Every Jurassic Park Movie, Ranked

Like the iconic dinosaurs that populate the series, Jurassic Park is a series characterized by its continuous growth and evolution over the past 30 years.

A sci-fi franchise 65 million years in the making, Jurassic Park (also known by its rebooted title of Jurassic World) serves as one of the most beloved film series the medium has ever seen. Pioneering experimental new filmmaking techniques related to CGI, Jurassic Park also resurrected prehistoric creatures audiences had only seen fossils of in the decades prior, igniting viewers’ larger obsession with dinosaurs since the first film debuted in theaters back in 1993.

With a seventh installment, Jurassic World Rebirth, slated for release later this summer, audiences might be wondering which Jurassic Park films might be worth rewatching in anticipation of the series’ latest entry. From the earliest Jurassic Park films up to the series’ most recent continuations, here is a definitive guide to every Jurassic Park film, ranked in order from worst to best.

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

The final act of the original Jurassic World trilogy, Jurassic World Dominion completes the series’ devolution from an exciting reboot into a schlocky, unwieldy mess. Despite prominent appearances from returning cast members like Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill, Dominion’s mediocre script and predictable narrative ends the series with a soft simmer than a resonating bang.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

If Jurassic World showed the potential for Jurassic Park-related stories 14 years after Jurassic Park III, Fallen Kingdom quickly cast doubt on those initially promising expectations. Like The Lost World before it, Fallen Kingdom simply lacked a strong enough storyline to capitalize on the success of Jurassic World, right down to a similarly hamfisted portrayal of dinosaurs being moved off-island to more ordinary human-populated settings. While the film’s terrifying Indoraptor made for a worthy successor to JW’s Indominus Rex, Fallen Kingdom’s high-concept plot is likely to leave viewers wanting more bang for their buck. 

Jurassic Park III (2001)

Just as Fallen Kingdom and Dominion seemed a far cry from Jurassic World’s slightly higher quality, audiences expressed their bitter disappointment with the release of 2001’s Jurassic Park III. Possessing a thin plot and even thinner characters, Jurassic Park III continued the series’ rapid critical descent from the original Jurassic Park. In spite of its obvious weaknesses, however, Jurassic Park III does indeed deserve attention for its darker tone, appearing as a grittier survival epic with immersive thrills and even more dangerous dinosaurs (ravenous Pteranodons, vengeful Raptors, and one extraordinarily ornery Spinosaurus).

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

One of the very few sequels Steven Spielberg personally returned to direct, The Lost World: Jurassic Park finds the series turning its attention to Isla Sorna: InGen’s mysterious “Site B” that manufactured Jurassic Park’s original dinosaur inhabitants. With Jeff Goldblum returning to his role as the fan-favorite Ian Malcolm, The Lost World forms a fittingly action-packed continuation of the Jurassic Park universe. Though nowhere near the level of the original, the finished film’s larger cast, expansive scope, and increasingly suspenseful atmosphere gives way to a first-rate blockbuster the whole family will enjoy seeing.

Jurassic World (2015)

With the middling critical reception of 2001’s Jurassic Park III, the Jurassic franchise went on a prolonged hiatus for the remainder of the 2000s well into the 2010s. Just when it seemed the series was as extinct as its prehistoric creatures, the franchise returned in grand fashion with 2015’s Jurassic World. Recapturing the imaginative heart and soul of the original, Jurassic World introduces untold new threats in its central plot, focusing on humanity’s continued exploitation of nature for the sake of profit and entertainment. Bolstered by an attention-grabbing cast that includes Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Nick Robinson, and Irrfan Khan, Jurassic World is the perfect summer popcorn flick, rising far above the lows of every other Jurassic sequel before or since. 

Jurassic Park (1993)

It says a lot that fans continue to single out Jurassic Park as one of the best movies ever directed by Steven Spielberg, even when compared to his previous work on Jaws, Close Encounters, Indiana Jones, or Schindler’s List. Among the most influential films of the 1990s, Jurassic Park specifically showed the creative possibilities that lay in CGI technology, as evidenced by the computer-generated portrayals of its most menacing dino antagonists. At the end of the day, though, the area Jurassic Park truly excels lies within its weighty exploration of humanity’s relationship to the natural world, including just how impossible it is to control nature for our own ends and means.