Back in 2022, Jurassic World: Dominion wrapped up a trilogy that started with 2015’s Jurassic World and continued with 2018’s Fallen Kingdom. Given that each movie made less than its predecessor, I thought this might put the dinosaur-centered franchise on ice for a while to let audiences regain interest in the subject matter.

However, even though profits decreased with every successive film, all three still made biggity bucks. Yes, the series went from $1,671,537,444 worldwide for the 2015 movie to $1,310,469,037 for Fallen Kingdom and then $1,001,978,080 for Dominion, but the $1 billion mark remains rare air.

With a total of $856,552,674, Rebirth fell short of that level. Nonetheless, even with a budget somewhere around $200 million, Rebirth clearly made money so I expect another Jurassic World flick in a few years.

Years after the public got to know real-life dinosaurs at the Jurassic World park, these species struggle to survive and largely need to remain in equatorial domains to stay alive. Authorities bar humans from travel to these territories but pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) recruits covert operative Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) to infiltrate an island to obtain samples from three species in an alleged effort to form new medication that thwarts heart disease.

New York paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) comes as a consultant and Zora also works with local specialist Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) and his boat-based team. They venture into dangerous territory to get the biological samples and also deal with a family who become shipwrecked on the island.

When Universal announced Rebirth, plenty of folks moaned at the prospect of yet another Jurassic flick – and I got it. Not only does Rebirth become the seventh in the franchise but also it delivered the fourth across a decade.

Given the semi-repetitive nature of the movies, this means the series threatened to become tedious. After all, how many ways can humans be chased by dinosaurs before we get bored?

Of course, each new Jurassic introduces fresh dinos, and that creates some novelty. Also, after three Jurassic World flicks that focused on the roles played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, we finally move on to some new participants.

Even with these changes, though, Rebirth can feel “been there, done that”. Sure, the focus on mercenaries gives the tale a different vibe, but we already saw characters like that with 1997’s Lost World.

A family in peril? That hearkens back to 2001’s Jurassic Park III.

Without a lot of new territory to mine, Rebirth depends entirely on execution. In the right hands, the tale could produce excitement, even if it feels like we’ve seem similar Jurassic stories already.

Does director Gareth Edwards manage to find thrills here? Meh.

At no point does Edwards bring real spark to the proceedings. However, he also fails to really let down the material.

Perhaps because the story and characters just don’t seem especially compelling. David Koepp’s script essentially relies on the basic “humans running from predators” concept to do all the work for him, and that means everything else seems somewhat rudimentary.

Indeed, I get the sense Koepp didn’t feel a lot of confidence in the movie’s main plot and thus we get the involvement of the shipwrecked Delgado family: dad Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), young adult daughter Teresa (Luna Blaise), adolescent daughter Isabella (Audrina Miranda) and Teresa’s slacker boyfriend Xavier Dobbs (David Iacono).

Perhaps Koepp felt the movie needed some “regular people” to add to the danger. If so, he believed incorrectly.

Instead, the Delgados feel tacked on and unnecessary. The basic quest that involves Zora and the rest delivers more than enough potential drama to fill the flick’s running time, so added civilians just become a distraction.

Conversely, Rebirth could’ve simply been about the Delgados and their quest for survival. The combination of the two leaves the impression the filmmakers didn’t have a lot of faith one narrative or the other would carry the day.

This means we end up with an oddly bifurcated tale. While Rebirth manages to connect the mercs and the Delgados, I still can’t help but think it’d work better if it lost one of those two sides.

With all those characters, none of them develop very well. Granted, no one goes to a Jurassic movie for three-dimensional roles, but the 1993 original depicted its roles well enough that audiences came to love Doctors Grant, Sattler and Malcolm.

I doubt any similar bonding will take place with the folks in Rebirth. The actors do their best to expand the parts, and we find a nice cast, but they can’t overcome the sketchy nature of the roles as written.

It probably doesn’t help that Rebirth makes a bizarre misstep right out of the gate when we’re told humans quickly got bored with dinosaurs and those zoos/exhibits failed.

I get that Koepp probably meant this as a commentary on modern attention spans, but it seems like utter nonsense. People remained fascinated with dinos for decades when all we had to go on was old bones – we’re going to suddenly no longer care even when actual living critters walk the land?

Even worse, the narrative doesn’t need this silly assertion. It doesn’t really play into the overall narrative in any kind of meaningful manner and seems irrelevant in the long run.

Despite this idiotic story point and a lack of real creativity, I don’t regard Rebirth as a bad movie. The action basics manage to keep it afloat for its 134 minutes.

However, it winds up as a lesser Jurassic film just because it doesn’t bring much new to the table and director Edwards fails to find the thrills necessary to overcome the impression that we’ve already seen similar tales. Rebirth keeps us moderately engaged across its running time but it never emerges as anything especially thrilling or compelling.

Jurassic World: Rebirth appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. A native 4K production, this became a positive Dolby Vision presentation.

Sharpness worked well. Virtually no softness marred this tight image.

The image lacked jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also remained absent.

Like most modern action fare, the film’s palette favored a definite orange and teal vibe. The disc replicated the colors as intended, and HDR gave them added zing.

Blacks seemed dark and dense, while shadows appeared smooth and clear. HDR provided extra punch to whites and contrast. This wound up as an appealing image.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos audio added great dimensionality to the effort. With many action scenes, the mix used the various channels to create a lively, vivid soundscape.

This meant various elements brought out well-placed material that blended together in a nicely integrated way. The soundfield meshed together to deliver a well-rounded impression.

Audio quality also impressed, with speech that seemed natural and concise. Music appeared vivid and full, with dynamic tones.

Effects fared best of all, as those elements seemed accurate and tight, with crisp highs and deep lows. As I expect from a movie of this sort, the soundtrack excelled.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with identical Atmos audio.

As noted, the UHD featured a native 4K image that came with Dolby Vision encoding, and those factors allowed the UHD to bring superior colors, blacks and delineation. While the BD looked very good, the UHD topped it.

When we shift to extras, we get two separate audio commentaries, the first of which comes from director Gareth Edwards, production Designer James Clyne and 1st AD Jack Ravenscroft. All three sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters and connections to other franchise films, cast and performances, sets, design choices and locations, music, cut scenes and photography.

While reasonably informative, this chat doesn’t become as interesting as I hoped. It gives us a decent look at the different topics but it doesn’t rise above the level of “generally good” to become anything memorable.

During the second commentary, we get thoughts from director Gareth Edwards, editor Jabez Olssen and visual effects supervisor David Vickery. These three also chat together for a running, screen-specific discussion of pretty much the same subjects examined in the prior track.

Albeit with some different perspectives given that Olssen and Vickery replace Clyne and Ravenscroft. Even with some repetition, this track works pretty well and actually seems more informative and enjoyable than its predecessor.

A six-part documentary called Hatching a New Era fills 56 minutes, 20 seconds. We get remarks from Edwards, Clyne, Vickery, screenwriter David Koepp, producers Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, SFX supervisor Neil Corbould, CG supervisors Sally Wilson and Miguel Perez Senent, supervising art director Andrew Bennett, supervising sound editor/sound designer Tim Nielsen, hero boat driver Glenn Hall, stunt coordinator Marlow Warrington-Mattei, key grip Dave Wells, supervising location manager Catherine Kagan, sustainability supervisor Jedd Sreshthaputra, lead prop master Josh Polley, creature FX paint designer Henrik Svensson, visual effects producer Carlos Ciudad, CG supervisor Mark Pascoe, stunt coordinator/2nd unit director Benjamin Cooke, digital artist Mariam Ferrer Aloy, creature FX lead puppeteer Tom Wilton, and actors Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Ed Skrein, Luna Blaise, Audrina Miranda, David Iacono, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Philippine Velge, and Bechir Sylvain.

The segments examine story/characters and connections to the franchise, Edwards' approach, cast and performances, sets, locations, and shooting on water, various effects, creature design, stunts and action, photography and audio.

Called "The World Evolves", the first of these six chapters offers nearly nothing of value. It just ladles out praise.

After that, though, "Hatching a New Era" picks up in a major way and turns into a much more informative view of the production. Skip the first segment and you'll enjoy this documentary.

In addition to an Alternate Opening (1:39), we get two Deleted Scenes. We find “Raptors” (1:21) and “Mutadon Attack” (2:53).

With the “Alternate Opening”, we get an addition that reminds us of the 1993 movie’s opening in that it depicts some mechanical destruction in a forest. It seems utterly inconsequential other than as a minor nod to the original film.

As for the two deleted scenes, they add a little more action/intrigue to the proceedings. Neither seems essential but both bring some spark so it surprises me they failed to make the cut.

A Gag Reel spans one minute, 52 seconds and features the usual goofs and giggles. Nothing memorable occurs but at least the compilation doesn’t run too long.

56 minutes, 20 seconds. We get remarks from Edwards, Clyne, Vickery, screenwriter David Koepp, producers Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, SFX supervisor Neil Corbould, CG supervisors Sally Wilson and Miguel Perez Senent, supervising art director Andrew Bennett, supervising sound editor/sound designer Tim Nielsen, hero boat driver Glenn Hall, stunt coordinator Marlow Warrington-Mattei, key grip Dave Wells, supervising location manager Catherine Kagan, sustainability supervisor Jedd Sreshthaputra, lead prop master Josh Polley, creature FX paint designer Henrik Svensson, visual effects producer Carlos Ciudad, CG supervisor Mark Pascoe, stunt coordinator/2nd unit director Benjamin Cooke, digital artist Mariam Ferrer Aloy, creature FX lead puppeteer Tom Wilton, and actors Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Ed Skrein, Luna Blaise, Audrina Miranda, David Iacono, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Philippine Velge, and Bechir Sylvain.

The segments examine story/characters and connections to the franchise, Edwards' approach, cast and performances, sets, locations, and shooting on water, various effects, creature design, stunts and action, photography and audio.

Called "The World Evolves", the first of these six chapters offers nearly nothing of value. It just ladles out praise.

After that, though, "Hatching a New Era" picks up in a major way and turns into a much more informative view of the production. Skip the first segment and you'll enjoy this documentary.

The 4K UHD includes four added featurettes that failed to make the Blu-ray, and Meet Dolores goes for three minutes, 57 seconds. It involves Miranda, Edwards, Iacono, Friend, Bailey, creature FX HOD animatronic designer Adrian Parish, creature FX key animatronic designer Karl Gallivan, and creature FX key puppeteer Colin Purves.

As implied by the title, the reel looks at adorable baby Aquilops Dolores and how the film brought her to life. It becomes an informative little piece.

Munched spans five minutes, 34 seconds. It brings info from Sylvain, Velge, Skrein, Friend, Warrington-Mattei, Edwards and Cooke.

Here we get details on some of the death scenes featured in the film. We find more useful notes, though "Munched" can lean a bit fluffy.

Next comes A Day At Skywalker Sound. Across this 10-minute, 24-second piece, we hear from Miranda as she tours the facility and interacts with Nielsen, foley artists Heikki Kossi and Shelley Roden and re-recording mixer Pete Horner.

Miranda gets a lesson on aspects of movie sound design. This seems oriented toward kids so it can feel a bit basic, but it offers a nice lesson for those without much knowledge of the techniques.

Finally, Hunting for Easter Eggs lasts six minutes, 25 seconds as Clyne, Edwards, Crichton, Garcia-Rulfo, assistant set decorator Nikki Bradley and costume designer Sammy Differ lead us through a bunch of Rebirth's nods to other films. We learn about a bunch that we almost certainly wouldn't notice otherwise.

By the way, even though the 4K added these featurettes, I still gave the extras the same "B+" I awarded to the Blu-ray. I felt the BD's supplements fell on the low side of "B+" whereas the UHD's veer toward the high end. I just didn't think the UHD's additions seemed strong enough to bump the set to "A-".

10 years and four films into the Jurassic World franchise, Rebirth finds a series treading water. While it presents a moderately entertaining adventure, it lacks the spark and excitement it needs to really give the property a shot in the arm. The 4K UHD boasts excellent picture and audio along with a nice roster of bonus features. I don’t dislike Rebirth but it simply fails to stand out from the dino crowd.