Jurassic World: Rebirth 2025 Parents Guide

Jurassic World: Rebirth is Rated PG-13 by Motion Picture Rating (MPA)for intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language and a drug reference.

Jurassic World: Rebirth Review

Let’s be honest: the Jurassic franchise was limping. After the spectacle overload of Jurassic World Dominion, many fans (myself included) were left wondering if dinosaurs had finally run their course. But then came Jurassic World: Rebirth, and somehow, against all odds, it makes the franchise feel dangerous again. This isn’t just another popcorn monster flick. It’s atmospheric, intimate, and surprisingly thoughtful. Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) doesn’t just direct this film—he re-engineers the DNA of the franchise.

The Story & What It Tries to Say

The story follows Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a hardened covert ops specialist who’s recruited by biotech conglomerate ParkerGenix. Her mission? Retrieve DNA samples from a trio of surviving “alpha species” — one land-dwelling, one aquatic, and one aerial — which are rumored to possess rare regenerative traits. The hook is that this DNA could potentially unlock life-saving cures. But, of course, there’s a catch: these dinosaurs live on Isla Sorna, a quarantined island zone that has been entirely cut off from civilization for years, ever since nature reclaimed it with a vengeance.

Zora is not the only one. She is accompanied by Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a paleogeneticist who is interested in dinosaurs and holds them in high regard, and Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), a former military survivalist and associate of ParkerGenix. The three initially form a close, concentrated team with their own baggage and a motive to say yes to the mission. 

Things begin to break down quickly. A passenger jet accidentally lands on the island, a family of tourists that went off the track, so Zora has to sort out the extraction process and save innocent lives in a jungle of mutated dinosaurs. These are not the raptors of your grandfather, they are monstrosities of decades of unregulated cloning, genetic drift, and uncontrolled evolution of apex predators. 

Highly Recommended: Eddington (2025) Parents Guide

The movie strips layers one by one: the true motive of ParkerGenix is still unclear, and it is unclear where the rescue mission ends and the bio-asset recovery starts. Zora begins to wonder what exactly she is fighting. Dr. Loomis is emotionally overwhelmed, and hesitates between scientific curiosity and moral disgust. And Kincaid, cool and calculating, has a deep backstory: he lost his daughter to a genetic disease, and thus the promise of a cure is all too personal. 

Surviving dinosaurs is not the only emotional core of Rebirth. It is about the price of messing with life, the deception we are engaged in when we speak about progress, and whether mankind has any right to proclaim its superiority over the natural world any longer. And it does. The themes do not smack you in the face, but they stick. Ethical conflict brews under all bellowing set pieces. You feel the burden of all choices, all sacrifices.

Performances & Characters
Scarlett Johansson carries the movie on her shoulders, and she never appears in a hurry. Zora is a closed and war-torn woman, yet she is not indestructible. Johansson handles her with cool practicality, which is never robotic. Her transformation, as a soldier to a reluctant whistleblower is one of the strongest threads in the movie.

It is the surprise of Jonathan Bailey playing Dr. Loomis. He is not a typical action-sidekick-scientist; rather he is reflective, slightly clumsy, and a very determined individual. His tender moments with the dinosaurs, in particular an emotional scene where he examines an injured Parasaurolophus, reinstates the wonder of the series after a long absence.

Mahershala Ali, like always, is dignified and steeled in his performance. Kincaid is the spirit of the mission.

He’s the kind of character who says little but whose presence says everything. You feel the history behind his every decision, and when he finally breaks down, it hits like a freight train.

The supporting cast is more of a mixed bag. Rupert Friend plays the ParkerGenix liaison with a satisfyingly punchable smugness, but he doesn’t get much depth beyond “corporate villain.” The tourist family subplot, while emotionally engaging at times, sometimes feels like it belongs in a slightly different movie. Still, the chemistry among the leads keeps the core of the story grounded.

Direction, Visuals & Pacing
Gareth Edwards absolutely nails the tone. This is a film that remembers why we loved Jurassic Park in the first place. It’s not just the dinosaurs—it’s the feeling that we’ve stepped into a world where humans are no longer in control. That awe. That terror. That breathless silence before a predator appears.

The pacing is lean—just over two hours—and for the most part, it flies by. The film wisely eschews overblown exposition and gets us into the jungle quickly. But it also knows when to slow down. There are stretches of near-silent tension that are deeply effective, especially in the second act when Zora and Loomis are separated in a mist-covered valley crawling with nocturnal predators.

Visually, this is the most stunning Jurassic film since Spielberg’s original. The cinematography—shot on location in Thailand and Malta—is rich with texture. The foliage feels damp and alive. The creatures are massive but not cartoonish, and Edwards makes smart use of practical effects wherever possible. The new dinosaur designs are downright chilling—especially the Distortus-Rex, a six-limbed monstrosity that moves with horrifying precision. And yes, the much-hyped river raft sequence delivers. It’s the kind of pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat moment that sticks with you long after.

Michael Giacchino’s score borrows themes from John Williams while weaving in eerie, echoing motifs of its own. It doesn’t just accompany the action—it heightens it.

Jurassic World: Rebirth 2025 Parents Guide

Violence & Intensity: There are a lot of scenes of real tension, characters crawling through misty jungles as unseen predators stalk nearby. Dinosaurs don’t just roar and chase they hunt, and when they catch someone, it’s not pretty.

Though the gore is not excessive, it’s strategic. We see implied deaths, blood splatter, and one particularly upsetting sequence involving a character being ambushed offscreen, with only the sound and aftermath left to the imagination (which, honestly, might be worse). A mutated creature nicknamed the “Distortus-Rex” is a nightmare in scales aggressive, fast, and designed to haunt dreams.

Language: The language is fairly mild by PG-13 standards. Expect a handful of curse words (mostly from stressed-out adults in dinosaur-infested jungles fair enough). There are a few strong words tossed in emotionally heightened moments, but it’s far from relentless. No F-bombs, but several S-words and a couple of profane exclamations under pressure.

Sexual Content & Romance: Basically none. This movie is more interested in emotional connection and survival than flirtation, which is oddly refreshing in a blockbuster like this. One scene hints at a deep bond between two characters, but it’s quiet and beautifully restrained.

Substance/Drugs Use: There’s no depiction of drug use, recreational or otherwise, in Rebirth. You won’t find characters lighting up, downing shots, or casually sipping cocktails between dino attacks. This is not Jurassic Park: Spring Break Edition.

Final Thoughts & Recommendation

Jurassic World: Rebirth is not only a nice sequel. It is a clever, gory reinvention of what this franchise has the potential to be. It exchanges nostalgia with tension. It poses practical questions, and does not pretend to know the answers. And above all it recreates that feeling–that gasping, goosepimply feeling of awe and horror.

It is not perfect. Some characters are a little under developed and the corporate subplot is getting a bit too close to genre cliche. However, they are not enough to overshadow the achievements of the film.

It is an adult movie in the Jurassic. To those fans that would like to see more than giant reptiles stomping through cities. To those who have missed the emotional heft and philosophical interest that gave the original Jurassic Park more than a creature feature status.