Why are there no good dinosaur films?

Changing scientific understanding

• Several comments reflect on how quickly paleontology and geology have changed: asteroid-impact extinction was speculative in the 80s/early 90s and is now near-consensus, plate tectonics only entered school curricula in the late 60s–80s, and dinosaur depictions (feathers, posture) have shifted dramatically.
• People note how odd it feels that things they “always knew” were unknown to their parents or grandparents, and how unevenly new science diffuses across regions and school systems.
• There’s debate over how “settled” the Chicxulub impact is versus multi‑cause models (Deccan Traps “one‑two punch”), and over what counts as “proof” versus a robust theory.

Jurassic Park: wonder vs “creature feature”

• Many argue the original Jurassic Park still delivers awe: the first Brachiosaurus reveal and the T. rex paddock sequence are repeatedly cited as masterful buildup and payoff.
• Others agree with the critique that after its initial grandeur the film becomes a conventional monster chase, though fans contest that the dinosaurs are framed as animals, not supernatural “monsters.”
• There’s praise for the film’s lived‑in world: logistics of the park, staff dynamics, legal/financial angles—all largely inherited from Crichton but carefully preserved on screen.
• The book–film comparison recurs: the novel is seen as more explicitly about complexity/limits and chaos; the movie shifts toward human fallibility and spectacle, but many feel it improves the characters (especially Hammond and Malcolm).

Education, religion, and “theory”

• Commenters recall teachers being criticized or disciplined for teaching plate tectonics in the 90s due to religious objections, and creationist tactics like “Were you there?” being used against deep‑time science.
• There’s discussion of public confusion over “theory” in scientific vs colloquial sense, and of how controversial topics get memory‑holed in classrooms, which paradoxically can spark more curiosity.

Why good dinosaur films are rare

• Several argue dinosaurs alone don’t give you much thematic range: they’re large non‑verbal animals, so adult stories tend to collapse into “run from big predator” unless reframed as human‑against‑hubris (Jurassic Park) or something metaphorical.
• People contrast dinosaurs with zombies, vampires, and aliens: those are flexible symbols for disease, sexuality, capitalism, etc., and can be dropped into many settings; dinosaurs are historically constrained and over‑identified with Jurassic Park’s premise.
• Some suggest the basic “revived dinosaurs in the modern world” story has been so definitively claimed by Jurassic Park that any similar film feels like a knockoff; time‑travel setups create their own narrative problems.

Franchises, sequels, and Hollywood incentives

• Many see the decline of dinosaur films as a subset of broader franchise fatigue: Alien, Terminator, Matrix, and Star Wars are cited as series that hit one or two “local maxima” then flailed.
• There’s a lot of blame on studio economics: billion‑dollar grosses for middling Jurassic World entries show there’s little financial incentive to take risks or craft deeper stories.
• Commenters criticize modern blockbusters for over‑relying on CGI, quippy dialogue, and IP recycling instead of detailed worldbuilding and strong scripts, while noting that script is cheap but most vulnerable to executive interference.

Nostalgia and current reception

• Some worry that acclaim for Jurassic Park is just generational nostalgia; younger viewers in the thread generally still rate it much higher than its sequels and recent Jurassic World films, citing story and characters more than VFX.
• Others found the original underwhelming even at release and side with Ebert that it lacked sustained grandeur, showing the divide is not purely generational.

Alternatives and outliers

• A few works are offered as “better” or at least interesting dinosaur media: Don Bluth’s The Land Before Time, Apple’s Prehistoric Planet, the animated series Primal, the Czech film Cesta do pravěku, and older pulp‑style movies.
• But overall, the thread consensus is that truly strong dinosaur stories for adults remain rare, and that Jurassic Park (plus perhaps a handful of TV/animated works) still stands largely unchallenged.