Jurassic World Rebirth shares less in common with Jurassic Park and more DNA with the Godzilla movies, with intoxicating monsters and uninteresting humans. Part of the charm that kept me watching Jurassic Park so many times on VHS when I was younger was that there were some quotable moments before the bigger scenes of a T-rex terrorizing cars and eating lawyers right off the toilet. Had I watched Rebirth on VHS, I’d likely be giving the fast-forward button a workout.

Much like Gareth Edwards’ direction on Godzilla, the special effects are so towering that they’ve reduced the story to a routine monster island adventure, which is especially disheartening from Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp. The premise is intriguing for being set in a future where dinosaurs have gone from a common occurrence to an endangered species, on their way back to extinction. Instead of highlighting the details of such a culture, the film passively establishes its familiar characters for venturing into the last island holding discarded mutant dinosaurs for some valuable dino blood.

Taking charge in this adventure is Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), a mercenary with only the mildest of apprehension and snark packed for this journey. Her combat and survival skills aid in assuring the safety of the dino expert, Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a man who has spent his life studying the prehistoric creatures but never interacted with them in the wild. Along with her team leader, Duncan Kincaid (a thankless role for Mahershala Ali), she’s hired by the greedy executive Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) to acquire dinosaur blood for a medicine that could change the world. Greed becomes a factor in the adventure, as Henry thinks the life-saving medicine should be made for free, while Zora wants it for the cash. Don’t expect their conversations to go any further than Henry’s passive bid for socialized healthcare and Zora’s short punchline about her liking capitalism. It’s a debate as depressing as the character archetypes, including a family thrown into the mix without much conflict or charm. The presence of a concerned divorced dad (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), weary of his teenage daughter’s pot-smoking, lazy boyfriend (David Iacono), should have some drama, but any emotional conflict between the two seems like it was resolved before the film even started.

But I’m sure nobody will be venturing to the theater this 4th of July weekend expecting Jurassic World Rebirth to have some astute characters and a thoughtful script on the nature of evolution and greed. The mass audience wants that dinosaur action, and Gareth Edwards does not disappoint in this department’s visuals. There are some remarkable shots of dinosaurs stalking in the cover of smoke, rising from the water, or grazing amid fields. Visually, these scenes look good, and there’s some exciting action to go along with some solid cinematography, as when a cliff-climbing scene results in an attack by winged beasts. But there are only so many times you can watch someone’s feet barely escape a toothy dino chomp before the near-misses become far too standard, especially when it’s hard to care for characters meeting the minimum of the Amblin formula for kids who are spared and red-shirts for the expected kills, mildly thrilling as they may be.

Jurassic World Rebirth showcases how bland the prehistoric adventure saga has become with half-thought ideas and quarter-thought characters. Even with over two hours in its running time, it hardly feels like there’s a moment to appreciate the wonder of long-tailed dinosaurs cuddling in a field or the cute little dinosaur who joins the crew in a backpack. Time feels wasted in this film, especially with Henry’s agonizing scene of slowly eating candy as he mulls over whether to accept his mission. The film can best be summed up by Zora’s explicit statement of intent for returning to another dangerous dinosaur island: “You need the money. You need the money. You need all the money.” As she bitterly remarks, they just need to get the job done and go home; that mindset feels present throughout the rest of the film, where the human characters are only there to either gawk at the CGI dinos or be their lunch and nothing more. It’s just business, selling another widget with the Jurassic Park logo with strong design but cheaper quality.