Movies
Does ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Have Romance? A Deep Dive Into the Movie’s True Love Story
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Jurassic World Rebirth.]
A decade into the Jurassic World saga, the dinosaurs-gone-amok franchise is back to what it does best: Making a ragtag group of people survive an island full of prehistoric dangers.
In Jurassic World Rebirth, Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali lead a team to yet another remote island where dinosaurs bred in captivity overtook the humans poking and prodding their DNA. Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the team is there to take said DNA from living, breathing dinosaurs — this time, the mutated experiments not pretty enough for the park — for use in a miracle drug that may or may not cure heart disease. It’s always in the name of medical breakthroughs, isn’t it?
Needless to say, things don’t go as planned, and people become dino dinner, per usual. But one of the more underrated parts of this franchise is the flirtatious romances that tend to creep in, even as the chaos commences. It all started with Alan (Sam Neill) and Ellie (Laura Dern) in Jurassic Park, who proved that a work husband and wife could keep it professional while still getting us to root for them.
But is there a romance that defines Jurassic World Rebirth? We have a few contenders in mind.
Zora and Henry
The easiest option is Johansson’s not-a-mercenary (but totally a mercenary) Zora and Bailey’s nerdy paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis. The pair share a few lingering glances throughout the film, and she even hits him with a “You’re an impressive nerd” while he’s sitting in a giant dinosaur nest, which is a loaded observation, to say the least. In an early scene where Zora is trying to get blood from aquatic Mosasaurus terrorizing their boat, she calls on Henry to strap her in so she doesn’t go overboard. The very act of fastening her in, with all the grunting and flexed muscles that it requires, the scene is about as physical as it gets between the two.
Universal Pictures / Everett Collection
The optimist in us chooses to compare the moment to the climactic scene in 1996’s Twister, when Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt strap themselves around pumphouse pipes to survive the approaching tornado. But the scorned hopeless romantic in us can’t help letting Zora and Henry’s unconsummated flirting call upon the heir apparents to the Twister franchise, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, who ended last summer’s without sharing a kiss, too! So if that triggered you, then you’ve been warned about Jurassic World Rebirth.
Teresa and Xavier
The other couple in the mix here is Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Xavier (David Iacono), one half of the family caught in the middle of the mission. Early in the film, Teresa’s father, Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), struggles to see what his daughter likes in the lazy, oblivious boyfriend she brought on the family’s sailing vacation. But as the movie goes on, Xavier steps up to protect Reuben, Teresa, and Isabella (Audrina Miranda). However, Teresa and Xavier’s relationship is never front and center. If anything, the heart-to-hearts between Reuben and Xavier about the latter’s self-confidence are among the most moving moments in the film.
Henry and His Dinosaurs
We would be remiss if we didn’t at least acknowledge the deep, abiding love story between Henry and his dinosaurs. Jurassic World Rebirth asks the question: What if dinosaurs weren’t cool anymore? After the world was invaded by the resurrected species in the last few movies, the threat and the thrill of them has worn off, leaving men like Henry to plead for the public’s support in keeping their story alive. He’s losing that battle, hence why his museum exhibit is shuttering at the beginning of the movie. It’s no wonder then, that the thing that gets him to sign onto this dangerous mission is the chance to see living, breathing dinosaurs in the flesh, not just the bones he’s trying to preserve. By the time he gets the chance to experience them in person, to touch them and observe their behavior, tears well up in his eyes. It’s all confirmation of Zora’s aforementioned observation — he’s one impressive and soft-hearted nerd.
The Titanosaurus Couple
Universal Pictures
There’s really only one answer to the question of who is the defining love story in Jurassic World Rebirth — it’s the Titanosaurus couple! One strength of this franchise has always been getting the audience to empathize with the dinosaurs, or at least the ones who aren’t trying to feast on the cast. We still aren’t over the trauma of the dinosaurs dying in the volcano eruption in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. But this film does wonders for mending those wounds by giving us a beautifully tender moment between two Titanosaurus behemoths in the heart of the action.
As Zora, Henry, and the team move deeper into the island, they find themselves in the territory of these plant-eating gentle giants with whip-like tails. Waking up from a slumber, the dinos embrace each other by touching their heads together and eventually coiling their long necks in an almost heart-shaped movement. It is genuinely moving, utterly and universally romantic, and it leaves Zora and Henry overcome with emotion. So much of Jurassic Park/World story has always been the moral implications of bringing dinosaurs back to life. But if it means these two Titanosauruses get their love story more than 30 years after the original film, then it was all worth it!
Jurassic World Rebirth, In Theaters Now
