We Officially Ranked Every Jurassic Park Movie

Jurassic Park is perhaps the most frustrating of all cinematic franchises because of the sharp demarcation line in terms of quality. While not necessarily one of Steven Spielberg’s greatest movies on the level of Jaws or Schindler’s List, the original 1993 classic is one of the most entertaining summer blockbusters ever made, and a film that takes its time to develop thoughtful worldbuilding and compelling characters. Ever since then, the franchise has continued to decline; while making an entertaining dinosaur film shouldn’t be that hard, Universal Pictures seems to keep missing the mark in terms of why Michael Crichton’s novel was so beloved within the first place.

There hasn’t been any diminishing returns as of yet when it comes to the box office, as cinephiles should know at this point that financial success is not an assessment of quality. What the future of the series looks like is unclear, as there hasn’t been a compelling set of new characters introduced since the original film; with the great Sam Neill gone, it feels as if the Jurassic Park saga might never retain its original magic. It is nonetheless an interesting task to look back at the franchise’s highs and lows, as the reasons why the sequels failed are at the very least worthy of some analysis.

7

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ (2022)

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Jurassic World Dominion is the Rise of Skywalker of the Jurassic Park franchise, a fact that is a bit ironic given that the film was directed by Colin Trevorrow after he was booted from helming the ninth episode within the Skywalker saga. What’s most frustrating about Jurassic World Rebirth isn’t its wasting of the original trio, its nonsensical plot, the lack of any chemistry between Chris Pratt and Bruce Dallas Howard, or the noisy setpieces that fail to generate any real thrills, even if those are annoying; it’s that it doesn’t really feel like a Jurassic Park film, as the dinosaurs are a minor plot thread in a globe-trotting disaster adventure more concerned with locusts.

Trevorrow’s inability to tell a coherent story makes for a long second act with expositional information dumped at inopportune points through bland conversations, dividing the character on pointless side quests until an underwhelming final showcase. That Jurassic World Rebirth made $1 billion does no credit to the idea that the average moviegoer has an expectation of quality.

6

‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ (2018)

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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a tonally mismatched and cynical continuation of the flimsy structure built by Trevorrow’s first film, but it’s more disappointing because of how it wasted the talents of J.A. Bayona. Bayona is a talented filmmaker who, for one of the few points in his career, was not given approval on the script, which is evident from the clumsy way that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom pivots from a disaster thriller to a haunted house film.

The notion of dinosaurs being taken advantage of by greedy capitalists would be interesting if the script wasn’t so ham-fisted, adding nonsensical science and a cloning subplot to a film that already resets its characters and relationships back to the beginning. It’s a good thing that Justice Smith was able to prove himself as a great actor with I Saw The TV Glow, because his role in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom might be the single most obnoxious screen character since Jar Jar Binks.

5

‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ (2025)

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Jurassic World Rebirth was intended as a “back-to-basics” entry in the franchise that backfired because of how nakedly cynical it was. The film posits the idea that society has grown past the point in which dinosaurs would entice any sense of wonder, and sets its characters on a journey back to the original island purely as a means to make money. It’s counterintuitive to the themes of Crichton’s novels to place the focus on military characters instead of scientists, and the inclusion of another obnoxious family does nothing but chew up screentime.

Jurassic World Rebirth contains no imagination the use of the dinosaurs beyond turning DNA into a MacGuffin, and even charismatic stars like Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali can’t do all that much to elevate a script by David Koepp that feels like a first draft at best. The one positive worth noting is the genuinely great performance by Jonathan Bailey, who represents the closest thing that the franchise has reached to a character on the level of Dr. Alan Grant.

4

‘Jurassic Park III’ (2001)

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Jurassic Park III is a very strange sequel that dropped the grandiosity of the previous two entries (both of which were directly based on Crichton novels) for the sake of making a B-movie that comes in around 90 minutes. It is refreshing to see how nasty and concise Jurassic Park III is when compared to the nostalgia overload of everything that followed it, but the film’s issues come down to another illogical script where none of the setpieces stand out. Jurassic Park III is never quite cold-blooded enough to do anything truly mean-spirited, but it’s all-too brief for there to be much else to cling on to.

Neill turns in a solid performance as Grant and manages to retain some integrity within the character, which does help to balance out a weak supporting cast that includes career-worst performances by Tea Leoni and William H. Macy.

3

‘Jurassic World’ (2015)

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Jurassic World is the skeleton key for most modern “soft reboots” that essentially remake the first installment in a series by using a similar story, while introducing a new set of characters to lead the next interaction. It is interesting that it was released the same year as two films that did the same approach in a much more successful way with Creed and Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Creed revamped the underdog story from a fresh perspective and The Force Awakens added a jolt of energy thanks to Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, but Jurassic World can’t help but feel like a rehash of the 1993 film that simply isn’t as good.

The similarities with the original Jurassic Park make everything Trevorrow does look less interesting; he has a new set of kids who aren’t nearly as charming, an active theme park that is riddled with plot holes, a ridiculous new dinosaur lifted straight from an Asylum production, and a wisecracking duo who aren’t given a single memorable line of dialogue. Although the action in Jurassic World is significantly better than what was to come in the rest of the trilogy, it’s sad to see a franchise that was once earmarked for its inventiveness settle into the lowest-common denominator of entertainment.

2

‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ (1997)

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The Lost World: Jurassic Park is two-thirds of a good film that is undercut by a ridiculous third act that took the action to San Diego and a few very cheesy moments that betray any degree of suspense. That The Lost World: Jurassic Park is one of Spielberg’s worst films means that it was a disappointment, but it also means that it’s better than a vast majority of what any other summer blockbuster could be. Even with an underdeveloped script that can’t quite find how to make Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) into a grounded protagonist, Spielberg has a talent for blocking, image-making, and tension-building that elevate The Lost World: Jurassic Park into a mostly entertaining ride.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park is worthy of praise because it does not go back to the original premise and instead finds a different reason for characters to be out hunting dinosaurs, even introducing a compelling human villain portrayed by the great Pete Posthelthwaite. The fans who have spent almost 30 years complaining about the (admittedly ridiculous) gymnastic moment need to let it go, as the Jurassic Park series hasn’t made anything of this quality since.

1

‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)

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It’s an obvious choice that the original Jurassic Park is the top choice, and even a franchise with stronger sequels would have struggled to make something that tops what Spielberg pulled off in 1993 (the same year he took home the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director for Schindler’s List). What’s most impressive about the original Jurassic Park is how well it holds up; it’s an appropriate slow burn that builds to the reveal of the dinosaurs in a moment of pure cinematic astonishment, and takes its time to make the scientific explanations feel somewhat plausible. It’s an action-packed film that is remarkably simple, as Spielberg builds his setpieces up until the showstopping finale.

Jurassic Park has a versatility within it that the sequels lack, as it is genuinely frightening at times, while also being legitimately heartwarming and unafraid to be sincere. Although there is no obvious commentary about capitalism and consumerism, the film also celebrates scientific study, and is credited as inspiring a generation of peleontologists. As much as the sequels have insulted its legacy, Jurassic Park is pure entertainment in a way that few films can be, and nothing can take that away.