3 Reasons You Might Regret or Enjoy Taking the Kids to ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’

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1. The Dinosaurs Are Bigger and Scarier Than Ever

The team must capture DNA from three specific dinosaurs: the ocean-dwelling Mosasaurus, the land-based Titanosaurus, and the airborne predator Quetzalcoatlus. Although they could become rich, they also could land in jail, since every nation on the planet bans such travel. Their target is the island of Ile Saint‑Hubert, which once housed a research facility but was abandoned following a tragedy. 

Their journey, though, gets off to a rocky start when a nearby boat issues a mayday signal and leads to a debate: continue the mission with millions on the line, or risk it all to save the stranded crew? (Martin, the film's villain, pushes to continue the journey but is overridden by the others.) 

The stranded crew -- a father, his two children, and the daughter's boyfriend -- recount a harrowing encounter with a giant sea monster that capsized their boat and nearly killed them. Shaken by this news, the team then presses on, successfully retrieving DNA from a giant Mosasaurus and beginning their journey to the island. This victory, though, is short-lived, when the team members are chased by a pack of Spinosaurus and must crash their boat ashore in order to escape. Although the family and four core team members survive, a young woman who had tagged along to assist Duncan does not. Suddenly, the danger of the mission becomes very real.

Like all films in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise, Rebirth includes plenty of dangerous -- and deadly -- encounters with dinosaurs. A researcher is eaten in the scene's opening five minutes -- an echo to the very first Jurassic Park film that also began with a fatality. 

The dinosaurs in Rebirth, though, seem scarier than ever -- a reality that parents with young children may want to consider. They're definitely bigger, as evidenced by a hybrid dinosaur with six arms that is so tall it snatches a seemingly safe helicopter out of the sky.  

Rebirth is the first Jurassic movie to include a warning about "bloody images" in its official film rating. (That rating also warns of "intense sequences of violence/action.”) It also includes a moderate amount of language (details below). 

By my count, four people see their demise due to these dangerous creatures -- some of them on-screen, as we watch the dinosaur munch away. (In the closing moments, we see an arm fall to the ground.)  

The film takes place five years after Jurassic World Dominion.

Photo Credit: ©Universal

2. Children Fight for Survival

Some of the most intense moments of peril in Rebirth involve the elementary-aged and teen daughters of the rescued family. 

In one scene, the teen daughter, Teresa, falls overboard amid swimming dinosaurs but is rescued by her boyfriend. In another scene, she walks perilously near a sleeping T-Rex before it awakens, forcing the entire family to board a raft and paddle frantically down a shallow river -- as the T-Rex swims menacingly just under the surface.

The most frightening encounter, though, involves the youngest daughter, Isabella, who gets trapped under the raft as she screams for help with a sneering T-Rex just above. She survives -- but young viewers may find sleep elusive after witnessing her close call.

Isabella, though, delivers levity during the film's calmer moments, bonding with a tiny, squirrel-like dino that resembles a stuffed animal more than a deadly carnivore.

Photo Credit: ©Universal

3. Heady Themes Are Common

Zora is mourning from a combat mission in which she lost a friend. Duncan is mourning, too, from the apparent death of a young son that was so devastating that he and his wife split. (The death is implied.)

Teresa's boyfriend seems dazed half the time—and at one point, even offers marijuana to the family, a moment she brushes off with a laugh. Parents, however, may find it far less amusing.

Martin's motives seem pure at first -- 20 percent of the world's population could be saved by the breakthrough drug, he claims -- but he's driven far more by profit than principle. Midway through the film, he sees Teresa fall overboard but refuses to save her, fearing she'll issue a mayday call and jeopardize the mission. He later denies the incident, but Zora isn't convinced.

Rebirth raises some intriguing questions, but its plot may be the weakest of all seven Jurassic films. The characters feel thin and underdeveloped. I know who I'm supposed to root for -- but I'm not quite sure why.

The dinosaur chases are undeniably entertaining, but the sense of magic and wonder that defined earlier entries is all but gone. Maybe I'm like the citizens of this fictional universe -- numb to the extraordinary that has become routine.

The film's final moments clearly set the stage for a sequel. I'm open to it -- I've always been a big Jurassic fan -- but only if it delivers an upgrade.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language, and a drug reference. Coarse language: H-ll (10), d--n (2), single misuse of "God" (3), OMG (3), s--t (4), SOB (2). 

Entertainment rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
Family-friendly rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Discussion Questions for Families

• Who was most heroic in the film? 
• Who practiced selflessness? 
• Would you have replied to the mayday call? 
• How can we know what the right thing to do is -- and how does Scripture help guide those choices? 
• Would you want to bring dinosaurs back to life -- why or why not?

Photo Credit: ©Universal