The premise of the Jurassic Park franchise is that a scientist used DNA extracted from a fossil to create a horde of test-tube dinosaurs, leading to rampant carnage. Yet in some ways, the franchise’s narrative DNA has caused as many lasting problems as the genetic material that Hammond utilized.

While unquestionably a cinematic milestone, the original Jurassic Park (1993) is hampered by narrative problems including a longwinded first act. Lest we forget, the film’s screenwriter, David Koepp, once quipped that his headstone would read ‘he took too long to get to the dinosaurs.’

Even more problematically — at least in terms of laying the groundwork for a franchise — nothing about the first film demanded a sequel. Hammond invited visitors to his island full of dinosaurs, things went to hell and the survivors fled, leaving the dinosaurs to fend for themselves. The story felt complete.

Consider the threadbare plot of the first sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), in which various people stupidly return to the scene of the chaos from the original film. The only novelty in The Lost World is an underwhelming sequence during which a Tyrannosaurus Rex gets transported to San Diego for carnage in a new setting.

That story didn’t add bold new ideas to the franchise and neither did the stories of Jurassic Park III (2001) or Jurassic World (2015), the latter of which simply rehashed the plot of the original film while adding bigger dinosaurs and more victims.

Although it is far from perfect (note the shallow characterizations), Fallen Kingdom advances the franchise’s underlying concepts in provocative ways while also delivering plenty of action and horror. It’s easily the most imaginative installment since the original film and because it doesn’t have a dull first act, Fallen Kingdom may be the most consistently enjoyable Jurassic movie yet.

One can’t help but wonder if the direction taken by Fallen Kingdom parallels conceptual pathways that author Michael Crichton, whose 1990 novel Jurassic Park originated the franchise, might have explored if he lived to continue writing Jurassic stories into the digital age.

Connecting with Crichton

Crichton, the doctor-turned-storyteller who thrived as a novelist, screenwriter, director, and producer until his death at the age of 66 in 2008, was one of the great pop culture visionaries of the 20th century. His other creations beyond Jurassic Park include the TV series ER and the original 1973 film Westworld, which inspired the current HBO show.

To get a sense of how gifted Crichton was at predicting the future, consider the obscure thriller Looker (1981), which he wrote and directed. The plot involves a conspiracy to scan supermodels into computers and then kill the women, thereby replacing them with computer simulations that never age. Looker is a prescient meditation on CGI, workplace automation and our obsession with youth.

Similar curiosity about intersections between commerce and science infused the original Jurassic Park novel and film, but moral questions have been grossly oversimplified in Jurassic movie sequels — until now.

Among the most interesting plot developments created by Fallen Kingdom writers Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow is the notion of Isla Nublar, the tropical location of Jurassic Park, succumbing to a cataclysmic volcanic eruption. This raises a troubling question: Since man created these dinosaurs but can’t control them, does man let nature destroy them (as it did their ancestors), or does man have a responsibility to save the dinosaurs?

To suggest a possible answer for this question, Fallen Kingdom revives long lost franchise character Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), who testifies before Congress. Acknowledging there are no clear rules for situations that humankind has not previously encountered, Dr. Malcolm contextualizes events with his signature brand of grim philosophy.

“Change is like death,” he says.

“You don’t know what it looks like till you’re standing at the gates.”

At his best, Crichton expertly blended spectacle and philosophy, so the new film’s engagement with profound issues reconnects the franchise with its founding principles — while also giving viewers something to consider after the movie is over.

Takeaway: Ideas are the best special effects

 Bigger isn’t always better

One reason why the Jurassic franchise sputtered after its third installment is that filmmakers faced an impossible challenge whenever they tried to top the T-Rex in the first movie. Even the better-late-than-never introduction of flying predators in Jurassic Park III wasn’t enough to recapture the wow factor that audiences experienced in 1993.

The folks behind Jurassic World assumed the promise of bigger and badder dinosaurs, created with FX technology that didn’t exist during the original Jurassic cycle, would lure fans back to theaters. Enter the ginormous “Indomimus Rex” and the even larger aquatic predator Mosasaurus — both of which featured prominently in ads for Jurassic World. The strategy worked.

While considering how to follow up the massive success of Jurassic World, however, it appears someone learned the lessons of the past.

To be clear, no previous Jurassic sequence is more spectacular than the Fallen Kingdom scene in which Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) escape a volcanic explosion while caught in a dinosaur stampede. But after that point, Fallen Kingdom changes location to a northern California mansion with an adjoining underground compound.

Whereas Jurassic World had one oversized sequence after another, Fallen Kingdom gets back to basics with claws and fangs bashing through walls and windows. Even Fallen Kingdom’s new dinosaur, the genetically-engineered Indoraptor, is a nastier and scarier dinosaur than we’ve seen before, instead of a bigger dinosaur than we’ve seen before.

Takeaway: Fight smarter, not harder

 Explore the unexplored

Without giving away a significant plot twist, Fallen Kingdom introduces a brand new application of Hammond’s scientific concepts — and this new application ups the stakes for the ethical debates that energized the original film.

This storytelling choice is as risky as it is bold because it removes the franchise from the realm of silly escapism and draws it into the realm of contemporary, real-world scientific discourse. Additionally, this new plot element suggests that the next installment of the franchise, presently scheduled for release in 2021, will be about much more than running from dinosaurs and screaming.

Seeing as how contemporary Hollywood is generally risk averse, this bold move deserves praise. After all, showing people running from dinosaurs and screaming was enough to make Jurassic World a mega hit — which means that Connolly and Trevorrow had no obvious marketplace imperative to push the envelope.

They tried something new for the sake of trying something new. That’s science. That’s Crichton. And that’s what made Jurassic Park interesting in the first place.

Takeaway: When writing sci-fi, keep looking forward