Okay, We Know the First ‘Jurassic Park’ Is the Best One, but What About the Rest?

Soon, the last entry in Jurassic Park’s second movie trilogy will be out in theaters. As fans get ready for Jurassic World: Dominion, let’s take a look at the film series and discuss which ones are the best and which ones are somewhere in a large pile of … you know where I’m going with this.

Simply the best: Jurassic Park

I don’t think anyone’s gonna argue with me on this one. It’s amazing that this film still feels as wondrous as it does all these years later. Even if I know what’s going to happen at every turn, Jurassic Park still manages to excite and even surprise me whenever I decide to watch it again. Like. I know the park is a terrible idea, but as soon as that music starts up I actually want to go inside and get up close and personal with dinosaurs. As our Rachel Leishman said, “It mastered the art of fear, adventure, and the horrors of men having too much power in a beautifully exciting way.”

Honestly, I waffled between Jurassic World and Lost World: Jurassic Park

When it comes to my next favorite Jurassic Park movie, I’m torn between the first entry in the second trilogy (Jurassic World) and the sequel to the original (Lost World: Jurassic Park). While neither movie captures the magic of the first film, they both have things I like in a morbid sort of “would these people really keep trying after what happened before” kind of way. The answer is yes. They would.

I think I have to give the second spot to Lost World because on top of everyone thinking returning to a dinosaur island is, somehow, a good idea, you’ve got Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm being like, “I TOLD YOU SO,” in the background. The stakes are more personal with this film since John Hammond pulled Malcolm’s girlfriend into it. That being said. Girl. WHY would you wanna go there AT ALL when you know what Malcolm’s been through? WHY WOULD THE LITTLE BLACK GIRL WANT TO GO WE NEVER SURVIVE THESE SITUATIONS!

Along with that comes some cool action set pieces. The scene of everyone running through the high grass is one of my favorites, and I remember being pretty shocked when the dinosaur made it to the big city and ATE THE PUPPY.

Let’s talk about Jurassic World

While Lost World only has a handful of dingbats, Jurassic World has an entire rebuilt theme park full of folks who looked at what happened in the past and said, “We could capitalize off this,” instead of leaving well enough alone. Like. There are corporate sponsors now. And the original park is hailed as a nostalgic dream instead of the horrific event that it actually was. They have the overconfident, boneheaded idea that it won’t happen to their Jurassic Park. It’s … exactly how this would happen in real life. Even the plot thread where someone gets the brilliant idea (not brilliant at all) to weaponize the dinosaurs sounds legit. And, sadly, the idea that dinosaurs aren’t cool enough so they have to try and make them more badass also sounds like real-life corporate meddling. Dinosaurs are already cool on their own, you don’t need to tamper with them!

That being said, the characters aren’t as memorable as the original cast. That’s not to say they’re bad, I’m just not as attached. For the most part, I watch this new film specifically for the action set pieces like the T-Rex coming out of retirement, whereas I watch the original for, well, everything.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was a movie that happened

I honestly don’t remember much of this film. It’s … here, I guess? Like, I have to look up the plot on Wikipedia to be able to talk about it because nothing really stood out to me besides “Ian Malcolm speaking the truth in court” and the very end where we now have dinosaurs just … on the loose now, I guess. I know that dinosaurs are being auctioned off? And now we’re cloning people, too? It’s… a lot, but the kind of “a lot” that didn’t really do much for me besides set up a potentially intriguing premise for the next movie.

A dinosaur on a plane nightmare: Jurassic Park III

This one is just … not great. It’s … I don’t have much to say about it. The only thing that ever comes to mind with this movie is Alan’s nightmare on the plane. Like Fallen Kingdom, this is one I have to look up and read the plot synopsis for because I just don’t remember anything that happened, but while we still have a chance to end the new trilogy with something better with Dominion, Jurassic Park III is how the original trilogy ends. It’s not exactly the note I wanted the series to end on.

Where will Dominion land?

There’s no telling where the upcoming Dominion will end up as far as ranking Jurassic Park movies. Despite being kinda “meh” about Fallen Kingdom and concerned that this trilogy could end the way the previous trilogy did, the return of the original cast has me excited. This movie could, potentially, be the perfect sendoff for the franchise by having the characters who brought us into the park team up with the newcomers. Also? Seeing humans coexisting with dinosaurs is interesting, especially since humans truly made the bed that they’re currently lying in.

Is it possible that we can have something that captures the magic of the original? There’s no way to know, but I do, at least, think that this last film will be fun.

(image: Universal Pictures)

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