10 Movie Franchises That Need To Return To Their Roots

Another franchise kickstarted by Steven Spielberg, which has since lost its creative way (although certainly not its box office mojo), is the Jurassic Park series. Having started out as a masterclass in blockbuster thrills, marrying visual spectacle with genuinely tense direction, it has now become as shallow and forgettable as a theme park ride.

Ironically, since Jurassic World onwards the franchise has suffered on account of the very same issues faced by the fictional owners of the parks. In order to keep a constant flow of customers, they believe that newer and bigger attractions are necessary, so the filmmakers dish up a menu of brand new hybrid super-predator dinosaurs when in reality they should be refining the ingredients.

Meanwhile, all the characters with the exception of Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) have little to do other than deliver formulaic expository dialogue or run around pretending to be frightened by the sometimes unconvincing CGI monsters. Lacking any real emotional connection to the characters, the set pieces end up feeling weightless and without any real stakes for the audience to care about.

It's unlikely that director Colin Trevorrow - returning for the next installment - is going to change the formula which has led to such impressive box office receipts, but continuing on this path is a sure way to guarantee his legacy on the franchise will be forgotten well before Spielberg's original film has faded from memory. A return to something smaller in scope focused on building up tension and featuring a tighter ensemble of rounded characters could remind audiences just how terrifying movie dinosaurs can be.