Hey there, Destructoid, and welcome to the first edition of our new Weekly Watchlist column, a series where we’ll discuss what we watched this week and hear about what you’ve been enjoying, too.
This week, we’re delving into two different worlds of fantastical beings and taking a look at Jurassic World Rebirth and the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. The former fell pretty flat for me, while the latter was a happy surprise.
Jurassic World Rebirth was a decently fun time, but also kind of disappointing. I think I keep hoping these films will capture the magic of the old Jurassic Park movies again, but they never do. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. It was also entirely carried by its three central stars, Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey.
My biggest issue was that it felt like the film was trying way too hard to be big and different rather than just embracing what makes this franchise special. Instead of leaning into the simple dinosaur concept, Jurassic World Rebirth focuses on transgenetic mutated dinosaurs, which look and feel more like monsters and aliens, especially the big bad one the end fight centers around.
It’s also just become way too predictable. I knew from the first moment I was introduced to each character who would live and die, when things would go wrong, and what the ultimate outcome would be. The stakes just don’t feel as high because of this. There are still some cool action scenes, especially around dinosaurs in water, but it was hard to feel truly immersed when the outcome always seemed obvious.
The catalyst for a lot of the film is also absurdly stupid, and that might sound harsh until you realize a Snickers candy bar wrapper is responsible for the death of countless individuals. If your dinosaur containment and security system can be ruined by one candy wrapper getting stuck in a door frame, maybe you need to rethink the whole system. There are just a few too many really dumb decisions in this one, and although I’m not usually one to get caught up in the details, it was hard to ignore them here.
Overall, I enjoyed it, but I don’t think it was some amazing cinematic masterpiece I’ll be returning to watch frequently. If you go into it expecting a solid but not super groundbreaking time, I think you’ll like it too. It was good but forgettable, which has been my experience with almost all of the Jurassic World films. They’re good fun, but they’ve got nothing on the original Jurassic Park series, and I do wonder how many more times they can get away with trying to build upon the exact same premise.
The best thing I watched this week was the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon. The original animated version is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I wasn’t initially stoked about it getting a live-action remake. It’s a perfect film in my eyes, and I just didn’t see how they could improve upon it.
The 2025 version really surprised me, though. It might be the most faithful adaptation I’ve ever seen, with many scenes looking identical to the original, but it also has a few new additions I genuinely enjoyed.
Getting to see more of the Vikings searching around for the dragons was the most obvious change, and it made the stakes feel a lot higher and also made Gerard Butler’s Stoick easier to sympathize with. The other big change I picked up on was the added dynamic between Snotlout and his father, which made his actions and generally bad behavior a lot more understandable. All of the changes were small, but they added positive elements to the film.
As much as I did love the live-action remake, I’ll always be a believer that it didn’t need to exist. Animation is a perfectly valid art form anyone of any age can and should enjoy, and instances like this one feel a bit diminishing to the original content. I love that the remake is almost a one-to-one copy, but then my question is, why did it need to exist in the first place?
Later this week, I’m really looking forward to finally seeing Superman. It’s one of my most anticipated films of the whole year, and I’ve already got my tickets for Thursday night ready to go. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about that next week, so stay tuned for more.
So, what have you been watching lately, Destructoid? Got any good recommendations? And have you had a chance to check out either of these films yet, or do you plan to? Let us know down in the comments.
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