5 Things That Make Jurassic World The Best Jurassic Park Sequel (And The Worst)

1) It Has the Most Dinosaurs…

The entire in-fiction and real world basis for Jurassic Park is rooted in one very simple truth: dinosaurs are cool. People love ‘em! That first shot of a dinosaur herd in Jurassic Park was, and still is a cinematic touchstone for millions of people. Set against the sound of John Williams’ iconic main theme, the image of living, breathing dinosaurs in motion makes for a near-religious experience, both for the characters and many viewers. “Look at this impossible thing I’ve brought to life!” eccentric benefactor John Hammond, and storyteller Spielberg are saying as one.

No Park film has ever matched that moment for sheer awe, but the island’s star attractions have remained the main draw through every sequel. Following in the large footsteps of The Lost World and III, Jurassic World has more dinosaurs than ever. With the park up and running for once, you get to see Hammond’s plan for dinosaur petting zoos, aquariums, and aviaries finally become realized. In terms of volume and variety, World blows the other sequels out of the water, then throws them back into the water to be devoured by the Mosasaurus.

…And Uses Them to Make One Dinosaur Seem Cool

Like most blockbusters, Jurassic World is all about one-upping what the last guy did. Where Jurassic Park had a single T. Rex, The Lost World had two. Jurassic Park III responded by saying, “A T. Rex is nothing: check out the Spinosaurus!” World doesn’t pull a III by having its new alpha dino outright kill the previous top dog. No, instead it has the genetically modified Indominus rex kill just about everything else in the park.

Jurassic World gives you the dinosaur equivalent of a supervillain, an animal that can be anywhere and do anything, so long as it steamrolls the story forward. Nature used to be the real threat of a Jurassic movie, but World is all about Indominus, all the time. The creature proves itself such a diabolically clever girl that you almost expect language skills to be another trick it pulls out of its rather large behind, just so it can brag about its own greatness (“Being raised in captivity was part of my plan all along!”). By contriving the ultimate antagonistic dinosaur, the other animals just become fodder for feeding the notion that Indominus is all you should care about.