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The Jurassic Park franchise is being rebooted once again.

This time around, Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey head to a fresh island of mutant dinosaurs,

where they experience a familiar mix of splashy kills and not so subtle morality tales.

But does Jurassic World Rebirth live up to the original?

I'm Stephen Thompson.

Joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is Kristen Mineser.

She co-hosts The Daily Fail, a podcast that does comedic close readings of the tabloids.

Hey, Kristen.

Hey, nice to be back, Stephen.

Great to have you. Also with us is Ronald Young Jr. He's the host of the film and television

review podcast, leaving the theater. Hello, Ronald. Life finds away, Stephen Thompson.

It is great to have you both. So the Jurassic Park franchise has now been rebooted twice. After six

films and more than 30 years, we've now got Jurassic World rebirth. It's set a few years

after the conclusion of Jurassic World Dominion, but there isn't all that much beyond dinosaurs

that connects it to its predecessors. It's a world where most people have grown bored of dinosaurs.

They're mostly a nuisance, while the deadliest have relocated to a remote equatorial region.

A slimy pharmaceutical operative is trying to track down some dinosaur blood for an experimental

drug, and that blood has to come from the biggest and most awe-inspiring living specimens

available. To this end, he hires a mercenary named Zora Bennett. She's played by Scarlett

...