Jurassic World Rebirth is missing an essential element that has improved all other films in the series
This message contains spoilers For “Jurassic World Rebirth”.
The films “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” are by far the biggest name in dinosaur cinema for over 30 years. Dating from the classic Blockbuster of Blockbuster by director Steven Spielberg in 1993, these films were associated with their revolutionary technology. In particular, “Jurassic Park” is known for the CGI Pionnier in the cinema, but it was not based entirely on dinosaurs generated by computer – the key was its mixture of CGI with impressive animatronic dinosaurs which helped everything to feel tangible. It is in this area that the last entry of the franchise, “Jurassic World Rebirth”, is sorely lacking.
Directed by Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla”, “Rogue One”), the new film takes place five years after the events of “Jurassic World Dominion”. The ecology of the planet is largely inhospitable for dinosaurs, and the majority which remains now exists in isolated environments near the equator, very far from humanity. A team is sent to Ile Saint-Hubert, a former research establishment used by Jurassic World Scientists, to collect Dino DNA which holds the key to a drug that could provide miraculous rescue advantages.
The film overflows with dinosaurs, including new, like the mutant D-Rex. The problem? Each of them was created via CGI. There is not a single puppet of a practical dinosaur in sight, and no animatronics to speak. Although part of the CGI is certainly impressive, the absence of these practical dinos is noticeable.
“Dominion”, for all his faults, had a lot of puppet dinosaurs in the final film. Some of these animatronics were rather impressive, including in several plans of the giganotosaurus. These moments are worth almost the trouble. (Almost – there are many among us who are still not ready to forgive the whole thing of the “giant locusts”.)
Gareth Edwards explains the lack of practical dinos in the Renaissance of the World of Jurassic
Even if the films were absolutely more based on CGI, all the previous entries in the “Jurassic World” era included animatronic dinosaurs. At one point, producer Frank Marshall boasted that “Fallen Kingdom” had more animatronics than any other suite. Again, we are entitled to their own opinion on these films, but it is fair to say that the presence of these practical animals was welcome.
So why did “Renaissance” skimp the practical effects with regard to dinosaurs? / Jeremy Mathai of the film spoke with Gareth Edwards and asked him for this thing, the filmmaker offering the following explanation:
“My experience was infographic, the visual effects. What you learn to the hard, I suppose, on some of these films, is that you are going a lot of trouble doing something practical and sometimes you end up replacing it on the computer. Cascades and parts. [not] crossed it with right puppets and stuff. “”
Edwards made a great use of CGI to create the different Kaiju in “Godzilla” of 2014. He also used CGI to make his debut as director, “Monsters”, Feel Cinematic on the Cheap, and of course he made “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, which used a brilliant combination of practical effects and CGI, which allows a much better final product. Unfortunately, this was not the case with his entry into the “Jurassic” saga.
Jurassic World Rebirth was made in a tight deadline
As for the director’s explanation? There is a lot to examine there. I am not a filmmaker, so I cannot talk about the frequency to which practical effects do not work. What I know with certainty is that this film seemed to meet very quickly. It was not even announced that the screenwriter of “Jurassic Park”, David Koepp, returned to the pen of this film until January 2024. An execution period of 18 months for a blockbuster of this size is very short.
More than anything, it seems that Time Crunch prevented Edwards and the rest of the filmmakers from being able to count on the animatronics. These things take a long time to build, and they can be difficult. The T-Rex of “Jurassic Park” continued to break because of the rain during its most important scene. Spielberg had to get around this, but the final result is perhaps one of the most exciting scenes in the history of popular cinema.
Alas, Universal wanted this film to occur quickly to respect this release date of the summer of 2025. It is the nature of the company sometimes – it is just as much trade as the art of cinema. In this case, Edwards and his team had to make what made sense on a shorter chronology and that meant to count much more on CGI. The Spinosaurus of “Jurassic Park III” can be one of the greatest animatronics in the history of the series, but here? The spinos are all CGI creatures, and it would be difficult to say that they seem so good.
Unfortunately, this is something that the public can feel. Just to put my cards on the table, I liked “the Renaissance” much more than “fallen kingdom” or “domination”, but by far the best moments of these films involve practical creature effects. Admittedly, practical puppets alone cannot completely buy a film, but one cannot help but wonder how much this film could have benefited from some of these practical touches which improved all the other films in the history of this franchise.
“Jurassic World Rebirth” is now in theaters.
