Jurassic World Rebirth is exactly as expected: it is virtually the same dinosaur takedown movie as all six films from the Jurassic Park and World trilogies, with nothing more than new faces to (attempt to) spice things up seven movies in. Despite Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and director Gareth Edwards’ best efforts, Rebirth plays more like an overly safe, generic, basic, and unrealistic retread of what came before. Zora Bennett (Johannson), an ex-military covert operative now working as a hit-for-hire contractor, gets approached by slick-haired pharmaceutical company ParkerGenix recruiter Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) to go to Ile Saint-Hubert alongside Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) for blood samples from dinosaurs to create a new heart disease-preventing drug. Set some years after the events of Jurassic World: Dominion—the last promised final outing of the Jurassic Park franchise that perhaps should’ve fulfilled its promise—dinosaurs now live primarily around the equator as changes in climate have made it much harder for them to live globally. With millions of dollars in promised rewards, Zora assembles her old operative team, led by the sly, ex-family man Duncan Kincaid (Ali). As they venture to the dino-infested island alongside an unsuspecting family sailing in nearby waters who get stranded—a father named Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his kid daughter Isabella (Audrina Miranda, his teenage daughter Teresa (Luna Blaise), and her boyfriend Xavier Dobbs (David Iacono)—they discover the island’s deadly secrets as they witness the beauty and violence such nature-resurrected concocts.

The best parts of Rebirth are its stunning visuals, tight-knit action, and the potential that the Delgado family and Xavier bring to the table, even if they’re underutilized. While the central characters have a few compelling moments here and there—”99% of species that [existed before us] are extinct…. We don’t rule the Earth…. Believe me when I say the Earth will shake us off when it needs to get rid of us. But we’re so smart, we’re capable of destroying ourselves,” a shaken Dr. Loomis explains to the team’s remaining operatives, delivering one of the film’s few moments of genuine wisdom and global peril awareness reflective of real-time climate change issues—the Delgados experience a lot more mentally than the rest do. Backboned by a troubled connection between Xavier and the Delgados, as he lazily naps or wanders their boat as they sail for hours on end because he won’t take a shift in the family’s opening scene, watching them adapt to their increasingly insurmountable scenario is exciting. Each person reacts differently as scaly, brown T-Rexes chase them through gushing waterways or rocky, green pterodactyls swoop down, with Xavier himself changing face especially. As Isabella screeches, Reuben watches Xavier tend to their spitting fire or examine their perimeter with an unexpected dedication to the family’s safety through increasingly squinted, softened eyes. It’s touching and engaging to see Reuben give Xavier another chance: “You know, I was wrong about you… She might be alive because of what you did,” a battle-beaten Reuben tells Xavier, who allows a half smile to escape his similarly dirt-exhausted face. While such interactions are very generic, they’re a tad more realistic and genuine than anything cooked up for Zora, Duncan, and the rest of the main crew.

Which leads Rebirth into its ugly, dull, “show, don’t tell” side. None of the main characters experience any change, and their environment is predictably lackluster, even in solidly executed dinosaur sequences. No one on the planet can deal with their personal issues 100% effectively. Everyone has flaws, everyone has hangups, and everyone has shortcomings. But, apparently, for ex-militant covert operatives, it’s no big deal. Losing your mother and teammate or, worse, your own kid who didn’t even reach a double-digit age can be gotten through with a few measly conversations with your friends! Or so it seems with Zora and Duncan, whose only bits closest to development come in two conversations and a throwaway line. The first bit of anything close to development comes when Krebs, vying for Zora’s onboarding, says: “Think of what that [heart disease drug] could’ve meant for your mother. Sorry for your loss.” Zora, unfazed, laughs and says, “Oh, Martin, anyone can read a file,” and the pair moves on. Her mother is never mentioned again beyond a later funeral comment and gets replaced by the loss of her off-screen teammate, who is also only discussed on screen once, but this time with Duncan.

Here yet again, Johannson’s face expressionless beyond a slightly warm curve of her lips in a nostalgic smile, and Ali only slightly more convincing as he discusses his dead son with a gravelly voice filled with regret—”Whenever [my ex-wife and I] looked at each other, we just… we saw our little boy. Easier for us both to go at it alone, you know?” he admits—two friends share as if these experiences did relatively little to them. In equally annoying and unconvincing fashion, Zora brushes everything off by joking, “We are pathetic. What do you say we stay alive and get rich this time?” before the pair leaves and never mentions any of this again. Of course, such things wouldn’t get mentioned while massive prehistoric creatures resurrected through gene splicing chase you. Still, these points are moot, given that they don’t affect the characters’ reactions or influence their survival decisions. They feel more like afterthoughts than vital components to make these characters living, breathing people. Such shoddy character work dissolves any stakes and thematic interplay, especially when who dies and who won’t is also easily predictable from the beginning (most likely, one could even see the trailers and make precise death predictions).

Thus, while Jurassic World Rebirth certainly looks and sounds stellar with every guttural roar and violent human-turned-snack sequence, its lack of unique characters, a thriving or original story, bland scripting, and pointless jokes renders it a roar of a dud. For pure dinosaur action fans, Rebirth will surely satisfy, but for anyone looking for an emblematic sci-fi-dino flick that reflects human flaws and issues through another bout of dino resurrection, watch the original Jurassic Park or the now decade-old original Jurassic World. If you’ve seen them and any of the other so-so Jurassic films, you’ve already seen Rebirth, but without Scarlett Johansson.

In theaters now—get tickets at Landmark’s Kendall Square Cinema!