When the firstJurassic Parkfilm premiered in 1993, it transformed the world of cinema. This wasn’t just another summer blockbuster–director Steven Spielberg helped herald a new world of bigger films and better special effects. And, for better or for worse, he created a brand new cinematic franchise.
I say “for better or for worse” because some of the sequels in this franchise are great, and some are so bad you’d rather be blinded by a dilophosaurus than watch them again. Which Jurassic Park films are still worth watching, and which should be fed to a hungry raptor? They can all currently be found onPeacock(with the exception of two), so hold onto your butts for my definitive ranking of every film in the franchise!
2018
Runtime
2 hours 9 minutes
2022’sJurassic World: Dominionis weird because it tethered together two completely unrelated stories (more on this below). Well, a few years earlier,Fallen Kingdomwas an even worse offender because it basically crams two entirely different genres into a single, bland film. The first part involves Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard teaming up to save some dinosaurs from a doomed island. Rather inexplicably, the second part of the movie takes place in a giant mansion where deadly dinosaurs are being secretly auctioned off to the highest bidder.
In other words, we’ve got an action/adventure film and a haunted house/horror film all rolled into one. Each story makes the other worse, and you’ll find your mind constantly asking questions that the clumsy script creates. For example, how can literal tons of dinosaurs be kept and sold in the basement of an estate without its owner knowing? And what’s so cool about a dinosaur that attacks whatever you point a special gun at when you could just use a regular gun to shoot your target the old-fashioned way?
Without getting into spoilers, the best part of this film is its relatively unpredictable ending. Unfortunately, that ending sets up a movie that we never get to see because the film that follows,Dominion, dumps it and takes the franchise into an entirely new direction. As a fan, that left me with one more mystery that this film failed to answer: who the heck thought combining two stories together was the best way to create a thrilling blockbuster film?
2025
2 hours 13 minutes
Recently released in theaters, Jurassic World: Rebirthis a movie that answers a really specific question: when is a dinosaur movie not really a dinosaur movie? You see, the plot of this film involves a shady corporate type hiring some veteran mercs (Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali) and a nerdy dino expert to visit one of the last areas on Earth where dinos can flourish. They need to gather blood samples from exotic dinosaurs in order to develop a medical miracle cure, but most of the critters on this island are the result of weird genetic tweaking, meaning they look like generic monsters rather than prehistoric titans. The result is thatRebirthfeels less like a Jurassic film than a sci-fi creature feature that just happens to have a huge budget.
Beyond that, this is a film with some deeply bad writing. We once again get two different kinds of movies jammed into one, with nearly the first half of the film devoted to our heroes trying to survive on a boat besieged by a monstrous sea creature (I guess evenJurassic Worldwanted to celebrateJaws’ 50th anniversary). Once they get to the island, the movie devolves into a bunch of half-baked action scenes and a limp nighttime climax that makes the action way too hard to see (like, even worse thanGame of Thrones’ final season). Finally, while the actors are talented, they can only do so much with a movie that treats everyone as a one-dimensional character archetype.
Bottom line? I’m a lifelongJurassic Parkfan who wanted to see this franchise successfully reinvent itself. But ironically enough, a movie subtitledRebirthis just completely dead on arrival.
2022
2 hours 26 minutes
Fair warning: how much you enjoyJurassic World: Dominiondepends on how nostalgic you are for the original film. That’s because the big draw of this movie is that it brings together the newer characters and the legacy characters in a much more robust way than the quick Ian Malcolm cameo inFallen Kingdom. Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill work onscreen alongside newer franchise stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. They’re on separate missions, though: Pratt and Howard are trying to rescue a cloned (biology has come a long way!) wunderkind while the others are trying to figure out what’s up with the giant locusts terrorizing America.
As a huge fan of the first movie, I can’t deny the fun of seeing the original cast onscreen again, and it may be worth seeing it for that alone. But not even my wild nostalgia changes the fact that this movie is trying to tell two different stories, neither of which really gels together. The locust plot is weak and seems like something out of a made-for-TV SyFy Channel movie. The search for the kidnapped girl, however, offers some redeeming and thrilling action sequences.
The end ofFallen Kingdomimplied we’d get a sequel where the dinosaurs were running amok throughout the United States. Frankly, that would have been a much more interesting premise for a film. Instead,Dominion, though entertaining, comes off as a bit lazy.
1997
I really wanted to likeThe Lost World: Jurassic Park. After all, Steven Spielberg was back in the director’s chair, making me confident that he could deliver a film just as compelling as the original. And franchise favorite Jeff Goldblum was back, and his quirky chaotician was now a leading man. Throw in more returning stars like Richard Attenborough and exciting additions like Vince Vaughn, and my younger self was left with just one question: what could possibly go wrong for a film with this much potential?
Dear teenage me, the correct answer to that question is “a lot.” The movie’s plot (about a second dinosaur island and a villainous corporate type trying to exploit the dinos for profit) feels phoned in. Plus, Malcolm’s role in the film as mathematician-turned-activist is an odd fit, making him seem like a different character altogether. Even Spielberg seems to know what a mess all of this is, which is probably why the movie ends with a sequence involving a T-Rex raging through San Diego.
While it provides both spectacles and a few laughs, this sequence reveals the core problem ofThe Lost World. This is Spielberg at his most indulgent, and entire scenes function like long walks to boring cinematic punchlines that lean too hard on special effects. It relies so much on effects that, personally, I was left longing for pre-CGI movies that still had killer special effects.
2015
2 hours 4 minutes
Jurassic Worldwas director Colin Trevorrow’s attempt to bring the fossilized franchise back to life for a new generation. Although “new” doesn’t really describe the movie itself because it functions as a soft reboot of the original Jurassic Park. Once again, an ambitious billionaire creates a dinosaur theme park; once again, our heroes must deal with the inevitable chaos caused by escaped dinosaurs. And once again, there’s a human threat who only sees these magnificent creatures as a way to make money.
But just asThe Force Awakensfell far short ofA New Hope,Jurassic Worldfalls far short ofJurassic Park’s innovation and quality. Everything is bigger in this film, but very little is actually better. Chris Pratt does a decent job as an action star, but his exciting scenes feel more like hollow attempts to sell toys rather than tell a story. He has good chemistry with Bryce Dallas Howard and bounces nicely off Vincent D’Onofrio, but all this star wattage doesn’t change the fact that these characters seem like half-formed sketches.
With respect to Trevorrow, this film mostly feels like an attempt to capture lightning in a bottle as Spielberg once did, but without his sense of awe and reverence. The movie ultimately entertains, but it’s at its best when things are completely chaotic. When quieter scenes try to move the film forward, it is immediately clear that this film’s flimsy world-building wouldn’t be enough to support future films, all of which sag under the weight of massive audience expectations.
Jurassic Worldcan currently only be bought or rented on services such as Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
2001
1 hour 32 minutes
As the first film in the franchise not helmed by Spielberg, it seemed likeJurassic Park IIIwas going to be a huge flop. However, the film was a huge success for many reasons, including director Joe Johnston’s decision to create a more intimate tale centered on Alan Grant (Sam Neill). When a wealthy couple offers beaucoup bucks to fund his research, Grant agrees to give them an aerial tour of the original island. He just wants some cash for his research, but when things inevitably go south, everyone’s favorite archeologist is thrust back into the middle of one dino disaster after another.
The cast really shines in this sequel. In addition to Neill’s return as Dr. Grant, Laura Dern makes a memorable appearance as Ellie Sattler, whose character previously married and then divorced Grant. Franchise newcomers William H. Macy and Téa Leoni shine as a wealthy, eccentric couple who are clearly hiding more than a few secrets. Relatively speaking, the cast is smaller in this movie than in late-franchise entries likeJurassic World: Dominion. That’s part of the movie’s charm, of course: pretty much everyone gets a chance to shine throughout the movie. To me, that’s better than later sequels, which throw in more random characters than your average Marvel movie.
This was the last film in the franchise beforeJurassic World. Because of this, there was a narrative years back thatJurassic Park IIIhad nearly killed the franchise. In retrospect, though, this movie was the franchise’s last real attempt to move away from the bombast of a summer blockbuster. Later movies would attempt to bite Spielberg’s style to rapidly diminishing results, making it easier to appreciateJurassic Park III, a movie that tries to do something fresh and new in nearly every scene.
1993
2 hours 2 minutes
The originalJurassic Parkfilm is still the best, and there are many reasons for that. The first is the cast: simply put, every actor fully and vividly brings their distinct character to life. Who else but Sam Neill could play Dr. Grant, a passionate researcher of dead things who has trouble connecting with the living? Who but quirk-maestro Jeff Goldblum could play a rockstar professor who actually makes us care about concepts like chaos theory?
In addition to the stellar cast, the dinosaurs in the franchise have never looked better than they did in this first movie. That’s largely because the film effortlessly combines CGI and practical effects so that these wonderful creatures appear real. They have substance and personality that is simply lacking from later movies that reduce dinosaurs to just another cutting-edge computer effect.
Finally, the story ofJurassic Parkremains compelling because even as we understand the inevitability of chaos (thanks for the lectures, Malcolm!), we understand the desire to bring the past to life. It’s something towatch when you want to keep kids entertained, but it’s perfectly engaging for adults, too. Our collective fascination and awe for dinosaurs imbues every frame of this film, and each new scene invokes a sense of wonder that, quite frankly, no sequel has ever been able to match.
Feeling nostalgic forJurassic Park? You don’t have to go dig your VHS tapes out of Dr. Grant’s archeological site. Nearly all of these hit films are streaming on Peacock or can be rented or purchased on other services.
Peacock
Ready to binge-watch (almost) the entireJurassic Parkfranchise? Time to put down those superfan episodes ofThe Officeand stream all the dino destruction on Peacock!
