But it’s a problem when a film’s main, star-filled story is overshadowed by the subplot, which is the unlikely outcome in Rebirth. As always in a Jurassic film, there is a family in danger. Here, the father is Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, of Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer). He is on a boat trip with his daughters, college-age Teresa (Luna Blaise) and 11-year-old Isabella (Audrina Miranda, very good at looking frightened), and Teresa’s boyfriend, Xavier (David Iacono). Their story is the most suspenseful from the start, when their boat is attacked and capsized by a huge dinosaur-fish – officially a Mosasaur, bigger than a whale and more vicious than a shark – in a sequence with Jaws-like levels of danger. They are rescued by Zora’s crew, but on the island become separated. For most of the film, the family’s plot runs parallel to the expedition’s, and is more effectively executed as they trudge through the woods jumping at any growling sound, discovering that what looks like a tree stump could be a napping dinosaur.
