Alright this is gonna be long because I feel very strongly about this.
For reference, I hold a degree in both Biology (Genetics major) and Earth Science (Palaeontology major) and am currently completing honours in Palaeontology. Yes, I based my entire life (and career) off the major scientific themes of Jurassic Park. I have read both books multiple times, seen every movie multiple times, and watch the Original Jurassic Park at least 3x a year.
My ranking is:
1. Jurassic Park
2. The Lost World
3. Jurassic World
4. Jurassic Park III
5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Jurassic Park is, and always will be, the ultimate and best movie of the series. It's completely true to Crichton's themes of man believing he wields power over nature, the hubris of man, and the raw power of nature itself, in the form of terrifying Dinosaurs. Yes, some of the Dinosaur reconstructions are (
now) inaccurate, but they were extremely accurate for their time and still hold very well today. The combination of animatronics and CGI creates living breathing dinosaurs that the World series cannot hope to hold a candle to.
The
Dilophosaurus frill is a clever take on the dinosaur. It's probably inaccurate, but fun for the movie. Doesn't bother me too much.
Velociraptor is
Deinonychus. When Crichton wrote his book, he did extensive scientific research. One major source was Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A complete illustrated guide by Gregory Paul:
https://www.amazon.com/Predatory-Dinosaurs-World-Complete-Illustrated/dp/0671619462
Paul proposed that
Velociraptor and
Deinonychus were synonymous, and that they represented a single species:
Velociraptor. We now know this is incorrect, but it was the science of the time. Thus,
Velociraptor in Jurassic Park is accurate for the Universe's science, and should not be altered or questioned.
Velociraptor in Jurassic Park is also the ultimate predator: Tenacious, cunning, agile and brutal. It represents the very fear of reptiles (I know it's not a reptile) that is a core theme of the book. We just don't understand them.
I've said this a million times: Jurassic Park is a movie for Geneticists above Palaeontologists. It is inaccurate, but was accurate for the time, and the continuity of the Universe should be left alone.
The Lost World is fun and entertaining. Seeing the
Tyrannosaurus mating pair and the savage raptors (wish they explored the disease from the book more) follow on from what made JP great. I honestly don't hate the San Diego scene that much; yeah, it makes it a monster movie, but it follows on that Dinosaurs and man cannot coexist. Also, best theme. And I really like Roland Tembo, he's such a cool character.
Jurassic World is an interesting take on what the park could have been, and is a fun movie. I have some major issues with it.
The reasoning for creating
Indominus rex: 'kids are bored of dinosaurs'. Honestly, no. I still go to the zoo and get excited every time I see a Gorilla. How in the hell would you think people would be sick of dinosaurs. I saw a recent post estimating a 3 day pass at JW would be ~$1050 American, add on travel costs and accomodation and people would maybe go to JW once or twice (middle class). Nah, I don't buy it.
Let's draw on my continuity statements in JP. Dr. Wu states 'we made them to be entertaining, not accurate'. No. Stop. Shut up. This line kills the movie (and JW series) for me. The dinosaurs
aren't accurate. The dinosaurs
are accurate to the science of 1993 and the Jurassic Park Universe continuity. This completely disregards the first trilogy and its living, breathing dinosaurs. Dr. Grant never comments on inaccuracies, he takes in the wonder of living, breathing dinosaurs.
They do move in herds. I absolutely hate this garbage to pander to the scientific community. Jurassic Park was never going to be completely scientifically accurate, it's a movie series. Keep the continuity for the fans, not the ever changing science, as you'll never keep up. Prime example is
Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park 3. We now see it as quadrupedal and semi-aquatic, most likely fish-eating. In 2003, he was a bipedal super-predator. As it should remain in the JP universe.
Oh, and I hate so much how they turned the raptors, the scariest thing in Jurassic Park, into
pet dogs.
Jurassic Park III is hard to watch. I love that they brought back Alan, but I hate what they did to he and Ellie's relationship. The entire growth arc of Alan accepting children and being with Ellie in JP is thrown out the F---ing window for some 'ooooh, you didn't see that coming'. I hate this so much.
All the cringey one-liners '
no, sounds bigger'
. Ugh, its so hard to watch. I wished they explored Alan's PTSD more than just the '
Alan!' raptor scene, could have been a very interesting story.
And again, for 'shock value', let's let this new dinosaur kill off the icon of Jurassic Park so we can push Jack Horner's '
T-rex is a scavenger' agenda. Read Kane
et al.(2016): adult T-rex couldn't scavenge enough to offset energy to move its weight.
https://research-repository.st-andr...erpodDinosaurs_FinalPubVersion.pdf?sequence=1
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is just painful. Why do we keep needing hybrids! Dinosaurs are already awesome on their own.
Why the hell would Hammond build his mutli-million dollar one-of-a-kind park on an island with a f--ing
VOLCANO on it. What was the inevitability? This just completely ruins the continuity of the original series, again.
Blue jumping through the glass after smelling gas like a scene from Mission Impossible? Give me a break.
T-rex only shows up to 'kill' the big bad suit who I don't even remember the name of. Again, ruining continuity by giving Hammond a partner and a cloned child; its a dinosaur movie, come on. FK is just a transformers movie with dinosaurs instead of robots.
I'm interested to see where Dominion goes with the series and man interacting with Dinosaurs, but the recent statement of '
Indiana Jones mixed with James Bond + dinosaurs' does not keep me hopeful. Jurassic Park has its own style, use it to your advantage. We don't need a summer action flick, we want suspense and terror that the first movie brought!
/rant
This is about 30% of how I really feel about the JP universe, because I didn't want this to be a giant post (and I'm procrastinating my thesis at the minute). Please feel free to message me if you want to discuss more.
(how come up with an idea like that, and who okays it). Once they return to the mainland, the movie isn't as intriguing, but it is still decent.