When author/screenwriter Michael Crichton wrote Jurassic Park as a novel, there’s little doubt he knew he had something interesting and film-worthy (it began its initial life as a screenplay) on his hands, but it’s doubtful he could have fathomed what it would spawn across media, from sequels and prequels to toys, clothes, comics and games. Jurassic Park, along with its later prequel trilogy Jurassic World, is a cultural phenomenon, dealing with themes ranging from nature vs. nurture to moral and ethical dilemmas that crop up when humans try to ‘play God’, as well as human responsibility to nature and many more, and has resonated with generations since. Although the movie franchise began strong, it goes fairly up and down in its critical response, each one a box office hit but varying in audience opinion. That said, it shows no signs of slowing down, with Jurassic World: Rebirth hitting cinemas in just a couple of weeks. So, let’s revive and revisit the previous films and see what they have to offer.

Jurassic Park (1993)
Director: Steven Spielberg
4/5

A solid start to the first trilogy, Jurassic Park shows just what happens when one ‘plays God’. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) and his extensive team of scientists from InGen have managed to revive some species of dinosaur (shout out to frogs and their DNA) and are in the process of starting up a ‘theme’ park on an island, Isla Nubar, to showcase the dinosaurs. First, he needs endorsement and safety sign-off from experts, those being paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician/chaotician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). But, of course, virtually nothing goes to plan, and everyone ends up fighting for their lives on the island. The film begins with a lot of easy-to-understand (if a little exaggerated) sciency stuff to explain how they bred the dinos, but it soon turns from sci-fi to well-crafted horror. The pacing is solid, the characters well-written, the performances superb, particularly from the young actors, and a tremendous blend of CGI and animatronics. Not to mention John Williams’s incredibly score that sets the tone in every way and has two of the most well-known themes in cinema history. This film sparked a huge interest in dinosaurs for so many children, instilled nightmares in so many others, and fulled the series to come.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Director: Steven Spielberg
2.5/5

In this more dialogue-heavy sequel set four years later, some geniuses decided that opening a new dinosaur theme park in San Diego would be a great idea, and Hammond (Attenborough), despite having lost control of his own company, sends Ian Malcolm (Goldblum) to Isla Sorna, the sister island of Isla Nubar where all the research was conducted, to try and convince the team against their plans. This film loses much of what made the first so special, namely the interesting and engaging characters and the sneaking horror of the dinosaurs. The dinosaur threat in The Lost World is overused to the point where it’s, well, boring. Not to mention all the talking. There’s an attempt to deepen Malcolm’s character, but frankly being a parent, absent or not, doesn’t really suit him after he was depicted as something of a playboy in the first film. It tries to be more thematic in general but it doesn’t really work. The absence of Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler is very apparent, too, as they were what gave the first film its credibility, particularly when it came to exposition.

Jurassic Park III (2001)
Director: Joe Johnston
3/5

Just when you think people couldn’t get any stupider… they do. Dr. Grant (Neill) returns to unknowingly assist a divorced couple to find their son who has gone missing on Isla Sorna after a parasailing incident in exchange for funding of his Velociraptor research. The good thing about this instalment is it takes things back to basics: people who don’t necessarily want to be on the island surviving the dinosaurs. It’s got a lot more action than The Lost World, far more interesting characters, and has that slight credibility thanks to Alan being back and an appearance from Ellie (Dern). It injects some of that goosebump-inducing Williams score and does a good job of keeping us on our toes as the characters try to find what they came for and leave quick smart, as well as tying things up enough for us to not expect any further sequels (even though the ending is rather abrupt). But, as we know, people aren’t that smart…

Jurassic World (2015)
Director: Colin Trevorrow
3/5

In this reboot of sorts, Jurassic World, aka How to Train Your Dinosaur, sees some more geniuses repeat history by cloning and breeding dinosaurs for a new park on Isla Nubar, a park that has been successfully running for a number of years. That is, until the park’s CEO encourages his scientists, led by original Jurassic Park scientist Dr. Wu (BD Wong), to create a new unique dinosaur mixed with the DNA of multiple animals. When their creation, the Indominus Rex, escapes, it’s down to park operations manager Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Velociraptor handler Owen (Chris Pratt) to rescue Claire’s nephews and stop the Indominus before it kills the thousands of people in the park. It’s an admirable remake, even if it is based on man’s stupidity, and follows a similar trajectory to the first film with just as much adventure and threat and strong VFX, including some animatronics for realism, and makes it a little more interesting where the dinosaurs’ intelligence is concerned. Where it is weaker is in the smaller details, such as Claire wearing white and not getting dirty for too long a time and heels that not even the hardiest of woman could ever effectively run in, and the logistics, such as not having more contigencies in place in the event of a dinosaur’s escape. It’s just less easier to believe in than Jurassic Park overall.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Director: J.A. Bayona
4/5

People really can’t just leave well enough alone, not even when nature tries to correct humanity’s mistakes. Three years after Jurassic World, John Hammond’s (Richard Attenborough) old partner in the initial cloning project, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), enlists the help of Jurassic World’s operations manager-turned-dinosaur activist Claire (Howard) to help illegally relocate the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar, now under threat of a volcanic eruption, to a new island. Lockwood’s aide, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), asks Claire to recruit animal behaviourist Owen Grady (Pratt) so they can safely capture Blue, a velociraptor that Owen had built a rapport with when working with the dinosaurs on the island. Upon discovering that not all is what it seems, Claire, Owen and their own rag-tag team of rebels set about saving more than just the dinosaurs from a potentially world-ending fate. This film takes the themes of human responsibility to new heights and finally plucks the dinosaurs from their island habitat and plonks them down amongst human civilisation, lending more fear and danger to the plot. Perhaps its this thematic storytelling, or maybe the direction from the fantastic J.A. Bayona, though most likely both, that makes this is the most solid instalment of the franchise since its beginning.
Read the full Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom review.

Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)
Director: Colin Trevorrow
2.5/5

Another four years later, Claire (Howard) and Owen (Pratt) live in a remote cabin in an attempt to hide and raise Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), a cloned human, in safety, but it’s not long before she is taken by mercernaries and Claire and Owen go after her. All the while, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Dern) is investigating improper use of dinosaur DNA on insects. She is soon reunited with former colleague Dr. Alan Grant (Neill) and they are in turn reunited with Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum) when their investigation leads them to Malcolm’s employer, Biosyn. Eventually, all comes to a head at the Biosyn facility where dinosaurs are indeed being improperly reproduced. In an attempt to throw some legitimacy and fan service into the sequel trilogy, Trevorrow opted to bring back Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum (not to mention the amount of babble that comes out of Dr. Malcolm’s mouth to try to validate the situation), and judging by the film’s box office takings ($1.004 billion against a $265 million budget), it did indeed pay off financially, but not critically. Indeed, this film had a lot of potential but it was squandered on a boring plot and an anti-climactic resolution, and although it was exciting to see the return of the original three, it was not executed as well as it should have been.

Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)
Director: Gareth Edwards

Five years post-Dominion and once again we’re back on an island previously used by InGen for dinosaur experiments, only this time it looks like we’re going more horror-heavy with mutated creatures that have been lurking there for, I guess, decades. Moving away from previous casts, we have a new set that includes Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey, though in a similar set-up to the original trio of Neil, Dern and Goldblum. There’s little doubt this one will make a killing at the box office, but whether or not it will be a welcomed entry in to the franchise remains to be seen.
Read the full Jurassic World: Rebirth review.

As wide-eyed and bushy-tailed as this franchise began, there’s only so much that can be done when repeating the same themes and pushing the obvious conundrum that humans are inherently and extraordinarily stupid, and at this point, I’m exhausted by it, like, Dr. Malcolm levels of exhausted (‘Unforeseen consequences occur and every time, every single time, we all act surprised…‘). There’s not really been any new solid angles or characters worth investing in. The dinosaurs have been stretched to their most interesting evolutionary limits (in theory) and it’s unclear what more could be done to keep audiences invested. Yet, with each film taking an extraordinary amount of money, there was no way they were going retire this franchise yet. I’m intrigued, I will admit, but my expectations are not high for Rebirth. But, clearly, life money always finds a way.