Jurassic Park came out 33 years ago, and while there have been all kinds of sequels and sequel series, in the years since, the original film’s biggest message still hasn’t been topped or understood by its successors. 1993’s Jurassic Park is a fun movie about dinosaurs, but it is also about hubris, nature, and the idea of humanity playing god. The dinosaurs are simply a vehicle used to explore these ideas, something that is succinctly described in one of the film’s most famous quotes.
Since the original movie released, the franchise has attempted all kinds of evolutions, including mutant dinosaurs, human clones, dinosaurs in the big city, prehistoric locusts, militarized raptors, and more. Throughout all of these wild twists and turns, the Jurassic Park movies still haven’t surpassed the original, probably due to this core truth.
In the original Jurassic Park, a group of main characters sits around a table discussing the innovations of InGen, including founder John Hammond, Hammond’s lawyer Donald Gennaro, and chaos theorist Dr. Ian Malcolm. Malcolm raises his objections to Hammond’s dinosaur experiments, saying that he is wielding the power of genetics “like a kid that’s found his dad’s gun.” Malcolm criticizes the lack of discipline required to pull off Jurassic Park, and when Hammond claims that Malcolm isn’t giving scientists the credit they deserve for doing something that nobody has ever done before, Malcolm responds with the most famous Jurassic Park quote: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.“
Check out the full quote in-context below:
This quote is key to the themes of the Jurassic Park franchise, as each film at least has an element of humans intervening in nature only for nature to bite back. This philosophical conversation is the underlying truth that Jurassic Park is exploring throughout its entirety, and while it may not be handled with as much nuance in later films, it is impossible for a sequel not to at least lift elements of it when adapting the original’s formula.
In each and every Jurassic Park film, scientists or government officials attempt to use genetically modified experiments without regard for why nature hasn’t allowed them to do so, eventually leading to death and destruction. Since Ian Malcolm is the first person to point out this hubris in the context of bringing dinosaurs back, he has become an in-universe celebrity by the time of Jurassic World Dominion, with his popular books landing him a job as a philosopher at Biosyn. Malcolm’s arc in the sequels parallels the real-world realization of how this quote is an incredible piece of writing, with him in the franchise and in real life becoming the voice of reason amongst the madness of Jurassic Park.
Not only can Malcolm’s quote be applied to the in-universe treatment of dinosaurs, but it can also be applied to the real-world treatment of the Jurassic Park franchise. Time and time again, the sequels have failed to live up to the original, yet they just keep coming. The reason is clear: money – which also squares with the motivation of various Jurassic Park series antagonists – despite waning interest from fans and critics. After the first two sequels, the franchise took a break, only for Universal to realize that they could bring it back. Then, after the critical failure of the Jurassic World franchise – and ongoing fan-fatigue toward an increasingly wild evolution of the series (living side-by-side with humans, utilized as military weapons, etc), Universal realized that they could refresh the series (again) and move on to something new in Jurassic World: Rebirth.
However, while still a massive commercial success, even Rebirth failed in a way – it made less money than any Jurassic World installment ($800 million versus Dominion‘s $1 billion – which was already down from World’s $1.5 billion). This highlights that, even though Universal could have continued the franchise, maybe it shouldn’t have – or at least should slow down enough to do it right.
No Jurassic Park sequel has brought forth a story that necessitated a new movie, with each one either being a retread of the original film’s formula or introducing a new gimmick too ridiculous for a sustainable franchise. As mentioned, while few of the Jurassic sequels are all that good, they all make a ton of money, so it’s obvious why Universal wants to keep making them. However, with the declining box office returns, they may be hurting the long term integrity of the brand for short term gains. This is a sign that the popularity of the franchise has decreased due to never quite scratching that original itch, and while films like The End of Oak Street prove that inventive dinosaur movies are still possible, we shouldn’t keep making Jurassic Park sequels just because we can.
