Jurassic World Rebirth Has A Blink And You'll Miss It Tribute To The Franchise's Creator

This article contains some spoilers for "Jurassic World Rebirth"

I wonder if, when Michael Crichton wrote "Jurassic Park," he could have ever imagined the bloated, decades-spanning, merch-filled megalith it has become. I think of the shots of branded lunch boxes, backpacks, plastic toys, and t-shirts glimpsed in the vacant, powerless gift shop of the first film's park — items that only foreshadowed what was to come in our own world. There's no question that, no matter your feelings on the more recent "Jurassic World" movies, they have ventured far from Crichton's original narrative focus. However, the latest entry, "Jurassic World Rebirth," still finds time to give the briefest possible shout-out to the series' creator.

The Easter egg arrives very early in the film, as big pharma exec Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) sits in dino-induced traffic near Brooklyn Bridge Park. As he begins his in-car meeting with Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), one of the other vehicles you can see in the gridlock is a school bus with the words "Crichton Middle School" emblazoned on it. Not much of a salute if we're being honest, but the kind of hidden wink and nod that you'd expect from a franchise film like "Rebirth." And it's not the only one.

In the same scene where the Crichton Middle School Easter egg appears, there's another quick reference to the original "Jurassic Park" when Krebs rolls down his window. The shot reflects him in his sideview mirror, with the same "Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear" warning that was used as a gag during the T-rex chase in the first film.

Later in "Jurassic World Rebirth," Krebs is seen wearing a white outfit with a straw hat that's very similar to the look sported by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) in "Jurassic Park." Perhaps we are to view Krebs as a sort of poser in the same vein of biotech magnate as Hammond, or it could just be a bit of coincidental costuming.

Throughout the rest of the movie, a number of scenes evoke moments from the franchise's path. Dodging explicit spoilers, a particular jeep escape sequence and subsequent dismembered arm seem to knowingly point at two famous scenes from the original "Jurassic Park." There's also a river raft chase that's pulled from Crichton's novel — a scene that was cut from the film adaptation. Now, it has its Hollywood moment.

The little references and old Crichton scene inspirations are nice touches, but in truth, "Jurassic World Rebirth" could do with a more active loyalty to the author. The novel and its film adaptation both became classics not just because of their spectacle and the allure of imaginative adventure, but because of their material engagement with deeper themes of natural order, ethics in science, and capitalist greed.

"Rebirth" gestures vaguely at a few similar ideas from time to time, mostly via the character of Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey). He has a monologue midway through the movie about how "99.9% of all species that have ever lived on Earth are extinct," and later, he urges the other characters to use the heart medicine they're trying to synthesize from dinosaur blood as an open-source compound, rather than privatize it. For the most part though, the movie eschews deeper analysis of its storylines, preferring to reference better scenes from older movies. Even the mutant dinosaur plot thread, which kicks off the whole movie, ends up serving no real purpose other than a couple of new creature designs.

At least we still have those first couple of "Jurassic Park" movies and books to go back to.