The movie industry in Hollywood is still trying to make successful movies by relying on nostalgia. One of the latest examples is Jurassic World: Rebirth, continuing the story of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films. These movies have been accompanied by some excellent scores, including ones by Michael Giacchino for all the Jurassic World movies and, of course, the one John Williams wrote for Jurassic Park and its direct sequel. For the new film in the Jurassic franchise, the assignment was given to Alexandre Desplat. When I found out Desplat would be composing for this iconic franchise, I was excited to see what he would write, as I associate his music more with dramas or comedies, rather than action-packed adventure movies.
When I want to review a score, I always listen to the music first before seeing the movie in the theatre, which I also did for Rebirth. After listening, I was curious about what to expect from the film, because in Desplat’s music I heard a lot of nods to John Williams. With that, I do not only mean Jurassic Park, but also other movies, and while I could listen to some tense moments and action music, there were also a lot of cues on the album in which the melodies were allowed to shine. When I saw Rebirth in the theatre, the music started to make sense, because this movie has a stronger focus on the characters in the film, and has less action and tense moments than I would have expected from a Jurassic World film.
While it is the latest film in the Jurassic franchise, the ties with the predecessors are very loose. The old Jurassic Park is mentioned in some dialogues, but was very much in the background story-wise. This did not apply to the magnificent main theme John Williams had written for the first movie, since Desplat used it several times in the score, as can be found for the first time in the finale of “Natural History Museum” or in all its glory in “Dino Spectacle.” Desplat also introduces his own themes in the film music. His main theme can be heard, for example, at the start of “Voyage,” and it shares a similar style with the original main theme, making them perfect to blend into each other. Another important theme is for the stranded family. It is a wonderful emotional melody that you can hear halfway in “Cave Swim.”
All these themes, the ones from Desplat and Williams’ main theme, are beautifully integrated in the music for Rebirth. When you listen to the music in general, you can hear that Desplat is trying to honor the music from the original Jurassic Park by creating a pure orchestral score. He even used Williams’ favorite orchestra for it, the London Symphony Orchestra, and I do think that it worked when I watched the film. The nods to John Williams, to my surprise, did not stop with just the main theme, because, as I mentioned earlier, I also discovered other John Williams influences. In the music of “Mosasaur Attacks Yacht” I can hear the influences of Jaws perfectly, which is not surprising when you see the corresponding scene, and in the beginning “Run the Gate” I even hear the melody of the iconic tuba solo from the Jaws, but I am not sure if it was intentional or not.
Overall, the film itself was not that interesting, since it has some dull moments, focusing on character development, and it could have used a bit more sequences with dinosaurs. It gave Desplat at least the opportunity to underscore those uninteresting moments with some melodies. His themes are well done, but they suffer a bit from the grandeur of the magnificent main theme by John Williams, which draws your attention as a magnet, and you almost forget about the original Desplat themes. With the story leaning more on the Jurassic Park movies than Jurassic World, I love that Desplat embraced Williams’ music for this film and made it his own, resulting in an excellent score for Jurassic World: Rebirth.
Listen or buy
- Buy this soundtrack from Amazon or Apple Music
- Listen to this soundtrack on Spotify
Tracklist
The highlights are in bold.
- Opening Lab (4:53)
- Bridge of Deal (0:59)
- Natural History Museum (5:04)
- Team Gathered (1:12)
- Voyage (2:51)
- Dart Show (1:18)
- Zora and Kincaid (2:24)
- Mosasaur Attacks Yacht (4:00)
- Zora and Loomis Chat (1:57)
- Mayday (3:32)
- Mosasaur Bumps Boat (1:12)
- Boat Chase (5:15)
- Fins Attack – Part 1 (4:49)
- Fins Attack – Part 2 (1:31)
- Cave Swim (3:48)
- Hurry (1:42)
- Walking the Swamp (3:21)
- The Pistol / Scare in the Trees (1:33)
- Do the Job (2:28)
- Dino Lovers (2:59)
- Dino Spectacle (1:43)
- What’s This Smell? (1:16)
- Crossing the River / T-Rex (8:10)
- Clifftop (0:36)
- Climbing the Wall (3:37)
- Bird Strike (3:40)
- Let’s Go Home (0:31)
- Gentle Boat Ride (4:05)
- Mutadons Fly In (4:55)
- The Old Lab (2:38)
- Tunnel / Helicopter (4:19)
- Run to the Gate (2:44)
- Bella and the Beast (4:50)
- Sailing Away (2:08)
Total length: 1 hour and 42 minutes
Back Lot Music (2025)
