs with magical powers, and then slapped some references to animal DNA into dialogue in order to justify them. The films didn’t do anything interesting narratively with hybrid dinos after the first movie. Instead, it just felt like a lazy way to up the stakes.
However, the issue is that it is hard to up the stakes from a T. rex. To us humans, these real dinosaurs are so large and powerful that it is hard to comprehend why a hybrid dinosaur is that much more dangerous. Either way, they’re wild killing machines capable of tons of destruction, so adding the hybrid element to them doesn’t make them more interesting.
Rather than treading new ground, Jurassic World Rebirth went right back to hybrid dinosaurs. The mutated Distortus rex is the villain this time around, and again, it is just a bigger, deadlier dinosaur. The Distortus rex doesn’t change how the characters respond to the threat at all. Instead, it is easily replaceable with any of the franchise’s final bosses, making Rebirth the worst instance of this hybrid trend.
The Next Jurassic Movie Needs To Move Away From Hybrids (Or Take It To Its Craziest Conclusion)
Hybrids are overdone, and after four movies focused on them, Jurassic World 5 needs to move away from the concept. Real dinosaurs are interesting enough, and adding elements of other animals doesn’t do anything to make the monsters more narratively compelling. The focus on real animals is what made the original Jurassic Park so interesting. However, the Distortus rex is so far removed from this that it doesn’t even resemble a dinosaur anymore.
If Jurassic World 5 insists on keeping hybrids, there is only one interesting direction that this could be taken in: dinosaur-human hybrids. Jurassic Park IV nearly included dinosaur-human hybrids, with this concept being seen in concept art for the unmade film. Fans have been clamoring for this idea to come true for years, and it is the obvious way to escalate the hybrid storyline to its final phase.
Now that Jurassic World Rebirth‘s villains are focused on medical science, combining dinosaurs with humans makes perfect sense. Whether they are the accidental side effect of a medication or an intentional enhancement made to combat soldiers, this would be a fun continuation of the storyline. Is it goofy? Yes. But is it fun? Also yes.
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