Steven Spielberg’s famous dinosaur saga now has a date to pick up again, raising the hopes of fans who’ve followed the story from Jurassic Park to the Jurassic World sequels. But not everyone was happy with the last movie, Jurassic World Dominion. The 2022 film did great at the box office, but managed a 29% score on Rotten Tomatoes. A lot of this comes down to the script, as many of the promises made by the recent films just weren’t delivered. On top of that, the tone of Jurassic World, which worked well with audiences in the 2015 movie, seems to have been gradually lost.
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Now in the hands of David Koepp, the same screenwriter behind the first two original films from the ’90s, Jurassic World: Rebirth promises to turn things around and bring audiences back to the essence of Jurassic Park. Even though it’s a reboot, Koepp has said it won’t be a retcon, which is interesting since it will still build on everything the current films have established. The story will introduce new characters and focus on a team racing to secure DNA samples from the three biggest creatures. Along the way, they’ll cross paths with a family of civilians, setting the stage for the franchise to get back on track and return to its former glory. There’s not much info on the movie yet, but with all this in play, fans already have a few things they’re hoping the new plot will cover. What are they?
How Humans and Dinosaurs Came to Coexist in the Same World
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom set the stage for the sequel to dive into how people coexist with dinosaurs, especially after Maisie Lockwood chose to save the creatures being auctioned off, rather than let them die. This ending built a lot of anticipation for Dominion, with fans expecting to see the fallout of such a massive change. However, when the movie finally came out, the story took an unexpected detour with a new threat: BioSyn’s genetically modified locusts. For many, this marked the downfall of the franchise, as the movie showed dinosaurs in civilization but didn’t make that the main focus. On top of that, it starts off as if everyone is already used to this new reality, which left a lot of viewers disappointed.
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With Rebirth, it’s likely that this aspect won’t just be brushed aside, as the official synopsis already hints at a plot that tackles the planet becoming inhospitable to dinosaurs. The sequel needs to dig deeper into how humanity is dealing with this new reality, or what the social and practical impacts of this coexistence might be. This was one of the things fans were really hoping for in the 2022 movie, but it felt like the screenwriters never even considered it. It’s time to put more focus on this interaction, especially since, from the very first Jurassic Park movie, the most memorable moments have been the ones where characters are up close with the dinosaurs.
The Mystery Behind InGen
This is probably the most important point in the entire saga. It’s a plotline that goes back to Spielberg’s original trilogy and could’ve been fully explored in Jurassic World. The first movie even hints at, and suggests, that we’ll finally get an explanation for the cloning of dinosaurs for military purposes. The Indominus rex is introduced as a hybrid created with the goal of being a military weapon. Masrani Global, the company that bought InGen, even mentions that it was intended to create a “weapon” more powerful than any military technology, but that’s about all we get. The theme is barely touched on, serving more as a backdrop to the chaos caused by the out-of-control creature.
It’s crucial that this topic is revisited in Rebirth, but in a meaningful way. How did InGen really get started, and what pushed John Hammond to decide to create dinosaurs? Was there something happening behind the scenes? A lot of what we’ve seen throughout the franchise is driven by greed. From the first movie all the way to the latest, the wealthiest people are shown exploiting dinosaur cloning for profit and personal gain. Jurassic Park should still be remembered as sci-fi, so it’s important to dive deeper into this aspect, along with the scientific perspective.
Rebirth is set to return to the franchise’s roots, and it’s already teased that the protagonists will stumble upon a shocking discovery that’s been kept hidden from the world for decades. Let’s hope that the initial mysteries really start to unfold this time.
A Well-Constructed Story With Depth
Koepp’s return to the franchise is the missing piece of the puzzle that they couldn’t quite put together after Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. One of the main reasons the story gradually faltered was the poorly developed script, which clearly aimed for a global, expansive adventure, abandoning the survival atmosphere that Jurassic Park introduced in 1993. As a result, the narrative became unclear and aimless, much like the characters themselves, who failed to create any real connection with the audience. In other words, Jurassic World tried to innovate too much and ended up turning the franchise into something it was never meant to be.
Spielberg’s first film became a classic with a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes, even though the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park wasn’t as impressive. However, the story was well-constructed, with legendary protagonists who even returned in Dominion (though they weren’t used in the best way). The franchise needs more depth if it’s going to win viewers back. It must strike a balance between science, emotion, and action, and avoid delivering more spectacle than substance. According to Koepp, the new storyline will bring back real tension and a more horror-oriented tone, focusing on isolation, which is a great sign. The setting has been confirmed as an island, which reinforces this direction.
Now it’s just a matter of figuring out how not to blow up the entire narrative, because what worked in the past was precisely the small-scale survival aspect. That’s what we want to see.
Jurassic World: Rebirth hits theaters on July 2nd.
