Every 'Jurassic' movie ranked (including 'Jurassic World Rebirth')

USA Today

3 days ago

Humans may do all the talking in the "Jurassic Park" and "Jurassic World" movies but they know who the main character is: that Tyrannosaurus rex.
Ever since John Williams' epic theme hit and extinct creatures walked again on a big screen in Steven Spielberg's original 1993 movie, we've enjoyed several films with dinos wrecking things, eating people and eating things while trying to wreck people. The latest is "Jurassic World Rebirth" (in theaters now), with Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali joining the franchise.
No, it wasn't a great idea to genetically manufacture raptors, pterodactyls and all sorts of monstrous critters for a theme park, but the "Jurassic" flicks have brought in some serious blockbuster dough over the years. And so what if the quality of the movies hasn't exactly been consistently stellar? As long as the dinos are top notch, that's what fills theater seats.
Now hold on to your butts: In honor of "Rebirth," we're ranking all the "Jurassic" flicks from worst to best. (And if you need to catch up, the previous six installments are streaming on Peacock.)
7. 'Jurassic Park III' (2001)
OG "Jurassic Park" star Sam Neill features in this miss of a threequel, the first franchise outing to not be directed by Spielberg. And it's definitely missing the same magic. Neill's paleontologist Alan Grant, who's trying to drum up cash for his Velociraptor research, is recruited to find a wealthy couple's son who went missing while parasailing over a dino-infested island, and they all run into a pesky Spinosaurus.
6. 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' (2018)
A volcano on Isla Nubar is about to erupt and wipe the dinos out again, leading Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) to help their relocation. There's a nefarious conspiracy at play, however, and what was a disaster movie turns into a haunted-house flick where our heroes spend much of the back half of the messy narrative trapped in a mansion with a gene-spliced monstrosity called an Indoraptor.
5. 'Jurassic World Rebirth' (2025)
When dino DNA is discovered to be crucial in a miracle cure for heart disease, a team led by a cover operative (Scarlett Johansson) and a paleontologist (Jonathan Bailey) is sent to an abandoned island research facility to snag genetic matter from three species. The mission ends up being a load of trouble, with some human drama and betrayal plus a rampaging debut for the mutated and monstrous Distortus rex.
4. 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997)
Even not-so-great Spielberg is better than most everything else. The legendary director's "Park" sequel is a genetic clone of the first movie, with a returning Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and his paleontologist girlfriend (Julianne Moore) on board to send a new bunch of dinos to a Jurassic Park in San Diego. A baby T. rex and its parents on the loose, plus some Velociraptors, equals some serious SoCal property damage.
3. 'Jurassic World' (2015)
A new trilogy begins with a rebooted Jurassic theme park that's lacking some spark, so they bring in an Indominus rex, a genetically modified hybrid "bigger, better and louder" than the T. rex. Operations manager Claire is in charge of this doomed experiment, behavioral expert Owen (who has an A-team of Velociraptors) knows it's a bad idea, and 20,000 park visitors are put in harm's way courtesy of a sweet multi-species dino battle royale.
2. 'Jurassic World Dominion' (2022)
This trilogy closer gets a bad rap, because it's got plenty of nifty dino-filled action sequences and a heaping of nostalgia, teaming the "Park" heroes with the "World" crew. Earth has to face cloned critters living among humans, yet there's plenty of crowd-pleasing familiarity, from another shady tech company and lots of creatures (27 species, guys!) to an epic throwdown between our pal, the T. rex, and the formidable Gigantosaurus.
1. 'Jurassic Park' (1993)
The best of them all, and it isn't even particularly close. In Spielberg's capable hands, dinos rule in a grand spectacle ultimately about not messing around with Mother Nature. Based on the Michael Crichton novel, the film that started it all tackles corporate greed and mankind's god complex with these stunning genetically cloned reptiles, and Spielberg takes us on a terrifying, popcorn-chomping journey featuring the kind of breathtaking species that only existed in kids' imaginations.