Rate the Jurassic Park movies

[Turtlejuice]

Yeah, the amount of CG definitely increases.

In The Lost World, they use CG for the wide shots, animatronics for the close-ups. And it works really well.

I think on an FX level this film can stand up against anything we see today.

I still find it were amazing that films like JP and Alien still hold up so well in terms of effects. If you'd never heard of them before now, you'd never think they were 24+ years old.

 

[Guestx]

I still find it were amazing that films like JP and Alien still hold up so well in terms of effects. If you'd never heard of them before now, you'd never think they were 24+ years old.

Agreed. Only the very best CGI today can beat the very best CGI of yesteryear. And the very best CGI of yesteryear is better than the average CGI of today.

Also, the use of miniatures and animatronics combined with CGI is almost always better than just using straight CGI for everything.

 

[TrueBias]

All right homeboys I decided to revisit The Lost World last night.

Allow me to set the stage a bit:

I remember going to see this one in the theater. I was, I guess, 15 at the time and living in Memphis. My brother and I went to see it at this newly-opened mall and I think this may have even been my first time going to a theater with stadium seating.

Coming out of the theater, I remember at the time thinking it was a good movie but not being in love with it. That is, I thought it was fun enough, but I didn't feel like I had watched a truly great movie. In the years since, my opinion became more negative, but last night I realized that it had been so long since I last saw the film that I remembered almost nothing about it.

Having now revisited it, I can say that it's certainly nowhere near the level of the first film. Not even close. One thing the first film really had going for it was a heart and intelligence to it. I read a comment from Spielberg where he said that when he made JP he didn't just want to make a monster movie. And in that he succeeded, as JP is so much more than that.

But a monster movie is exactly what The Lost World is. It's not much more than pure action from start to finish. Sure, there's a bit of set up to get everyone onto the island, but the shit hits the fan about 30 minutes in and doesn't stop until the credits start rolling.

But let me break it down:

The Positives

- The performances and characters are generally pretty good, with Julianne Moore and Jeff Goldblum playing their roles well. There were some good supporting performances also, with Pete Postlethwaite doing well as the hunter, Peter Stormare as his second in command, and even Vince Vaughn as the animal rights activist.

- The effects are excellent. This is one area in which the second film surpasses the first. If you go back and watch the first, some of the CGI looks just a tiny bit sketchy. But all of the effects in the second film are virtually flawless. In fact, what's amazing is that the effects in this film are better than most of what we see in movies today, 20 years later.

- There are some nice set pieces throughout. Even though the film is almost nothing but action, to its discredit, I do think that the action is good. Some have mentioned not liking the ending with Rexy in San Diego. I actually liked that part. In fact, I wish the film had expanded that sequence and given us a little less of the goings on on the island.

The Negatives

- Almost nothing but action. We covered this already.

- It's too dark. Like, literally dark. So much of the film takes place at night that it's just kind of gloomy and depressing. I've never wanted a JP movie to be gloomy and depressing.

- No Sam Neill.

- No real sense of wonder, as created by the first film.

All in all, I think it's a PRETTY GOOD dino action movie, but nothing more than that. It has one goal: Put dinos on screen and put humans on screen to run away from them. That's it. And while this is enough to make a fairly entertaining popcorn thriller, it takes a lot more than that to make a great film.

6.5/10

If anyone wants a plot refresher or wants to learn some cool stuff about the production, here's a good video:

Kinda funny that you call it a monster movie. Giveaway is t rex in the city.

I challenge you to revisit JP 3 now and tell us howit compares. I immediately thought of that as the monster movie cuz they're literally stalked by that awesome dino, which even kills the t rex.

 

[Guestx]

I challenge you to revisit JP 3 now and tell us howit compares.

 

[ufcfan4]

Yeah, the amount of CG definitely increases.

In The Lost World, they use CG for the wide shots, animatronics for the close-ups. And it works really well.

I think on an FX level this film can stand up against anything we see today.

Great write up on The Lost World. Very similar to how I feel about it, but I haven't watched all through in about 13 years, so I should probably revisit.

And so true about CGI from fifteen-twenty years ago. I think what was great about special effects into the 80s and then into the 90s when CGI started being used more was that there were still a lot of practical effects and, with the right team, practical effects looked f'n awesome.

I heard they are remaking An American Werewolf in London. Guaranteed it won't look nearly as awesome as the original cause they will overrely onCGI where great makeup and practical effects were used.

 

[AlexDB9]

I actually really enjoyed The Lost World. So mine would be:

Jurrasic Park
Lost World
Jurassic World

 

[Guestx]

Great write up on The Lost World. Very similar to how I feel about it, but I haven't watched all through in about 13 years, so I should probably revisit.

And so true about CGI from fifteen-twenty years ago. I think what was great about special effects into the 80s and then into the 90s when CGI started being used more was that there were still a lot of practical effects and, with the right team, practical effects looked f'n awesome.

I heard they are remaking An American Werewolf in London. Guaranteed it won't look nearly as awesome as the original cause they will overrely onCGI where great makeup and practical effects were used.

Yeah, I've said many times before that I don't feel like CGI is a problem. It's a wonderful tool that has many uses. But what IS a problem is using it when practical effects will achieve better results.

I think an excellent example are the Underworld films. In the first film, they really leaned heavily on practical effects. Instead of CGI werewolves, they gave us people in werewolf costumes. And they looked REALLY good. In the sequels however it's just wall-to-wall CGI and the werewolves look like shit.

 

[ThinkGreen]

I feel like a fucking psycho saying this, but JPIII has sort of grown on me.

It has some cool parts. Plus, they brought back Alan Grant. He is the best character in the series so loved seeing him in there.

I live in San Diego and saw the lost world as a pretty young kid in theatres, so I have a level of nostalgia with that movie but the movie is really not that great. I think it's clear cut Jurassic Park #1 and you can make an argument for the rest of them being 2-4.

 

[Guestx]

It has some cool parts. Plus, they brought back Alan Grant. He is the best character in the series so loved seeing him in there.

I live in San Diego and saw the lost world as a pretty young kid in theatres, so I have a level of nostalgia with that movie but it's not that great. I think it's clear cut Jurassic Park #1 and you can make an argument for the rest of them being 2-4.

I'm actually rewatching JPIII here in about 20 minutes.

 

[ufcfan4]

For the record I saw the original JP as an eight-year-old in theaters with my dad and older brother and the opening scene basically scared the shit out of me to the point I was hoping I could leave the theater. Really, really glad I didn't say anything suggesting that to my dad as I friggin loved the movie and was thoroughly entertaining thereafter. I was not ready for just the sheer level of volume in the opening scene. Had never seen a movie that loud in the theater prior to that.

 

[Pferd]

I don't care for Lost World either. It's actually been quite a while since I last saw it but to my recollection the only worthwhile thing about that film is Rexy's rampage through San Diego.

Regarding JP3, the thing is, I don't feel like it's a good film and I don't really care to go back and watch it again, but I also think it's a decent enough straightforward dino actioner and for whatever reason I feel some glimmer of affection for it.

Then again, I did recently watch this excellent retrospective of the film so maybe that's coloring my perception at the moment:

The third film definitely has a lot of charm . I think even tea leoni and William Macy have grown on me.they seem like me the type of people who would get on your nerves but you would miss them when there gone. Trevor Morgan also gives a good performance. And then of course there was Sam Neill.I think the third film was definitely more fun than the second.it also had a family dynamic going for it

 

[Pferd]

1 , 3, 4, 2

 

[CO68]

1 is a classic.
4 was good. Basically a retread of the first movie, but oh well, it was entertaining.
2 was weak. It had some good stuff, but too much bad shit.
3 was fucking terrible, and I spent the entire movie desperately wanting Leoni's character to get eaten by a dinosaur.

 

[VulcanNervPinch]

Jurassic Park: awful
Jurassic Park 2: awful
Jurassic Park 3: awful
Jurassic World: awful


I kid a little


I had the sense to never watch another one of them, after seeing how bad the first was

 

[Guestx]

Jurassic Park: awful
Jurassic Park 2: awful
Jurassic Park 3: awful
Jurassic World: awful


I kid a little


I had the sense to never watch another one of them, after seeing how bad the first was

@Peteyandjia or @Dragonlordxxxxx, can one of y'all ban this homo?

 

[Lex Bigelow]

Jurassic park 9/10.
The Lost World 6/10.
Jurassic Park three 1/10.
Jurassic World 0/10.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Jurassic Park
The Lost World
Jurassic World
Jrassic Park 3

Always felt like it was what it was- a straightforward, entertaining movie. Which is sort of what Jurassic World is. I certainly don't find the latter substantially better than the former. I see them as sort of in the same range- entertaining movies with good effects that you don't have to think much about.

For me, that series is one outstanding movie and three movies that are varying levels of entertaining but not on anywhere remotely the same level.

The Lost World- I was a big Malcolm fan from the first movie so it was cool seeing Goldblum in the lead. But the film just pales in comparison to the predecessor in every way when it comes to the on-island action. Also, there is a ridiculous Mcguffin scene where Hammond is like, "thank God for site B" as we are just randomly, out of nowhere introduced to the fact that there another island.

The daughter is annoying. Julianne Moore is a good actress but doesn't get to show much of it here. Vaughan is wasted. I liked Postlethwaite and Arliss Howard though- even if the latter was your generic businessman heel to a fault.

The compys killing Stormare was pretty vicious. The t-rex scenes were solid. I like how they kept the raptors at more of a minimum, confining them to one scene rather than making them the stars of the film like the first one. By doing that, they switched it up a bit and made the sequence with them feel high stakes. That said, the gymnast daughter taking out the raptor was fucking mind-bogglingly ludicrous and unintentionally hilarious.

Final scene in Cali with the t-rex was good in my opinion, though a lot of people shit on it.

So yeah that one was entertaining too but not very good or memorable.

JPIII- Sam Neill is a g so it has that going for it. Liked the dynamic with Nivola as well, another underrated actor. Good cast, fun action, not memorable in any way, shape or form though. I could describe for you the set up of the plot but details are an absolute blur.

Jurassic World was certainly entertaining, but it was hokey as well. You can't tell me that that D'Onofrio idea regarding sending raptors in the field to wage war was credible in any way even in a film about dinosaurs in a theme park.

I get what you mean here, its introduced much better in the book. Basically, the lab in the first movie is for show and the dinosaurs are mostly bred and raised on Site B. What I like about The Lost World compared to the two movies that came after is that John Williams was still doing the score so of course it was fantastic. The latter two movies lacked his touch

I feel like Jurassic World, while great in many ways, sticks out too much compared to the other three. It feels almost like a Marvel movie more than a JP film.

As for Jurassic World, it was okay. There was a lot there to like, but as you say, everything about D'Onofrio's character was stupid. In fact, everything about training raptors at all was stupid.

I thought the idea was really stupid when I first heard it on this forum years ago when the script details leaked but I liked the execution in the end.

 

[Adamant]

It's incredible to me how the CGI in JP is vastly better than the CGI in LW (maybe even better than JPIII and JW as well, in certain shots). Not only that, but the animatronics in JP are better than the animatronics in literally everything that came after, by a wide margin.

 

[KYS]

Jurassic Park: awful
Jurassic Park 2: awful
Jurassic Park 3: awful
Jurassic World: awful


I kid a little


I had the sense to never watch another one of them, after seeing how bad the first was

How about ban?

First one was breathtaking when it came out. Read the second as a book only, didn't watch the movie.

Third movie was a bit off, although Spinosaurs are legit. I still need to see Jurassic World.

 

[Turtlejuice]

Yeah, I've said many times before that I don't feel like CGI is a problem. It's a wonderful tool that has many uses. But what IS a problem is using it when practical effects will achieve better results.

I think an excellent example are the Underworld films. In the first film, they really leaned heavily on practical effects. Instead of CGI werewolves, they gave us people in werewolf costumes. And they looked REALLY good. In the sequels however it's just wall-to-wall CGI and the werewolves look like shit.

Sometimes that's ok. What I don't like is when cg is used when the logical choice would be to use practical effects. I believe I've told you before of my dislike of cg blood. Again when used to compliment a physical blood effect it's ok, but on its own it is an abomination. CG has become a crutch.