There have been six sequels to Jurassic Park — one trilogy, one reboot trilogy, and one reboot of the reboot — but none of them come close to the excitement and suspense of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original. Jurassic Park’s magic is deeply connected to its sense of discovery — even if you’ve seen the dinosaur romp a dozen times, the alchemy of John Williams’ score, Industrial Light and Magic’s effects, and Spielberg’s sharp direction of a stellar cast always makes it feel like we’re encountering prehistoric creatures for the first time, in all their beauty and terror. So much of Jurassic Park is about the feeling of “I can’t believe they’ve done this,” and the half dozen sequels struggle to substitute anything quite as astonishing.
Thankfully, 25 years ago, the best Jurassic Park sequel opted for a different approach. Jurassic Park III is still the lowest performing film in the series, and was criticized for being a tired commercial object lacking Spielberg’s magic touch. Director Joe Johnston was a smart choice to step in as director — a former concept artist and effects expert for ILM, he won an Oscar for his work on Raiders of the Lost Ark and directed several effects-heavy crowd pleasers like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Jumanji. But the Spielberg protégé taking the reins of Jurassic Park also felt like an acknowledgement that his threequel was emulating the maestro... and coming up short.
