RATING: PG-13

DIRECTED BY: Colin Trevorrow

WRITTEN BY: Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver

CAST: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Vincent D’Onofrio

The most colossal Jurassic Park sequel to date brought a fresh roar to the series and also, in hindsight, turned out to be the most slapdash of them all. It begins with an intriguing premise: Years after the initial Jurassic Park disaster, someone decided to forge ahead and build a dinosaur theme park anyway, and against the odds, it succeeded! For a while, anyway; predictably, the story depicts how it all goes awry again, illustrating that dinosaurs running loose in a fully active theme park is much more catastrophic than during a mere test phase. Yet the film also gets overconfident, introducing Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) as a fusion of Indiana Jones and Hooper from Jaws, stripped of any lovable nerdiness; instead, he’s depicted as an unequivocally cool, manly figure who somehow captivates an indifferent teenage boy (Nick Robinson) too weary to be impressed by dinosaurs. The film radiates an odd male-centric vibe, recasting the original while transforming its female lead Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) into a career-driven character who must learn her lesson (outrageous for not being more involved with her far-off nephews’ lives!) and replacing a brother-sister team with two brothers (the older being particularly unlikable). The movie is quite entertaining thanks to the diverse array of dinosaurs showcased, but it’s tough to overlook how the only genuinely enjoyable character is a Jurassic Park fanboy in the control room, portrayed by Jake Johnson. Though Guardians of the Galaxy suggested Chris Pratt might be a leading man, this film quickly conveyed “not so fast!”

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RATING: PG-13

DIRECTED BY: Colin Trevorrow

WRITTEN BY: Colin Trevorrow, Emily Carmichael, Derek Connolly

CAST: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum

This film may be the least favored of the Jurassic franchise (especially of the newer trilogy), as it falls short in fully leveraging the groundbreaking ending of its predecessor, which set dinosaurs loose upon the entire world, not confined to an island park. On the bright side, it features an intricate chase scene involving dinosaurs and motorcycles through Malta, while some of its other story elements, including enormous locusts, earn credit for invoking a Michael Crichton-esque vibe, despite not being directly based on his work. At its weakest, the movie tries too hard to honor the original, bringing together the original cast with newer characters in a disorganized group. It shines brightest when it embraces its peculiar aspects.

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RATING: PG-13

DIRECTED BY: Joe Johnston

WRITTEN BY: Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

CAST: Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Téa Leoni, Alessandro Nivola

The most negligible of the Jurassic movies is this smaller-scale threequel, part of a whole disappointing summer-2001 slate of movies that were impacted by a then-impending Hollywood writers’ strike (which didn’t actually wind up happening). That’s probably why this movie just kind of stops rather than formulating a genuine ending. But as a fleet-footed 90-minute jungle adventure where Alan Grant gets tricked into leading a rescue mission for some lost kids, it gets the job done. This means introducing new species of dinosaurs to menace the dumb humans — though the T. rex-killing Spinosaurus ultimately isn’t as cool as a flock of Pteranodons — and spending plenty of time with the beloved raptors, who were somewhat sidelined in the first sequel.

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RATING: PG-13

DIRECTED BY: J.A. Bayona

WRITTEN BY: Colin Trevorrow, Derek Connolly

CAST: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Justice Smith, Rafe Spall

The underrated best of the Jurassic World trilogy, Fallen Kingdom flouts the other two movies’ fidelity to the original film by gleefully zig-zagging, from a save-the-dinos premise to a volcano eruption on the site of the Jurassic World theme park to a third act that’s more of a bonkers haunted-house movie than a traditional jungle adventure picture. It’s very silly and strange; it’s also the only one of these three linked Jurassic World movies shot by someone who has real facility with imagery. Director J.A. Bayona isn’t quite Spielberg level, but his use of shadows, smoke, and fire give the film a more painterly touch than anything Colin Trevorrow manages in the entries that bookend it.

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RATING: PG-13

DIRECTED BY: Gareth Edwards

WRITTEN BY: David Koepp

CAST: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend

Compared to the wilder swings of the last two Jurassic World movies, Rebirth is practically traditionalist, resetting the story with new characters and a less outlandish status quo than Dominion. That might sound a bit cynically retro, even conservative-minded, but it’s in service of a sturdily made adventure movie/creature feature, with more immediately likable characters than just about anyone in the last three pictures. Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey all have easy movie-star charm (especially ScarJo, natch) as part of a team hired to retrieve dino DNA from an abandoned research facility where scientists were doing some of their trademark tinkering. The promise of crazy mutant dinos is less foregrounded than you might hope, but Rebirth generates fun set pieces at a regular clip, highlighting Edwards’ playful sense of scale and perspective. It’s sort of an enhanced version of Jurassic Park III, and arguably the most stand-alone movie since the first one.

RATING: PG-13

DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg

WRITTEN BY: David Koepp

CAST: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Vince Vaughn

Look, you can’t beat the king, and Spielberg is the king of working the hell out of a genre exercise when called upon. At the time of its release, The Lost World: Jurassic Park was received almost universally as inferior to the original movie, and while it probably is, there are certain aspects of it that are actually superior, namely the number of people who get eaten by dinosaurs. Now, in Jurassic World, the increased body count feels a little cruel, but in the hands of a master like Spielberg, the increased carnage is so beautifully choreographed that it’s hard not to laugh in delight at the havoc he’s unleashing. “Site B,” the island where dinos have been allowed to run wild, provides ample opportunity for a returning Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to issue pithy one-liners and warnings, as well as, most importantly, dinos to pick off unsuspecting military-style guys. Pete Postlethwaite is also on hand as a droll big-game hunter, and multiple set pieces deserve a spot on the Spielberg highlight reel. This is basically his dinosaur version of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: a little dumber, a lot meaner, and all-around terrific filmmaking.

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RATING: PG-13

DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg

WRITTEN BY: David Koepp

CAST: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough

I mean, you know. Along with Titanic, this was one of the last true played-forever, took-over-a-year-to-hit-VHS cultural-ubiquity blockbusters, and a stone-cold classic to anyone born between the years 1980 and 1990, at minimum. Spielberg has made more incisive creature features, and ones with better characters, but as a pure technical achievement in movie magic, in conjuring the illusion of living dinosaurs using CG and animatronics, it’s hard to beat the original Jurassic Park. Maybe impossible.

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