Source: Sam Neill stands out in the rain in a scene from the film ‘Jurassic Park’, 1993. (Photo by Universal/Getty Images)
Ranking Every Movie in the ‘Jurassic Park’ Franchise
Few actors are as inseparable from a movie franchise as Sam Neill is from Jurassic Park.
Neill, who died Monday at 78, became one of the most recognizable heroes in blockbuster history as paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant.
With his aviator sunglasses, Panama hat and permanently unimpressed reaction to humanity’s worst decisions, Grant served as the grounded center of a world overrun by prehistoric monsters.
Neill’s performance was an essential part of the magic created by director Steven Spielberg in 1993’s Jurassic Park. Spielberg combined wonder, suspense, groundbreaking visual effects and unforgettable characters to create a movie that changed the modern blockbuster—and made generations of children fall in love with dinosaurs.
The franchise has experienced its share of highs and lows in the decades since, but Neill’s presence always made it feel connected to the movie that started it all.
In honor of the beloved actor and the role that immortalized him, here is my ranking of every movie in the Jurassic Park franchise from worst to best.
7. Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
One of the few movies I’ve seen in theaters that left me feeling genuinely disappointed. Jurassic World Dominion had the opportunity to propel the franchise into the future by giving the original Jurassic World trilogy a satisfying ending, but instead it nearly made the franchise go extinct.
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It’s fan service at best, with the only redeeming moments being the long-awaited reunion of Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Neill onscreen for the first time in nearly 30 years (not even Star Wars did that).
There wasn’t really a single point where I feared for any of the characters’ lives, like in previous installments.
After the disappointment of Dominion, I was a bit surprised—although, based on Hollywood trends, I shouldn’t have been—to see another Jurassic World film arrive so soon.
By introducing a mostly new cast and returning the series to a more contained survival story, Rebirth gave the franchise some of the danger and adventure it had been missing.
I think Jurassic World Rebirth was a breath of fresh air for the dying franchise. Dinosaurs on the silver screen might not be extinct just yet.
5. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Throughout my childhood, this was one of those movies everyone seemed to talk about as if it were terrible. As an eight-year-old with a love of dinosaurs, it was awesome because, well – DINOSAURS.
As a 28-year-old, I have to say I think the film has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in public opinion. It feels more like a Jurassic Park film than anything that’s not the original.
It’s also got a star-studded cast between Goldblum, Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn, plus a T. rex running through the streets of San Diego. When it comes to a dinosaur film, it does just about everything it needs to do to serve an audience.
4. Jurassic World (2015)
After nearly 15 years away from the silver screen, Jurassic World came at the right time in a world of blockbusters dominated by superheroes and unwanted reboots; this reboot was welcomed.
While it doesn’t do a lot different than the original film (crazy that it and The Force Awakens came out in the same year, right?), it was the right film to introduce genetically engineered dinosaurs to a new generation.
However, the Indominus rex (sponsored by Verizon Wireless) was a nice and fresh twist that felt like the direction the original Jurassic Park franchise was headed to all along.
Jurassic World made the franchise feel fresh, but still tastefully rooted in the original Jurassic Park series.
3. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
This may be a bit controversial, but I LOVED this film. As someone who experienced Jurassic Park as a young child captivated by dinosaurs about 10 years after its release, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom felt like a true modern horror flick.
While there’s nothing original about the film’s first half, as you have to get the humans back to an island full of dinosaurs to have a plot, the second half took the franchise in an intriguing direction.
With the introduction of the hybrid Indoraptor, it felt like I was watching a dinosaur-driven horror movie as Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and company crept through the doomed mansion as the hybrid dinosaur hunted them.
2. Jurassic Park III (2001)
While Jurassic Park III is the shortest film in the franchise (92 minutes), there’s no shortage of thrilling dinosaur action.
The Neill-led film also assembles an interesting cast of characters while updating audiences on Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler eight years after the original movie.
The film’s best decision was giving the franchise a terrifying new threat in the Spinosaurus, which immediately established its dominance by dispatching a tyrannosaurus rex in front of the stunned survivors.
Despite not being a full reunion of all the series’ surviving characters, it was a fitting end to the Jurassic Park franchise – before Universal brought them back from extinction again.
1. Jurassic Park (1993)
Was there going to be any other film here? The original Jurassic Park was a landmark achievement in visual effects and changed what audiences believed was possible at a movie theater.
Other than a handful of CGI shots that show their age, Jurassic Park hardly feels dated at all. Spielberg masterfully combines groundbreaking CGI with Stan Winston’s life-size animatronics, ensuring the dinosaurs still feel tangible more than three decades later.
This movie is Spielberg at his best, and it essentially immortalized its dinosaurs and secured its lead actors a permanent place in movie history.
With the passing of Neill, I’ll most certainly be revisiting this movie and several others in the franchise – as I’m sure many others will.
For many children who grew up during the 1990s and 2000s, Sam Neill was one of the coolest people imaginable. We wanted to wear aviator sunglasses and that iconic Panama hat while riding through a dinosaur-infested jungle in a green-and-yellow Ford Explorer.
Thank you for all the memories Sam. Rest in peace.
