Why the long-running Jurassic Park franchise has always had an ecological message

By Alberto Sclaverano

Jurassic Park is one of the most recognizable movie franchises of all time. The first movie, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1993 and based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, was one of the most successful films ever produced when it was released. 

Three scientists- paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill, who sadly has passed away recently), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are invited to a remote island near Costa Rica by billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough, older brother of well-known British natural historian and environmental activist David Attenborough). There, using genetic engineering, dinosaurs have been brought back to life by Hammond’s InGen corporation to create a theme park. As we all know, things will go horribly wrong, but not at the box office.

Spielberg directed the first sequel (The Lost World: Jurassic Park, 1997, that again featured Goldblum), while a less profitable third act was made in 2001 (Jurassic Park III) by Joe Johnston with Neill back as Grant. The series returned in 2015 with the very successful reboot Jurassic World by Colin Trevorrow, that spans another series, formed by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018, by Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona), Jurassic World Dominion (2022, again by Trevorrow, and with the original three actors returning) and the most recent entry Jurassic World Rebirth (2025), directed by Gareth Edwards, known for his 2014 relaunch of Godzilla. Of course, while the original is a masterpiece that features everything you could expect in a movie by Spielberg, one of the greatest living directors, the sequels were often received less warmly by critics.

But what’s interesting there is to note how the climate-related themes have always been present in this franchise that ran for more than thirty years. 

The original denounced human arrogance and the danger posed to nature by the unchecked use of scientific knowledge. Starting from The Lost World, conservationism becomes a main plot of several of the sequels. Once dinosaurs have been resurrected and spread in our world, protecting them and letting them live without humans’ interference becomes a recurring theme. 

In the new Jurassic World saga, there’s also the theme of the risk and potential offered by today’s enhanced genetic technology, which led to the creation of hybrid dinosaurs that never existed in the past. 

Again, the reflection on the danger of altering the natural order is front and center. 

It should also be noted that in the most recent movie, Jurassic World Rebirth, the premise is that dinosaurs have started dying due to the alteration of the atmosphere caused by climate change, and the few remaining ones survive only in specific locations around the tropics.

A clear message of the whole Jurassic Park/Jurassic World series is that humans are not the sole owners of the planet, and we are not free to exploit nature and other animals as we want. 

The other main point is that all living creatures, and thus the ecosystem, are worth every effort to be preserved and kept secure and intact. 

During the series, the heroes are, not by chance, always scientists or kids or common people interested in protecting nature, while the villains are usually presented in the forms of large corporations, hunters, and rich guys who want to exploit dinosaurs to make money. 

If we move past the incredible spectacle offered in every film by the special effects (the original obtained three Academy Awards for visual effects, sound and sound effects editing), and the thrilling sequences of chase and hunting between humans and dinosaurs (the T-Rex and the velociraptors are now part of an entire generation of kids’ imaginary), we can see a clear environmental message in these movies. A warning we had better listen to.