Scarlett Johansson in New Chapter

Dr. Henry Loomis, the paleontologist played by Jonathan Bailey in Jurassic World Rebirth, at one point laments the public’s diminished interest in seeing the same old prehistoric creatures. That prompted the bottom line-driven folks at InGen, the billion-dollar biotech corporation that specializes in resurrecting extinct animals, to start crossbreeding new species. “Engineered entertainment” is what Henry calls it. The same descriptor could apply to Gareth Edwards’ new chapter in the cloned dinosaur franchise birthed by Steven Spielberg more than three decades ago. There are some mighty new monsters on the prowl, but this is primarily an assembly of recycled story beats.

Which is not to say the movie doesn’t deliver adrenalized action, excitement and white-knuckle close encounters with giant beasts whose rampaging anger at times gives them a weird kinship to the cruelly exploited carnival attractions of Tod Browning’s Freaks. How can you not feel a little bad for a hulking great mutant called a Distortus Rex — or D. Rex, just to make it more humiliating — with a head like a beluga whale? Men playing God rarely works out well, and these hybrid Mesozoic throwbacks have good reason to be pissed.

Returning screenwriter David Koepp co-wrote the 1993 Spielberg original with sci-fi author Michael Crichton, on whose books the movies were based, as well as the 1997 sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park. While Koepp did not write Jurassic Park III, he had a hand in shaping the plotline. It’s predominantly the first and third installments that yield the abundant déjà vu moments in Rebirth.

But whatever the new movie lacks in originality, it makes up for in propulsive narrative drive, big scares and appealing new characters played by a terrific cast — even if they are mostly cut from an existing mold.

Colin Trevorrow got the second trilogy off to a strong start in 2015 with Jurassic World, and J.A. Bayona’s sequel, Fallen Kingdom, scored points for invention, switching gears into haunted-house territory. But the closing installment, Dominion, exposed a franchise gasping for creative oxygen, shifting away from creature-feature horror to ho-hum action-adventure. By going back almost to basics, Rebirth delivers on the promise of its title.

At the end of Jurassic World Dominion, humans and dinosaurs were edging toward co-existence, with lots more prehistoric clones out in the world beyond their sanctuary. But modern-day Earth’s atmosphere has proved inhospitable to the creatures, with many dying out or migrating to a tropical band around the equator that resembles their native Mesozoic Era climate. Tourism to the area is strictly prohibited.

A prologue set 17 years before the main action takes place in a secret InGen research and development facility on Isle Saint-Hubert near Barbados. When the containment system malfunctions due to a stray Snickers wrapper, a technician watches in horror as her lab partner is ripped apart and eaten by a mostly unseen genetic dino-mutation.

Back in the film’s present, slick Big Pharma executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) puts together an illegal expedition to accompany him to the island and help extract DNA from the three most gargantuan species inhabiting land, sea and air — respectively, the herbivorous titanosaurus, the aquatic mosasaurus and the flying quetzalcoatlus. Scientists at his corporation, ParkerGenix, believe those samples contain the key to revolutionary heart disease medication, worth trillions to whomever lands exclusive control.

Krebs first enlists Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a tough ex-special forces operative, now a private contractor in situational security and reaction — “a mercenary,” as Dr. Loomis, who’s next on the recruitment list, puts it in a good-natured dig. Still hurting from the loss of her training mission partner in Yemen, Zora sees Martin’s $10 million fee as an avenue to retirement from a punishing field. (Though judging by how comfortable Johansson looks in tank tops, cargo pants and grimy sweat, Zora seems unlikely to bow out anytime soon.)

They rendezvous in a Suriname port town with Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), captain of the Essex, a repurposed military patrol boat that will get them to Isle Saint-Hubert. Like his old friend Zora, Duncan is still pained by a tragic family loss; the two of them pull a crafty move to get Krebs to bump up Duncan’s fee.

Duncan’s crew includes obnoxious head of security Bobby Atwater (Ed Skrein), Haitian co-pilot LeClerc (Bechir Sylvain) and deckhand Nina (Philippine Velge). Anticipating the order in which they become dino-snacks is a fun guessing game.

Because it wouldn’t be a Spielberg-affiliated Amblin picture without at least one kid in peril, an initially separate plot strand tracks a family sailing trip aboard La Mariposa, a sloop skippered by Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). Since his divorce, Reuben’s daughters, college-age Teresa (Luna Blaise) and 11-year-old Isabella (Audrina Miranda), have lived with their mother. The vacation is Reuben’s attempt to reconnect with them, though he’s not thrilled to have Teresa’s lazy stoner boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) along for the ride.

In the first of the many extended action set-pieces that are director Edwards’ forte, La Mariposa is sideswiped by a mosasaurus and capsized. The Essex picks up the family’s mayday signal, and while Martin — gradually revealed to be the usual unscrupulous corporate creep — insists on sticking to their extraction mission, not getting sidetracked with search and rescue, he’s overruled by the others.

Koepp’s script, after taking its time over character development, sticks to the recipe: Add dinosaurs and stir. That accelerates once the Essex gets hammered by a spinosaurus attack, with Teresa in a hairy close call that reveals further damning evidence of Martin’s untrustworthiness. They veer into the rocky shallows of Isle Saint-Hubert, hoping the predators will be too large to follow. But they end up shipwrecked there, with the Delgado group separated from their rescuers.

Shot (like Spielberg’s original) with Panavision cameras and anamorphic lenses on 35mm, the jungles of Thailand that stand in for the island offer spectacular visuals. DP John Mathieson’s dynamic shooting style keeps the pulse racing as the two parties weave their way through dense vegetation in which every unnerving sound or rustling of leaves amps up the tension.

Given that the abandoned InGen facility runs on geothermal power from hot springs, they figure it will be the best place to get help. A gas station convenience store certainly makes it ideal for product placement — Dr. Pepper, Lay’s potato chips, Cheetos, etc. — not to mention the best place to replicate the kitchen scene in Jurassic Park in which velociraptors stalk two children. This time it’s a squawking quetzalcoatlus, smart enough to follow the fleeing humans into the underground tunnels that connect the village.

That same pterosaur species features in a scene in which Zora and Henry rappel down a vertiginous cliff to an ancient temple carved into the rock face, where they extract a sample from a nest of quetzalcoatlus eggs. Mom is not pleased to find them in the rookery.

Much of the humor comes from bespectacled Henry’s lack of preparedness for field operations, having spent his working life in museums, and from his bantering flirtation with Zora. Bailey and Johansson, both in excellent form, inject a lot of charm into the evolving rapport between these two opposites — one an idealistic science guy, the other a swaggering combat vet who nonetheless is receptive to Henry’s misgivings about the ethics of the ParkerGenix plan.

One of the most memorable sequences — and the one that most recalls the poetic, quasi-spiritual sense of wonder in Spielberg’s original — is when they reach a lush green valley full of grazing titanosauruses. Henry is like an enchanted child, dumbstruck at the sight of these gentle giants and almost unable to contain his emotions as he strokes one of the creatures’ massive legs. Alexandre Desplat’s rich orchestral score, incorporating John Williams’ classic theme music, effectively punches up action scenes, but it’s especially lovely in these tender moments.

The other major source of heart in the movie is the growing closeness of the Delgado family. Having Isabella shocked into silence by the ordeal but rediscovering joy through a cute critter she carries in her backpack and names Dolores — a puppy-like, animatronic creature known as an aquilops — is so Spielbergian it’s corny. But the sweetness is also disarming. Likewise, Reuben’s increasing respect for Xavier, who turns out to have more going for him than his flaky slacker demeanor might indicate.

Franchise superstar the T. Rex, with its bilious roar and tiny hands (I’m not going there), makes a welcome return. Woken from sleep on the banks of a river on which the Delgados attempt a raft escape over rapids, the massive therapod thunders after them — it swims! — in a scene that reaches peak nail-biting suspense when Isabella is separated from the group.

The blend of physical locations with sets and digital imagery is seamless and the CG work on the creatures is first-rate, notably so in the scary climactic stretch when the lumbering D. Rex joins the fray. Edwards clearly is a devoted Spielberg fan, embedding subtle homages throughout, notably in the open water sequences that recall Jaws. Jurassic World Rebirth is unlikely to top anyone’s ranked franchise list. But longtime fans (count me among them) should have a blast.