Tommy Davis    Opinion

Are the Jurassic Park Films Still Good?

In 1990, Michael Crichton wrote a little book called “Jurassic Park”.  The novel took the world by storm and became popular.  Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park is a sharp and engrossing cautionary tale about the perils of unchecked scientific ambition and the commodification of natural life. It was bound to be put on the big screen eventually. And it was then the film rights were given to Steven Spielberg. 

I personally think the film deserves all the praise it gets. The movie is a revolutionary piece of cinema, from the visual effects and ageless CGI to the Timeless Story. The Adventure and Fantasy of Dinosaurs is shown while also showing the horrors of them and what happens when we mess with Life. The film has very tense moments of horror as the dinosaurs go rampant throughout the park. The Visual effects and mix of CGI and Practical effects and animatronics is super impressive especially for the 90s. I honestly think it’s one of the most fun, engaging and greatest movies of all time. I give it a 10/10.

After the first Jurassic Park film did amazingly at the box office, Michael Crichton got to work on the sequel book so that the Jurassic Park film could justify having a sequel.  The film was very messily written and focused more on spectacle than the story making sense. It’s a crazy insane movie that I kind of enjoy. It’s not perfect and it’s obviously sloppily written but it’s very fun to watch. I give it a 7/10.

Talks of Jurassic Park 3 finally came to fruition in 2000. Although there wasn’t a book to base this adventure off of, after the weak critical reception to the second film Michael Chrichton decided to step back from being a part of the jurassic franchise. Jurassic Park 3 and the film suffered due to the lack of a completed script. The script was never really completed and was constantly changed EVEN During Filming.  The film constantly struggles to keep a good and interesting Motivation for Alan Grant to be there in the first place and I think this adventure could’ve been done by anybody really. The new Dinosaur “The Spinosaurus” is a fine enough Antagonist and is really the only breath of fresh air this film has. This film is a terribly written Mess and was a very obvious cash grab from the beginning. Not a good film, 3/10.

Almost 15 years later talks of rebooting the Jurassic Park franchise came up and they got to work right away. The film has many dinosaur attacks and the dinosaurs themselves look amazing considering they are almost all CGI. It’s a bit sad that there is only one practical Dinosaur in the entire film that’s seen on screen but the moment with that practical effect is beautiful so i think its ok. 

The film has many tense moments of genuine fear and horror, something I haven’t felt in this franchise since the first film. Overall this film brings the Jurassic franchise back to glory and I am here for it. Sure the film rehashes a couple plot beats from the first film and relies a lot on nostalgia but the great directing and action choreography brings this film up alot for me. I give it an 8/10.

In 2018, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was released. but It’s only just okay. The film ends with the Antagonist hybrid dinosaur, the indoraptor getting killed and all the dinosaurs escaping to every part of the world. Making earth an ACTUAL Jurassic World. It’s a very interesting but sloppily written movie i give it a 5/10

And of course in June of 2022 The supposed “Franchise Ender” to the Jurassic world franchise “Jurassic World: Dominion” was released. The movie is a nostalgia bait, soulless, legacy sequel. There are too many characters on screen at all times. This film includes the main characters from the first Jurassic Park film while also including another set of boring side characters that serve almost no purpose to the plot. Nobody Dies and there is no tension for the main characters. And instead of using the very cool and interestingly built up premise of Dinosaurs populating the earth again they decide to add…locusts…for some reason. And almost nobody dies in the film. Something I like in every Jurassic film is the Creative dinosaur Kills but this film has barely any of that. A messy Script, a failure of a finale and a Boring Central focus lead to me giving this film a 3/10.

Now there are Talks of a 7th Jurassic Park/World film. We don’t have many details other than its coming out in 2025 and will possibly be rushed. We will have to see what happens. Life finds a way.