Ranking the Jurassic Park / World movies

Universal Orlando Resort
#1

There are threads about Star Wars and Marvel, why not the Jurassic Park franchise?

I’ve just watched the latest Jurassic World movie and I didn’t hate it. It was too long and repetitive, but it was full of Easter Eggs that were really fun to spot.

Interestingly, for both Jurassic Park and Jurassic World my rankings are 1, 3, 2 with 1 >> 3 and 3 > 2.

But ranking all six? That’s trickier.

The original Jurassic Park is clearly top, not least because it is one of my all-time favourite films (judged on number of viewings) and, on one metric (multiple viewings in an actual cinema), my actual all-time favourite film.

Second I would put the first Jurassic World. It was new and fresh, and included ideas from the original novel that didn’t make it into the original film. And I liked the cast.

Then maybe the third JW movie. It starts terribly, but once it gets going, it’s fun — the original cast reprise their roles, and there’s those Easter Eggs.

Which means the third JP movie is next.

Now we scrape the bottom of the barrel: the second JP, followed by the second JW.

So …

JP
JW
JW3
JP3
JP2
JW2

BTW, how many of the Easter Eggs did you spot? I certainly saw more than the websites claiming to list them all.

5 Likes
#2

They are all 100% the same.
Too scary.
Look at the inside of my hands for any/all.

I wish I could watch them.

1 Like
#3

I hate horror films. I don’t like to be scared.

I have no problem at all with Jurassic Park.

2 Likes
#4

Jump scares are terrible when you are highly strung as I

:t_rex::sauropod:

#5

Even when I would be in a patient’s room, if I saw they were watching Jurassic Park - even on a small TV up on the wall with commercials - I would do my thing and hurry out of the room.

#6

If it wasn’t for Jeff Goldblum I would have zero interest in the JP movies.

I could, however, listen to the soundtrack all day long!

I was thinking about watching them through before our trip, but didn’t get around to it. It didn’t matter.

2 Likes
#7

Science fiction is my favourite genre. Who doesn’t love dinosaurs. And space?

Does Harry Potter count as science fiction? I don’t want to say that I like fantasy as a genre. I have zero interest in Lord of the Rings. And Pirates of the Caribbean bored me to tears. But then I loved Game of Thrones, though more as a political thriller, which is another favourite genre.

4 Likes
#8

Yeah, it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

Incidentally, that’s one of the Easter Eggs. Both JP and JW3 have a sequence at the end that is very similar and they play the exact same music over the top of it. I actually saw it coming, having by then understood the games they were playing with the audience.

2 Likes
#9

:scream:

I guess pirates excite me the way dinosaurs excite you :wink::rofl:

2 Likes
#10

Do you like Hitchhiker’s?? :heart:

#11

Yes. Though not the movie with Martin Freeman in it. That was terrible. But the books, radio series and tv series: yes.

#12

:scream::scream:

I LOVE that movie!!!

#13

I would swap JP2 and JW2 in your list, but otherwise I agree with your ranking. JP2 was okay, until they got to the mainland…then it descended into idiocy.

Then again, the volcano in JW2 was a stupid plot device, so that certainly weakened that one quite a bit. But I still give the edge to JW2 over JP2 at the bottom.

1 Like
#14

I finally listened to the books this spring and adored them. But the movies make me sad/mad they are so abbreviated.

1 Like
#15

Incorrect.

1 Like
#16

I’m a smidge too young for those, but I love the books.
Trying to get DD to read them… :crossed_fingers:t2:

#17

I could barely make it through the first book. I really didn’t enjoy it at all. Not my cup of tea. But at least I understand 42. So there’s that.

#18

Have any of you read the original JP book? Maybe I should do that?

1 Like
#19

I’m open to that. I actually need to rewatch JW2.

My primary memory of it is that they break one of my non-negotiable rules. I cannot stand the depiction of cruelty to animals, even dinosaurs. It’s fine to fight a dinosaur if it’s attacking you, but arbitrary cruelty is never acceptable.

1 Like
#20

12 hours? Abbreviated? I love the movies more than the books (mostly as a matter of writing style).