The dinosaurs are loose again, because Jurassic World Rebirth is now arriving in theaters. The seventh entry in the long-running dino franchise comes to us from Godzilla and Rogue One director Gareth Edwards, whose trademark sense of scale and spectacle makes him a prime choice for this series. With the first Jurassic World trilogy complete, Rebirth is set to usher in a “new era” of Jurassic.
But today, we want to look back on the series’ history and rank all six previous films from worst to best. This list was based on a vote from IGN’s Jurassic experts, so if you have an issue with it, take it up with the democratic process. Let’s get into it.
6. Jurassic World Dominion
The most recent Jurassic film also has the ignominious honor of being rated the worst. There was a lot of potential for Dominion after the ending of Fallen Kingdom, which teased the human world being invaded by dinosaurs. Instead, Dominion squanders that setup and falls prey to many legacy sequel traps, trying to trade in nostalgia and fan service over storytelling. It also invokes more of the techno-thriller aspects of Michael Crichton’s original novel (good idea) with a subplot about genetically-engineered evil locusts (bad idea). It’s not a complete wash; the chase scene in Malta is fun and there is a surface-level pleasure in seeing the original Jurassic trio of Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler and Ian Malcolm together in the same room again, but overall, it’s just not a great movie. Shoutout to Bryce Dallas Howard for wearing some great plaid shirts, though!
5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Fallen Kingdom is undoubtedly the most divisive entry in the series, with some of our team voting it among the best and others voting it the absolute worst. It evened out to the fifth spot, yet there’s still a lot to recommend here. The dinosaur haunted house gives the back half of the film a delightful Gothic sensibility, the volcano set piece is pretty good, and it at least tries to introduce some new ideas into what had become a stale series premise-wise. That said, the new characters are mostly one-dimensional, the dinosaur auction feels weird given how little money the dinosaurs cost and there not being much elaboration on what the bidders want them for, and many viewers simply couldn’t get behind Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) setting the dinosaurs free at the end, which is perfectly understandable. It’s a weird entry that seems to be a firmly “love it or hate it” affair.
4. Jurassic Park III
The least successful Jurassic film (at the box office, anyway) comes in fourth place, and it’s easy to see why. It’s not a terrible film or anything, but it’s decidedly unambitious, settling for “yet another go around” instead of anything new. Alan Grant and a bunch of new characters are given an excuse to go to the dinosaur island, and they get chased around the dinosaur island until they escape. The end. Still, the movie did include some solid set pieces like the Spinosaurus attack on the river and the pteranodon aviary sequence, both of which were inspired by scenes from the original Crichton novel that never made it into the first film. Plus, Joe Johnston turns in solid journeyman direction and moves things along at a brisk pace. That said, the series definitely needed a fresher take after this one.
3. Jurassic World
That fresher take arrived in Jurassic World, which had perhaps one of the best one-sentence setups of the 2010s: “The park is open.” After all of John Hammond’s failures, someone else took up the mantle and successfully created a Jurassic Park, only for that one to also come crumbling down because of a deep-rooted cynicism that had festered inside of the park’s managers. The Indominus Rex, manufactured to give the park a promotional boost it didn’t need, makes for a great monster that tears out of its cage, setting up a Rube Goldberg plot of toppling dominos that blows up the rest of the park in spectacular fashion. From trained velociraptors hunting alongside motorcycles, to the pteranodons laying siege to the park’s main strip, to the Indominus battling the classic T-Rex in the finale, Jurassic World was full of maximalist blockbuster action and successfully relaunched the franchise.
2. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The series’ first sequel is also the only one to be helmed by original director Steven Spielberg, who turns in one of the weirdest movies in his filmography. It has some excellent set pieces and plenty of dinosaurs, as well as the welcome return of Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm, Julianne Moore as new lead Sarah Harding, and the late, great Pete Postlethwaite as big-game hunter Roland Tembo. Despite all this,The Lost World never quite matches the original for sheer inventiveness or emotional resonance. This likely comes down to Spielberg not having the same level of enthusiasm as he did for the previous film, with the studio pressuring both him and Crichton to deliver a sequel to what was at the time the biggest box-office hit in history. Still, it can make for quality viewing, especially when it ends on the T-Rex rampaging through San Diego.
1. Jurassic Park
Did you really think it was going to be anything else? Jurassic Park was unanimously voted as the best film in the series by IGN’s team, and we doubt almost anyone will argue with us. Jurassic Park wasn’t just an excellent summer blockbuster and franchise starter; it was a brilliant science-fiction adventure film that balanced what was at the time cutting-edge visual technology, great character writing and performances, a classic John Williams score and a solid emotional core to deliver one of the most widely beloved movies ever made. It would be the crown jewel of nearly any filmmaker’s career, and yet it stands as one among several of Spielberg’s masterpieces. As much as we enjoy the subsequent entries for all their dino action, Jurassic Park remains a step above its sequels, and we suspect it will stay there for a very long time.
How would you rank the Jurassic Park movies? Vote in our poll and let us know in the comments!
Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Twitter.
