Dinos Rule the World—Again
National Dinosaur Day was earlier this week, and today marks the 25th anniversary of The Lost World, which is the sequel to 1993’s blockbuster Jurassic Park and, like the original film, is based on a Michael Crichton novel that Steven Spielberg adapted for the big screen. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you also know that the (supposedly) final installment of the Jurassic franchise —Jurassic World: Dominion—is hitting theaters soon on June 10.
Dinosaurs have always fascinated humankind, and it’s really no surprise that some of the highest-grossing movies of all time revolve around them. I mean, who didn’t play with dino toys as a kid? Who didn’t go to museums to see dino bones? Here in Chicago, we actually have one of the most famous fossilized dinosaur skeletons in the world: Sue the T-Rex, at the Field Museum of Natural History. If you’ve never seen her, I can assure you she’s jaw-dropping. Sue really makes you wonder what it would be like if dinosaurs walked among us.
Which is of course exactly the plot of Dominion. After the destruction of Isla Nublar—the secluded island home of cloned dinosaurs in the Jurassic films—prehistoric creatures big and small are running around with us humans. Sounds like that could be … problematic. I can’t wait to see the original film’s trio of Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) team up with Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) to try and figure out how to make it work. Or if the dinos decide that perhaps it’s time for humans to go extinct.
If you’re hyped up for the conclusion of the Jurassic franchise and want to get into full dino mode before the final film is out, you should of course re-watch the other 5 Jurassic movies.
Or, here are 3 additional options that are a little more family-friendly:
The Good Dinosaur – In this sweet Pixar movie, we’re treated to an alternate timeline where the asteroid that led to dinosaurs’ extinction simply passes on by. So humans and dinos are sharing the Earth, and we meet a caveboy named Spot who gets lost and comes to befriend a young Apatosaurus in order to find his way home.
The Land Before Time – Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg (he REALLY loves dinos…) and George Lucas, this cute animated tale from 1988 teaches life lessons through the ups and downs experienced by a young group of dino friends—Littlefoot (Apatosaurus), Cera (Triceratops), Ducky (Saurolophus), Petrie (Pteranodon) and Spike (Stegosaurus), who eventually come across a baby T-Rex they decide to raise. This movie was so successful that it spawned a Land Before Time franchise of several other kids’ movies!
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – And finally we have the third installment of the popular Ice Age franchise, where our friends Manny and Ellie the wooly mammoths (Ray Romano and Queen Latifah), Sid the ground sloth (John Leguizamo), Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) and Scrat the acorn-obsessed saber-toothed squirrel (Chris Wedge) stumble upon a lost world of dinosaurs. Dino-mite!