There’s a new Jurassic movie roaring its way into cinemas, making now a good time to rank all seven Jurassic Park and World features from worst to best.
Some 32 years on from the first Jurassic Park, Universal’s dinosaur franchise continues to pull in crowds, with the six movies released thus far grossing more than $5 billion worldwide, and a seventh out this week.
You can read Dexerto’s four-star Jurassic Park Rebirth review, where we wrote that it “leans heavily into what made the original work, and delivers both thrills and scares.”
We’ve also written about the new mutant dinosaur on the Jurassic block, listed the best Easter eggs in Rebirth, and advised viewers when to use the bathroom if nature calls. To find out where it ranks in the franchise, scroll down for the ultimate Jurassic ranking.
7. Jurassic World Dominion
- Release date: June 10, 2022
- Director: Colin Trevorrow
- Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern
- Runtime: 2 hours 27 minutes
What it’s about: With dinosaurs now roaming the planet, a biotech company threatens global food supplies, forcing characters old and new to unite and stop the crisis.
What we think: Dominion concluded the Jurassic World trilogy in distinctly unsatisfying fashion, which is frustrating as the franchise had been building to this point, both in terms of story, and getting the old Jurassic gang to share the screen with new characters. But plot was thin, dialogue poor, and the film overlong and poorly paced, meaning this iteration concluded with a whimper rather than a roar.
6. Jurassic Park III
- Release date: July 18, 2001
- Director: Joe Johnston
- Cast: Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Téa Leoni
- Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
What it’s about: Dr. Alan Grant is lured to Isla Sorna under false pretences, and finds himself again trapped in dinosaur habitat, where he comes face-to-face with the terrifying Spinosaurus.
What we think: Without Steven Spielberg steering, the good ship Jurassic Park ran aground during its third outing, with director Joe Johnston failing to achieve same critical or commercial success of his predecessor. That’s largely because Part III feels like it’s going through the motions, while Sam Neill’s Alan Grant aside, the characters are so dull that we spent much of the movie hoping they’d become dinosaur dinner.
5. Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom
- Release date: June 22, 2018
- Director: J.A. Bayona
- Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall
- Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
What it’s about: With Isla Nublar facing a catastrophic volcanic eruption, a rescue mission is launched to save the dinosaurs, though all is not what it seems with the operation.
What we think: Fallen Kingdom is a bit of a mess, but efforts to break free of the classic Jurassic narrative are also part of the movie’s charm, being both darker and more preposterous than what came before. So come for the dinosaur action, and stay for the monster movie set in a gothic mansion.
4. Jurassic World
- Release date: June 12, 2015
- Director: Colin Trevorrow
- Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio
- Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes
What it’s about: A fully operational dinosaur park faces disaster when a genetically modified hybrid escapes containment. As the creature crosses the island leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake, a trainer and an operations manager must protect the visitors and stop the threat.
What we think: Jurassic World is a reboot that plays like a retread of the original, though this time around, instead of dinosaurs attacking during a preview, they embark on a killing spree when the park is filled with visitors. Meaning lots more potential victims. Chris Pratt brings fun to proceedings as a cross between Steve Irwin and Indiana Jones, and his star power helped World become the highest grossing film in the franchise.
3. Jurassic World Rebirth
- Release date: July 2, 2025
- Director: Gareth Edwards
- Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey
- Runtime: 2 hours 14 minutes
What it’s about: A pharmaceutical company hires a crack team of mercenaries and scientists to extract DNA samples from three of the largest dinosaurs on the planet. But as with every other Jurassic movie, all does not go according to plan.
What we think: Where the Jurassic World trilogy that preceded Rebirth got bogged down in convoluted plot, this new iteration keeps it simple, revolving around a group with clear intentions and motivations, doing battle with genetically engineered dinosaurs. But what really sets it apart is the hybrid mutant monsters that now pose a threat, resulting in some of the most jaw-dropping action sequences in the entire series.
2. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Release date: May 23, 1997
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn
- Runtime: 2 hours 9 minutes
What it’s about: A research team is sent to a second island where dinosaurs roam freely, only for a rival group to transport the prehistoric creatures to the mainland, resulting in a T-Rex rampaging around San Diego.
What we think: Ian Malcolm is the best character in the Jurassic franchise, and while Lost World misses his sparring with Alan Grant, it’s also fun to see the character – and star Jeff Goldblum – take center stage in an action movie. The sequel also delivers its fair share of spectacle and scares, with that aforementioned San Diego sequence an all-timer.
1. Jurassic Park
- Release date: June 11, 1993
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum
- Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes
What it’s about: Scientists are invited to preview a remote island theme park populated by cloned dinosaurs, but when the security systems fail, the prehistoric creatures go on the rampage.
What we think: Jurassic Park isn’t just the best film in the franchise, it’s also one of the greatest blockbusters of all-time. The concept was the ultimate in wish-fulfilment, with Michael Crichton’s source novel imagining what would happen if we were able to bring dinosaurs back. While Steven Spielberg was the perfect director to adapt the material, crafting action sequences that combined unbearable tension with rollercoaster thrills.
Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum were endlessly entertaining as the bickering scientists at the heart of the story, while Richard Attenborough was note-perfect as the man with a dream, that quickly turns into a nightmare. They were matched by cutting edge computer-generated technology that breathed life into the prehistoric creatures, and made audiences believe that dinosaurs were once again roaming the Earth.
For more Jurassic action, see where Park features on our list of best movie ever, and which World entries made the list of worst movies to gross a billion dollars.
Source link