Jurassic Park Franchise Ranking

In anticipation of Jurassic World: Dominion, I decided to re-watch all of the Jurassic Park films. The Jurassic Park franchise has always been a fun one for me. Even at their worst, all of the films are still watchable and never boring. Here are my thoughts and ranking of the six Jurassic Park films.

6. Jurassic Park 3

Jurassic Park 3 is definitely the worst of the Jurassic Park films. While the film moves at a nice brisk pace and doesn't overstay its welcome, the story and characters are just not good. The plot is very thin with the characters just moving from one setting to the next without any sort of impact on the plot. The characters are the worst in the franchise. While Alan Grant is good, the rest of the characters and annoying, stupid and useless. Specifically, the wife character does absolutely nothing of use except being loud and annoying. Finally, the movie doesn't even come up with much of an ending and just abruptly ends the film without a natural conclusion. However, There are still Dinosaurs which makes it at least watchable.

Grade: C Score: 5/10

5. The Lost World: Jurassic Park

The Lost World is a significant step up from Jurassic Park 3 but is still by no means a good movie. This movie starts off fairly promising but then starts to decline when InGen comes to the island. The movie doesn't seem to know what story it wants to tell. It goes from researching dinosaurs to dinosaur hunting to dinosaurs on the mainland, none of which really connect to each other. During the middle act, our main characters are essentially forgotten about until the plot needs them again and the third act is just so disconnected from the rest of the film. Overall, this movie has an interesting premise but fails in deciding which direction it wants to go with it.

Grade: C+ Score: 6/10

4. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

This film is definitely more exciting than the two previous ones on this list but is not necessarily better. The film takes on a more horror tone but doesn't really have much of a story to go with it. The story is just a poor choice for a Jurassic Park film. This franchise is based on dinosaurs back to life but this movie decides it wants to tell a story about dinosaurs going extinct again. There are also some issues with the characters with Clare for example doing a complete 180 from how her character was in the previous film. While this movie isn't great, I still enjoy watching and can appreciate that they went for more of a horror tone.

Grade: C+ Score: 6.2/10

3. Jurassic World: Dominion

The final film in the franchise is one of the better films in the franchise. I like that they brought the original cast back to interact with the new characters. The premise is also really interesting with dinosaurs being loose on the mainland. There were also a lot of really fun sequences that made the movie never boring. The main issue, however, is that they took a Jurassic Park movie and made it not about the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are a part of the setting while the main story is about genetic engineering and locusts. Overall, while I still had a lot of fun with this movie, the fact that it isn't about the dinosaurs made it a bit disappointing and keeps it from being in the top 2.

Grade: B- Score: 6.5/10

2. Jurassic World

Coming in 2nd is Jurassic World. This movie is so much fun and exciting. It gives a great premise of a new park actually open to the public. While the plot is a bit ridiculous with it being about a genetically engineered dinosaur getting loose in the park, it still is so much fun to watch. This film is what I call a junk food movie. It isn't high quality but it is very easy to watch and consume and is a lot of fun. The goofy stupid moments such as InGen wanting to use raptors in Army missions, get offset by the really cool moments such as Chris Pratt riding a motorcycle with velociraptors and the T-rex raptor tag team fight.

Grade: B Score: 7/10

1. Jurassic Park

With no contest, Jurassic Park comes in at number one. This movie has a fantastic cast, a great story, practical effects, and an amazing score. Stephen Spielberg was able to create a movie that can shine through its great characters while also delivering on Dinosaur action. The pacing in this movie is just great. Even though the dinosaurs don't get loose until almost an hour into the film, their presence is felt throughout the whole film. There are so many iconic scenes and lines in this film as well as an unforgettable score by John Williams. The dinosaurs also look so good in this film. The effects they used still hold up today. Finally, the characters in this movie are fantastic. Each is perfectly cast and has great chemistry with the other. Put all of that together and you get, not just the best Jurassic Park movie but one of the greatest movies of all time.

Grade: A Score: 9.8/10