I love the Jurassic Park films. If I had to choose between either Star Wars, and Jurassic Park; I would choose Jurassic Park! OK, it is now well known that I no longer like Star Wars (Force Awakens ruined everything!), but if you asked me back when I did like Star Wars, I would probabaly still have said Jurassic Park.
Jurassic Park started out in 1990, when the book of the same name by Michael Crichton was published. The book focussed on the disastrous attempt made by modern geneticists to create a theme park filled with gentically recreated Dinosaurs. In the same year, Universal Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment; bought the movie rights for the book. Directed by Steven Spielberg, and released in 1993, the film featured ground breaking new computer generated imagery, to bring it’s extinct species to life, and was a big hit at the cinema. The success of this film, kickstarted a movie franchise, with five sequels, and a sixth due for release next year.
Over it’s six film series, the series has changed in direction quite frequently, some cases good, some times, questionable. The first film likes to talk/make suggestions about the dangers of genetic tampering. It was a very thinky science fiction movie, but as the series progressed, it rather quickly turned into a series of films about people simply running away from dinosaurs, it was a bit bland/generic in it’s approach.
Many years later, the series returned. Not with a reboot, but a modern continuation, whilst also trying to go back to what the made the original so iconic. This new series, titled the Jurassic World Trilogy after the first film in the series, was again a big success at the cinema, but it too started to go down some questionable routes. Not neceassarilly bad, but still very head scratching.
Despite some niggling little issues in it’s history, it still doesn’t deter fans old and new from returning to that incredible world, to re-live it over and over again. In many ways, either love them, or hate them, Dinosaurs have never looked any better on screen, than in these films.
For me personally, I really like these films (as stated at the start of the post, aged far better than Star Wars). So, I thought I would post my Top 5 Films. Saying that though, it’s not a hard process to rank them, they pretty much rank themselves no bother. I did wonder briefly about making it a Top 6 to include Jurassic Park III, and then Top 7 to include Battle at Big Rock; but then thought that would be a real kick in the teeth for Jurassic Park III. So I’m just going to keep it to a Top 5 for now. Could do a longer one in the future perhaps, once the next rilogy (?) concludes. Anyway, enough waffling; here are My Top 5 Jurassic Park Films; Enjoy!
5. Jurassic World Dominion – Four Years after the events of Fallen Kingdom, and Dinosaurs are now no-longer contained on a far away island, but are now on the mainland. Meanwhile, a new breed of insects is causing havoc across the globe!
Jurassic World Dominion is a very weird one, it’s quite possibly the weirdest one in the bunch, and that’s saying something, asbout a film series involving cloned dinosaurs. Basically, they wanted to conclude this chapter with a bang, but chose to do that rather sedately. They tried to be clever, by suggesting that Dinosaurs on mainland might not be soo bad, given other predators rarely seen by humans. But this is a film, and in hindsight, want audiences would have probably preferred, was something more like Rampage! But we didn’t get Rampage, instead we got a concluding chapter, featuring enough content for a further sequel, and even a spin-off. Seriously: that insect thing could have been an entire film unto itself!
4. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – Some years after the events of Jurassic World, the dormant volcano on Isla Nublar has suddenly become active, and there are some who wish to rescue the Dinosaurs trapped on the island. But some have ulterior motives as to why!
Fallen Kingdom is again a bit odd, but it did have the most to lose in a way. Following on from the hot success that was Jurassic World, was going to be difficult, and the film did lose a little direction, given that World’s director Colin Trevorrow, decided not to jump back in, as he thought his story would benefit from a horror director, in J.A. Bayona. But as a result, it’s like watching two seperate films, as the first half is nothing like the second half. The second half though is an interesting idea, and finally takes hold of an idea presented at the very end of Jurassic Park II. It also has it’s moments too, although the big one about Maisie does fall a little flat, as it tries to hurridly re-continue the action. And then there’s that truly heart-breaking scene with the Brachiosaurus…!
3. The Lost World: Jurassic Park – Several years has passed since the incident at Isla Nublar, but the world is largely unaware about the resurrection of the dinosaurs. But some businessmen sense a way to make some quick cash, and decide to go on a little camping trip!
When The Lost World came out, I loved it more than the first, and did for quite some time. Maybe it was because I was young, and liked that it had more dinosaurs in it. Or maybe it was because Pete Postlethwaite was a terrific actor, and played a fantastic character. Many years later though, it has slipped down the table, but not far. Yes, it’s the first tricky sequel, but because it was made so well, it’s hard to deny it. It’s a really fun, enjoyable movie, featuring a terrific cast, and an easy to understand story, all culminating in a scene where a Tyrannosaurus smashes through San Diego. And as the years go by, there’s more to discover, that has continued to enrich it, especially if you watch the deleted scene featuring the InGen board of directors!
2. Jurassic World – Many years have passed since the events of the first three films. But now a fully functioning, and operating theme park of Dinosaurs has been constructed, and everything seems to be going OK, until they decide to create their own dinosaur!
Kickstarting the Jurassic World series, with a big bang, whilst also, referencing some key aspects that made the first film. Yes, it’s back to genetic tampering, rather than just running away from a dinosaur. The film does eventually lead down that route, but not before setting up it’s premise and location. So, we get to see a whole new range of dinosaurs and exhibits, which makes the scene somehow even more chaotic than what came before it. And this is all down to someone deciding that it would be ‘cool’ to make a custom new dinosaur. This then all leads to something barely seen in the series to this point, a climactic showdown between several large reptiles. It is rather surprising, that it took Jurassic Park soo long, to do something that Godzilla has been doing for decades (“Let Them Fight”)!
1. Jurassic Park – A couple of archeologists, and a mathematician, are ivited to spend the weekend, visiting a new theme park, which features living dinosaurs, a species long thought extinct. Things seem to be going ok, until an I.T. Specialist throws a wrench into the situation!
It has been over 30 years since this film was originally released, and it’s still one of the greatest films ever made. In the current state of things, there’s no film in the series, that comes close to trumping this entry. It’s a film which discusses the impact of the illusion of control, and what could happen if you mess with the laws of nature. But at the same time, it’s also a good enjoyable family movie, featuring hair raising action, as well as moments of sheer wonder, as well as heart-wrenching points of drama. It could be argued that it’s the CGI that makes this film; but perhaps that’s just what markets this film, gets people in their seats, to wonder at the visual spectacle. Because what could also be argued, is that it’s virtually everything else, that truly makes this film; a legend of cinema!
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