“Hold-on to yer butts.”

For 9-year-old me, Jurassic Park (1993) was the greatest theater-going experience I’d ever had. Thinking about it today, I don’t know if any other movie I’ve watched in theaters has been able to top or even duplicate the rush of adrenaline and rapt wonder. There of course has to be an adjustment for the nostalgia factor of remembering it solely in a positive light, but re-watching Jurassic Park today and each time between then and now, I still am fully engrossed in the world, story, and the dinos. Subsequent Jurassic movies have arguably not been able to reach the same awe-inducing level of the first, but they are still entertaining. The Lost World has its charm with Jeff Goldblum reprising his role as Dr. Ian Malcom and Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn joining the fray, but the downtown San Diego scenes lost me. (This is a concern based upon the trailer for the latest franchise installment.) Jurassic Park III pleasantly brought back Dr. Alan Grant, but the film overall felt like a minor league player waiting for the call up to the majors and never quite hitting the mark. The revival of the series with the Jurassic World trilogy has been worthy through one installation, and the upcoming release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is reason enough to dive back into some pre-historic “fun”.

I watched the four movies in order, and the original is still king. There are multiple references in Jurassic World about the “assets” needing more teeth to keep visitors entertained. This is an apt description of the series as a whole. Each installment has needed to incorporate something to increase the clichéd “wow” factor. As weird as it is to say, having genetically crafted dinosaurs or unrecognizable species interacting with the classic dino dream team pushes believability to the limit. Yes, these are movies about dinosaurs created from DNA remnants held within prehistoric mosquitoes which were sealed in amber, but I recognize a tyrannosaurus rex; I do not recognize a bipedal dinosaur with huge upper limbs that can change its color, hide from thermal readings, and talk to velociraptors. This “suspension of reality” does not get into the same crazy realm as chasing aliens with crystal skulls, but it changes some of the franchise’s dynamics for the story can go and what the human characters can accomplish.

Okay, despite my finding criticism with a make-believe dinosaur in a world of anachronistic creatures, I love these movies. Each character has personality, the sound design from the effects to the soundtrack is pulse-quickening, and the tension is ubiquitous. Theme park rides typically provide 30 seconds to a minute of exhilaration; these movies give you two hours and spared no expense.