Jurassic World Is No Longer The Best Sequel In Its Own Franchise

Published Sep 25, 2026, 11:30 PM EDT

Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, and horror of all kinds. They also cover Marvel and DC TV shows and movies, with a robust knowledge of comic books. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dani is also part of ScreenRant's books team, using their fiction writing and literature studies as the backbone for their book analyses.

They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review of Ponies was quoted in the show's TV trailer.

In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18.

Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity.

The Jurassic Park franchise has expanded vastly since the first movie was released in 1993, and the 2015 Jurassic World film is no longer the best sequel. Michael Crichton’s techno-thriller novel became the basis for one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time, stretching across film, TV shows, and video games. Stephen Spielberg brought the story to life on the big screen. Though it isn’t a perfect adaptation, it is undoubtedly a masterpiece sci-fi movie. It spurred two Jurassic Park sequels, on which opinions are deeply divided.

Then, in 2015, Universal did a soft reboot that gave the franchise a fresh starting point, and it has continued to expand steadily since then. Now, in film there's a Jurassic Park trilogy, a Jurassic World trilogy, and a potential second Jurassic World trilogy, which started with the 2025 movie Jurassic World Rebirth. There’s an ongoing debate about which sequel is best. Many people point to the first Jurassic World movie, though I wouldn’t necessarily rank it that way in terms of my own enjoyment.

However, even if every person were to concede that the 2015 movie beats out The Lost World and Jurassic Park III, the two other top contenders, there’s no question that the Jurassic World movie isn’t the best overall Jurassic release since the original. That honor goes to Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, a TV show that too often gets dismissed as an animated kids' TV show, even though every Jurassic fan can enjoy it.

The Best Jurassic Release Since The First Movie Is Camp Cretaceous

Courtesy of Netflix

Even though I have a guilty-pleasure soft spot for Jurassic Park 3, everything about Netflix’s Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous puts it above the Jurassic Park sequels and the Jurassic World movies. The show possesses deeper character development, making every member of the Nublar Six feel three-dimensional and nuanced. This also appears in Jurassic Park, but the two sequel movies don’t give it as much attention. Then, the Jurassic World trilogy develops the characters, but they are pretty bland and unlikable.

The Jurassic World movies rely on vulnerable kids being saved by heroic adults, but Camp Cretaceous subverts expectations by cutting out the adults and forcing the kids to survive on their own. This is reminiscent of the scenes in Jurassic Park where Lex and Tim use their wits to survive and fight back. They outsmart the Velociraptors. They play a big part in helped Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, rather than it always being the other way around. Plus, Lex’s computer skills basically save the day.

Similarly, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous captures the spirit of the original series by creating a family-friendly story that is truly horrifying and survivalist, an approach that continues in the sequel series Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. Jurassic Park 2 decreases the fear factor. Jurassic Park 3 leaned too far into horror. The Jurassic World trilogy just gets rid of the horror altogether. Aside from the two Netflix series, the Jurassic release that most closely captures this essence is Jurassic World Rebirth, fixing a mistake that Jurassic World made.

Ultimately, Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory are worlds better than anything else in the Jurassic Park franchise besides the original movie itself. Camp Cretaceous lays the foundation with exciting new characters and a compelling story, and Chaos Theory follows the Nublar Six into adulthood as they face a conspiracy to kill them.

What Went Wrong With The Jurassic World Movies

One of the biggest problems with the Jurassic World movies is that they polished and sanitized the franchise to fit modern-day aesthetics. Jurassic Park was never meant to be a sleek action movie like what’s popular in Hollywood today. While it had a family-friendly presentation, it was actually gritty, thrilling, and survivalist. It was not so secretly a suspense-driven techno-horror story all along. That is what the Jurassic World movies lost sight of. Unfortunately, the second trilogy ended up feeling more like an MCU movie that happens to have dinosaurs, which I believe is influenced by Chris Pratt playing Star-Lord and Owen Grady so close together.

What’s more, the entire premise of the second trilogy ignores all the lessons learned from the first as if they never happened. Bringing back dinosaurs is a bad idea, and a theme park centered on them will only lead to destruction. I would have hated a Jurassic Park hard reboot because there was no reason for one. However, I would’ve liked it a whole lot more than the copycat version they created within the same timeline.

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When they realized that couldn’t work long-term, they took an interesting premise and made a half-hearted version that relied on nostalgia instead of good writing. The idea of humans and dinosaurs existing in the same world could’ve been thrilling, which is proven by the successful representation of that in Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. However, Dominion couldn’t even come up with a good reason to bring back Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm, and then half the movie focused on a bunch of giant locusts, which isn’t what audiences signed up for. Their final attempt at saving the franchise fell flat on its face.

Jurassic World Rebirth got back on the right track, which is good. However, it came a little too late to save the Jurassic World franchise. Plus, they made a weird “dinosaur hybrid” that looks more like a monster, which didn’t thrill most fans.

That isn’t to say the Jurassic World movies are completely worthless. They introduced the franchise to a whole new generation, and they are moderately entertaining for what they are. They just don’t feel like Jurassic Park. It feels like the creators of Jurassic World: Chaos Theory and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous actually cared about bringing the essence of Jurassic Park back to the stories, while the Jurassic World team just wanted to take the idea and leave the rest.