In the summer of this year, a new movie in the series was released (“Jurassic World: Rebirth”). For those who don’t know, the Jurassic Park franchise revolves around humanity bringing dinosaurs back to life and putting them in zoos for people’s entertainment… needless to say, they escape, and terror ensues. The franchise started in 1993 with the original “Jurassic Park,” and it’s been going strong ever since.

In response to the release of this new movie, I decided to revisit the middle trilogy (“Jurassic World,” “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” and “Jurassic World: Dominion”). For the sake of simplicity, I’ll focus my judgment on 2 things: the plot (characters, setting, and the story itself) and the action between dinosaurs (what a dinosaur does on screen, the quality of fight scenes, etc.) Then, I’ll average the scores out for a final total. (Of course, I may be biased because I’m a MASSIVE dinosaur fan and have been since I was a toddler, but opinions are opinions.)

Jurassic World

In the first movie of the trilogy, the two brothers, Zach and Gray, travel to Isla Nublar to experience the thrills of the newly opened Jurassic World. Meanwhile, Claire, a scientist, invites Owen, a dinosaur tamer, to see the first-ever hybrid dinosaur ever designed: the Indominus Rex. Long story short, the Indominus Rex escapes and wreaks havoc across the island.

Plot: The plot is very solid. The idea of having a hybrid as the new main attraction is very cool. While on that topic, though.. What did Claire mean when she said that no one’s excited by dinosaurs anymore? They’re dinosaurs, who wouldn’t be excited by that? Heck, we literally see people cheering about normal dinosaurs in the movie, so Claire and Ingen really had nothing to worry about. That aside, though, I enjoyed the bonding between Zach and Gray as siblings; it really feels like they love each other as siblings. As for Owen and Claire… Well, their scenes were in the movie, but that’s the most I can really say.

Overall, I’ll give the plot of this film a 7/10: Owen and Claire are what’s holding it back; their moments together feel unnecessary. 

Dinosaur Action: The action in this movie is amazing. Every time the Indominus Rex is on screen, it really shows how much of a threat it is. I want to bring attention to the final battle near the end of the movie: It begins immediately with the Indominus taking out 3 of the 4 raptors. Then, after some running, the T. rex (also called Rexy) comes into the fight with a very cool slow-motion roar and then immediately gets into a fight with the Indominus. And if that wasn’t enough, Blue (the main velociraptor of Owen’s pack of raptors) comes back in, and she and Rexy gang up on the Indomimus Rex. Then the battle ends with one final group roar and the Mosasaurus dragging the Indominus into its lagoon… Absolutely amazing. This isn’t talking about all of the other scenes with the Indominus in them, all of which are great!

I’m giving the dinosaur action in this movie a 10/10 for the final battle alone.

This means that the first Jurassic World gets a solid 8.5/10. This is a solid start to the trilogy. 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

This film takes place four years after the original Jurassic World. It consists of Claire and Owen, with a few others, returning to Isla Nublar to save the dinosaurs… only for it to be revealed that the company actually taking them there just wants to sell the dinosaurs for profit. Meanwhile, scientists are working on another monstrous hybrid as a military weapon: the Indoraptor, which also ends up escaping and wreaking havoc as the Indominus did before it.

Plot: This movie’s plot is basically just the same as Lost World: Jurassic Park. I do like the fact that most of the main cast are part of a dinosaur activist group, as it gives them a reason to actually be on the island: to save the dinosaurs from dying. While we’re on that topic, I must say that the scene where the brachiosaurus died hurt… It hurt a lot. Anyway, I honestly don’t understand why the villains are auctioning these dinosaurs off to random people for a few million when they could probably make a lot more money by just opening a new park with them. The ending was definitely interesting, but I hated seeing Claire refusing to push the button for literally no reason.

I did like the plot of this movie more than the first Jurassic World for better character development, so I’ll give it an 8/10.

Dinosaur Action: Severe downgrade from the first Jurassic World. I’m not gonna talk all too much about the volcano scene near the beginning of the movie: it’s not bad, but it’s more focused on Owen and the others. Let’s focus on the star of the movie: the Indoraptor. This dinosaur was just trying to be a horror movie villain every time it was on screen, and to be honest, I really like it. The scene where it ended, with the guy that kept trying to pull its tooth out, was honestly its best scene because it really shows how smart and sadistic the thing is; it was SMILING for goodness sake! Not to mention the scene where it’s roaring on the roof and thunder strikes in the background. It’s like it knows when the camera is on it, because it really likes to show off. Blue got some good moments, too, especially near the end.

Despite what I said before, I did like the dinosaur action in this movie; I just think it’s significantly worse than the first movie. Still, I’ll give it an 8/10.

So that’s an 8/10 overall for this movie.

Jurassic World: Dominion

In this movie, Owen, Claire, and Maisie, the little girl from the second movie, have to go out to save Blue’s child (Beta) after she was kidnapped by a group of hunters. During this, Alan, Ellie, and Ian, characters from the original Jurassic Park trilogy, work to expose the corruptness of a company called Biosyn.

Plot: I’ll start by saying that I really like how the characters from the original Jurassic Park came back in this movie; it’s like a connection between two worlds. One thing I didn’t really like, though, was that Maisie just chose to leave her house with little to no reason. I understand she just wanted to help, but she’s 14. What did she expect to do? It just feels like they needed an extra bit of conflict in the movie, as if Blue’s child getting kidnapped wasn’t enough already. The settings of the movie are also really cool; they’re so different but also so cool-looking.

I feel for this movie’s plot like I do for Fallen Kingdom’s plot, so I’ll give it an 8/10 as well.

Dinosaur Action: Every dinosaur in this movie had a message to send, and they all succeeded. The Therizinosaurus was just awesome in every scene it’s in, it was just so menacing and subtle in the best way possible. It may have been blind, but it could TELL that the camera was on it. The pyroraptor was just something else. The ice broke, and you expect it to jump over the hole that was created… NOPE, it hops right on into the water and starts swimming. The Quetzalcoatlus didn’t even show up for that long, but it made sure it made the best of its screentime. It tore a whole plane up in the span of 10 seconds. Of course, it’d be shameful not to mention the final battle, and it didn’t disappoint! Rexy and the Therizinosaurus teaming up against the Giganotasaurus and the duo roaring at the end was just incredible. My only real complaint is that Rexy has never won a fight on her own in the series. I’m not saying I don’t understand it, I’m just saying that, being the face of the whole franchise, Rexy should be entitled to at least one serious victory. Other than that, though, this movie’s dinosaurs are incredible!

All of that said, I have to give this category a… 12/10. I don’t care if that’s over the total; it’s not my fault that this movie had the best dinosaurs in the trilogy.

So, that brings the overall score for this movie out to a perfect 10/10, a perfect score to end a great trilogy. I think it’s decently fitting, don’t you?

So there it is, my review of every Jurassic World movie of the middle trilogy. Overall, I really enjoy the Jurassic Park franchise and look forward to seeing it continue.