While Jurassic World Dominion has been receiving some of the worst reviews of the franchise, its box office numbers have proven that audiences will always turn out in droves to watch CG dinosaur action. Some critics feel that the franchise has run its course, or that it never should’ve been a franchise to begin with.
The Jurassic saga has never managed to top Steven Spielberg’s timeless original Jurassic Park movie – including Spielberg himself with the first sequel, The Lost World – but some of the franchise’s entries, like Jurassic World, warrant more rewatches than others, like Jurassic Park III.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
The script for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is split into two halves, as if the writers had two half-baked ideas for a Jurassic World sequel and crammed them both into the same movie. The first half reveals that the island the park was built on has been an active volcano this whole time; that volcano erupts and the characters are essentially thrust into a real-life game of “the floor is made of lava.” The second half is a haunted house movie with dinosaurs lurking around a mansion in the middle of nowhere.
The trailers promised two tantalizing U.S.P.s: dinosaurs in mainland America and Jeff Goldblum’s return to the role of Dr. Ian Malcolm. Goldblum’s role ended up being a glorified cameo and the shots of dinosaurs in mainland America were all taken from the closing montage that effectively acts as the trailer for the next movie.
Jurassic Park III (2001)
The movie that temporarily killed the franchise for over a decade, Jurassic Park III, saw the return of Dr. Alan Grant after he skipped out on the first sequel. Grant is recharacterized as an Indiana Jones avatar, but he’s redeemed by Sam Neill’s typically awesome performance.
Jurassic Park III is far from a perfect movie, but Neill keeps the movie watchable. Plus, there’s a brilliant second-act set-piece involving pterodactyls stalking the protagonists on a rickety high-altitude walkway enveloped in mist.
Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
Jurassic World Dominion, the sixth and hopefully final chapter in the Jurassic saga, acts as a culmination of all six movies. It’s a classic example of a legacy sequel, with the rebooted cast meeting the original cast. Dominion only just came out, so time will tell how rewatchable it is. It’s been receiving some of the worst reviews of the franchise, but it has a few saving graces. The Jurassic World threequel explores new genre territory. It’s more of a globetrotting spy adventure (with dinosaurs) than a standard Jurassic Park movie.
It was a joy to see the original trio reunited. The script doesn’t really know what to do with them, but their chemistry didn’t disappoint. What might hurt Dominion in the long run is that it ends up falling into the same pitfalls as every other Jurassic sequel: mindless dinosaur action with no real point to make.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Spielberg returned for the first sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World. The Lost World undoes everything that made the original movie great. The first movie was at its most thrilling when it didn’t show any dinosaurs and suggested their ominous presence off-screen. In The Lost World, dinosaurs can be seen all over the place.
Still, as far as unsubtle monster movies go, in the hands of a master like Spielberg, The Lost World is still pretty fun. There’s a nail-biting sequence in the second act with dinosaurs shoving a trailer full of people over the edge of a cliff. The sequel culminates in a delightfully ludicrous final act. It becomes a sort of “Godzilla in San Diego” movie when a T. rex is let loose on the city. It’s not as thought-provoking as the original, but it’s even more action-packed.
Jurassic World (2015)
Although it’s still nowhere near as great as the original, the 2015 reboot Jurassic World is easily the best of the Jurassic sequels. It starts off with an interesting what-if premise: what if someone actually managed to start up a successful dinosaur-infested theme park?
The reboot opens with a fully functional Jurassic Park, now rebranded as Jurassic World. It ultimately turns into a loose remake of the original when the dinosaurs escape, but they have a lot more potential targets to pick off in a park teeming with tourists.
Jurassic Park (1993)
The original Jurassic Park, once the highest-grossing film ever made, is a timeless classic that stands up to countless viewings. One of Spielberg’s most beloved movies, Jurassic Park never gets old. The movie’s groundbreaking visual effects still hold up today, and it’s bolstered by Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum’s iconic performances. Spielberg brings a genuine sense of Hitchcockian tension to action sequences like the T. rex’s escape and the raptors’ attack in the kitchen.
The beauty of Jurassic Park is that there’s plenty of dinosaur action and it doesn’t disappoint, but that’s not the main attraction. This is really a story about a closed-off grump becoming a caring father figure when he’s forced to take care of a megalomaniac’s grandchildren in a survival situation.