“No one’s dumb enough to go where we’re going,” Mahershala Ali tells the team as they board their boat to the last islands inhabited by dinosaurs on Earth. But this could have easily been said by me in the cinema, the sucker who bought a ticket to watch the seventh instalment of a movie franchise that many agree peaked at the start, attending simply on the basis of seeing Jonathan Bailey in his glasses. And yet I left feeling pleasantly surprised.

“The pull between profit and morality is at the core of Jurassic World Rebirth, and in the context of the USA in which it is set, it feels more relevant than ever”

Pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), perhaps the only person to go to a dinosaur infested jungle in business casual, is pulling together a team. Helmed by Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), an ex-military covert operative lulled by the promise of millions, they recruit Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), and fellow military man Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) to enter one of the last places on earth where dinosaurs roam free to capture the DNA needed for a treatment to heart disease. The cure requires the largest, and thus the deadliest, creatures of the sea, earth, and sky. Although the structure can feel a little repetitive by the time we meet the flying Quetzalcoatlus (they hunt, fight, lose a man, then manage to capture the blood sample at the last second), it also means the plot is steadily intercepted by exciting, dinosaur-packed action sequences.

This team is also met with the most confusing part of the film, the Delgado family, who are attacked by dinosaurs as they sail between islands in South America. Why a father would take his two daughters, plus an annoyingly clueless boyfriend, to sail in infamously dangerous waters is beyond me. It seemed they were simply a narrative device to add the jeopardy of children to the mix, and a pet baby dinosaur ripe for merchandise.

But I did appreciate the interweaving of a pro-environmental message in between the violence. It was also, in a pleasant surprise, paired with commentary on the pitfalls of privatised healthcare that would place a cure like this only in the hands of the rich. The pull between profit and morality is at the core of Jurassic World Rebirth, and in the context of the USA in which it is set, it feels more relevant than ever. But this sat uneasy with the reality of the franchise, a pure money-making mule that keeps being dragged on, safe in the knowledge that audiences will always arrive for the allure of dinosaurs and film stars.

“It is at once a cash grab and a fun film, and maybe that is okay”

And there are only so many times you can pull on the same cliches. The ‘epiphany scene’ must have happened at least three times; one member drifts away from the group who should know better than to have a nonsensically loud conversation in an infested jungle, they look up and off into the distance with a pensive look on their face as they utter “guys….”. Just off screen we hear the low, growling rumble of the next monster, and a massive leg crunching down through the trees. Bonus points if the wise individual is the child that the adults overlook. Or perhaps the pantomime-like “it’s behind me, isn’t it?” followed by the snatching jaw that drops in from up above, yanking the body off screen into a CGI fest of man and jaw. I think my eyes may have gotten stuck in a permanent roll.

But other cliches still hit every time; a personal favourite of mine is the John Williams and natural beauty combination. While searching for their second target, the terrestrial Titanosaurus, they are met not with a fight but herbivores lethargically roaming across the grassy plain. Our team lower their guns, tears roll down Jonathan Bailey’s cheeks, and for a moment man and nature coexist. Williams’ theme from Jurassic Park soars through the theatre. No matter how many times I see and hear this, the beauty of the theme still takes my breath away. Williams knew what he was doing, I suppose.

Expectations are key for films like this – we do a disservice to the film if we go in expecting it to be anything else than it is, and I mean that as a compliment. This isn’t The Godfather, and it shouldn’t have to be. Jurassic World Rebirth delivers exactly what you expect – thrill, a few laughs, a healthy dose of fear, and a happy (ish) ending where the villain gets their head chewed off by a dinosaur mutant. It is at once a cash grab and a fun film, and maybe that is okay. I left the cinema having guessed every plot point correctly, having learnt nothing new, but thoroughly entertained.