“No one’s dumb enough to go where we’re going.”

Better than its predecessors but never as groundbreaking as the original, Jurassic World Rebirth is both a step up from previous franchise entries and yet a sad continuation of the same old rote plot. But the film knows how to build tension, so much so that I found my partner squirming around on the couch and clutching her eyes from time to time, and any film that can accomplish that feat while being watched from the comfort of home at least earns a little respect in my books. Jurassic World Rebirth isn’t very memorable, but it has some great set pieces, and at least I won’t remember it for being as unexceptional as the last three mostly futile attempts at a trilogy.

Jurassic World Rebirth lives up to its name not by ignoring the previous three films, but by acknowledging them without paying them much reverence either. This is a new chapter that has to reckon with choices made before. In this world, the dinos still left find the current world uninhabitable outside of equatorial regions, and they are – somehow and some sad way – no longer trendy or reigning supreme as the top source of entertainment. That’s of no initial concern to covert operative Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) or her team. She begrudgingly helps Big Pharma rep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), is followed along by paleontologist Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), and enlists the help of Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) and his skeleton crew to successfully complete a deadly mission. They need to acquire bio-samples from three monsters – of land, sea and air – in order to find the cure for cardiovascular disease, which Martin plans on converting into fortunes. It’s all as ridiculous as I’m sure that reads, but it never loses a sense of logic either, which is appreciated.

The other storyline consists of a family on a sailing trip. The Dad Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) doesn’t account for the monsters in the deep, leading to his family fighting for survival on the hull and a lucky rescue by those named above. The young Isabella (Audrina Miranda) eventually befriends a cute little dino. The oldest Teresa (Luna Blaise) and her dipshit boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) get bucked off the big boat, relocate the family, and deal with a T-Rex while drifting downriver in an inflatable raft. Some of the year’s best action sequences exist in the middle of this film, setting up stakes and carefully working things out with a Spielbergian method. It’s truly great in spurts, but the rest leaves so much to be desired.

Maybe it’s just over-saturation at this point, but I truly do not understand how CGI dinosaurs from nearly 30 years ago look just as good – if not at times better – than what is shown in theaters today. Maybe it’s because of the improper lighting, maybe it’s because of the lack of practical effects blending into computer graphics, and maybe it’s because too much thought goes into the scale and not enough into the small details. Jurassic World Rebirth has too many lapses in logic to keep count or make sense of, but it acknowledges the past while also understanding the ridiculousness of its heavy-handed plot just enough to pass for blockbuster entertainment.

“Survival is a long shot.”

Rating: 3 out of 5