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And the Best 'Jurassic Park' Movie Is...

I will rank the current five 'Jurassic Park' movies from worst to best!

By Danielle MurrayPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
Top Story - November 2018
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I'm not the first person to do a list like this and I'm probably not going to be the last but today I re-watched The Lost World: Jurassic Park for the first time in around 15 years and I've now seen all the Jurassic Park movies in 2018 so it felt appropriate to make my own list ranking them from worst to best.

Be warned, this post will contain some kinds of spoilers, but that being said, here's how I would rank the Jurassic Park movies!

At the bottom of the list has to be Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It just doesn't stand up quite as well as the others. That's not to say it's an entire flop because it's not—in fact, in a lot of ways, it's very entertaining. However, the action was a little lackluster and there were some choices with the sound editing that I wasn't really there for.

Although I still consider this movie a favourite and I would recommend it to people, it felt more like a filler movie to the pass the time between the first Jurassic World and a future installment. That being said, I'm still hyped about the final movie in this trilogy, and I know I'm going to have a great time watching it.

Honestly, I was debating for a long time if this should be fifth or fourth on the list. It definitely wasn't as bad as I remember it being, but like Fallen Kingdom, this movie is a little lackluster in places. It manages to feel slightly too long, but also not enough was explored—and not to mention, how weird the third act was. It was like the makers of The Lost World got bored before the end and just did the bare minimum to get it finished.

It's not all bad though. Sure, the dialogue and certain scenes are cheesy as hell, but that also makes them very entertaining to watch. Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Moore were an absolute delight, and although I loved the former in the first movie, it was awesome to see more of him in this installment.

Something I adore about this movie is how it blends the old trilogy with this new one. It's set on the same island as the first movie, we see remnants from the events of the first movie, and a couple of familiar faces pop up again. This is my favourite type of reboot because it does its own thing while still showing homage and reconnecting with prior movies in order to breathe new life back into a franchise.

The characters are a delight, the use of creating a new dinosaur was actually interesting while also keeping the classics that everyone loves, and the plot was entertaining and decently paced. It was also a fun little fact that the same amount of time passed in canon as it did in real life.

I almost put this movie in first place, but objectively speaking, it's not quite that good. It's pretty darn close though! Jurassic Park III was the only one of the original trilogy that I owned on DVD, and so I watched it all the time, to the point that I'm surprised it still works.

There's just something so entertaining about the third movie. The plot is great, the pacing is pretty good, and the characters are varied and a joy to watch (with the return of a couple of familiar faces!). I think the scenes in the birdcage are some of the most intense of the entire franchise and that one bit with the giant pterodactyl standing on the bridge still creeps me out a little.

If you've been paying attention you know which movie has first place, and the reason that movie and this one were almost tied for that top spot is because they feel incredibly different to all the others. This one kept me on my toes the entire time, and there are a lot of moments that we don't see in any of the other movies (like the aforementioned bird cage scenes) and those sorts of scenes sometimes put it ahead of the first movie, but overall, it does take second place.

Is this really a surprise? In my heart, this shares first place with Jurassic Park III, but like I said, this one is objectively better. It mixes the plot very well with introducing how the world works and the characters we spend all of our time with. It's well-structured and the pacing is easy to follow, but never allows for the story to drag.

Not to mention the number of iconic scenes and quotes this movie is filled with. You feel like you're learning a thing or two while watching it without really caring if it's accurate and without getting bored. It's every dinosaur lovers dream, but it's also entertaining for people who might not have cared so much prior to putting Jurassic Park on.

It's got to the point where I'm genuinely shocked when I find someone who doesn't like this movie. It's entertaining, intense in all the right places, a good amount of humour, a decent amount of dinosaurs (but let's face it, we're not going to complain if we got more), characters who are fun to watch and that you (sometimes) genuinely want to root for, a believable premise (I mean, what rich person isn't going to invest in a dinosaur theme park?), and it all manages to age incredibly well.

It's basically got what the others have but tenfold and then some.

And that's the 'Jurassic Park' movies ranked from worst to best. I do definitely like all of them, but some really outshine the others. Below, just for a little fun, is the star rating I personally gave each movie at the time of writing this article!

  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom— 3.5 / 5
  • The Lost World: Jurassic Park — 3.5 / 5
  • Jurassic World — 4 / 5
  • Jurassic Park III — 5 / 5
  • Jurassic Park — 5 / 5
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About the Creator

Danielle Murray

she/her • uk — I mostly write about TV shows and movies but I occasionally write about other things too — blogtwitter instagram medium

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