The Jurassic Park franchise will forever be the top dog when it comes to dinosaur movies, in box office gross if nothing else. Spielberg’s 1993 masterpiece based on Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel of the same name shaped the world’s perception of prehistoric creatures, and although none of its sequels have ever lived up to the original, it’s still the first thing on any movie fan’s mind when it comes to dinosaurs. However, there are a number of excellent dinosaur movies, like the recently released thriller The End of Oak Street, that should remain a part of the conversation.
The list below examines 10 of the best dinosaur movies that are not a part of the Jurassic Park franchise. They are not ranked in any order, as their merits are varied and in most cases they aren’t comparable in scale, scope, or objective. The key thread is that the dinosaurs are at the front and center of the narrative, even if they aren’t technically the stars of the show. From animated epics to low-budget marvels, each of these movies is entertaining and rewatchable if you’re a fan of dinosaurs—and after all, isn’t everyone?
Why You Should Trust Me: As a professional entertainment writer, I’ve had the privilege of covering and analyzing horror, sci-fi, and monster movies over the last five years for MovieWeb and Screen Rant. As a result, I’ve seen just about every dinosaur movie of the last century. I specialize in separating the themes from the screams, and hold Guillermo del Toro’s mantra that “a monster is never just a monster” in my heart at all times.
10
‘The End of Oak Street’ (2026)
David Robert Mitchell’s deeply nostalgic sci-fi adventure.
The fingerprints of Spielberg’s work (not just Jurassic Park) are all over The End of Oak Street, which should come as no surprise given that Spielberg protégé J.J. Abrams was a producer on the movie. Hailed as one of the best dinosaur movies in decades, The End of Oak Street literally transports a suburban 1980s neighborhood 200 million years into the past, and lets the chaos unfold. The movie is littered with dinosaurs of all kinds, with everything from furry sauropods to feathered raptors wreaking havoc on unsuspecting suburbanites. With a solid human story and legitimately dread-inducing dinos, this is an instant entry on “best of” dinosaur movie lists.
9
‘We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story’ (1993)
An iconic 90s animated adventure comedy with a star-studded voice cast.
Many millennials will undoubtedly remember this one from the halcyon days of Blockbuster and Family Video, and it still holds up today. Starring John Goodman at the head of a tremendous voice cast (tons of names that will have you doing the Leo pointing meme as you go), We’re Back! follows a group of four dinosaurs who are pulled out of the past, fed “Brain Grain” to increase their intelligence and fast-forward their evolution, and sent to modern-day New York City to entertain children of all ages. With a memorable score and engaging animation, We’re Back! provides a comedic animated twist on dinosaurs unlike anything else on this list.
8
‘Dinosaur’ (2000)
Disney’s epic first foray into 3D animation.
With its release just after the end of the golden age of Disney animation, Dinosaur is an oft-forgotten experiment in moviemaking. Combining CGI dinosaurs and real-world live-action backgrounds, the movie acted as an unprecedented step forward in animation. The story may not land for everyone, but the photo-realistic dinosaurs are undeniably well-executed, and from a pure dinosaur diversity standpoint it’s a triumph. The ultra-menacing carnotaurs act as sharp-toothed villains, while other underrepresented (in cinema) species, like the iguanadon and the styracosaurus, are given the spotlight. It was revolutionary for its time, and it still holds up as an entertaining dino adventure.
7
‘The Valley of Gwangi’ (1969)
An iconic 1960s fantasy Western landmark film for dinosaurs.
The Valley of Gwangi is a true genre mash-up, as it features Old West cowboys who capture an allosaurus in a hidden Mexican valley. The sci-fi/Western mashup is entertaining, and it also represents a high watermark for the work of legendary stop-motion and effects master Ray Harryhausen. Echoes of The Valley of Gwangi can be found in many modern dinosaur blockbusters, including Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, as Harryhausen’s immaculate stop-motion work helped set a new standard in realistic dinosaur body motion.
6
‘The VelociPastor’ (2017)
A gloriously absurd and goofy satirical cult classic.
The VelociPastor is fortunately extremely self-aware, as one would hope a movie about a Roman Catholic priest who turns into a velociraptor to fight ninjas would be. The low-budget aspect ($36,000 to be precise) works incredibly well to ratchet up the comedy level of the premise, which was reportedly born out of a mistaken autocorrect of the word “velociraptor.” It’s a so-bad-it’s-good camp classic, and is a perfect example of why it would be impossible to rank the movies on this list. This one simply isn’t out to achieve the same things as some of the rest, but it’s excellent all the same.
5
‘The Land Before Time’ (1988)
The surprisingly dark but engrossing animated adventure drama that spawned countless sequels.
The Land Before Time will always hold a very special place in my heart as it’s one of the first movies I can ever remember watching. I’ve since introduced it to my daughters, and I can confirm the emotional drama and heavy stakes of the animated adventure still hit just as hard. The original differs greatly from the 13 direct-to-video sequels it spawned, which are far more light and loaded with musical numbers. The original is a darker story of perseverance and navigating trauma and loss, and goes so far as effectively outlining the stages of grief. It’s a classic for a reason.
4
‘Primitive War’ (2025)
A gnarly genre mash-up that made dinosaurs scary again.
What would happen if you put some of the deadliest predators to ever walk the Earth smack-dab in the middle of the Vietnam War? Australian director Luke Sparke gave an answer with Primitive War, which sees a special unit battle dinosaurs through the jungles of Vietnam on their way to a secret Russian base that hides a wormhole through which dinosaurs have crossed into the modern world. Primitive War is surprisingly well-executed given its truly independent nature, as the dinosaurs look spectacular for a budget of reportedly just $7 million. They’re also legitimately scary, which is something that the Jurassic Park franchise had been missing for years.
3
‘One Million Years B.C.” (1966)
The adventure fantasy classic famously starring Raquel Welch.
One Million Years B.C. does not even pretend to care about history, timelines, or reality, and instead mashes cave people together with dinosaurs in a fast-paced fantasy adventure. Although you may not recognize the movie’s name, the image(s) of Raquel Welch in a fur bikini is among the most iconic in movie history, not only for its significance in 60s culture, but as the poster covering Andy Defresne’s infamous escape hole in The Shawshank Redemption. If you show up for Raquel Welch, you’ll stick around for more outstanding stop-motion dinosaur work from Ray Harryhausen and pure, unfiltered 1960s movie vibes.
2
‘The Good Dinosaur’ (2015)
Pixar’s first real box office failure deserved a much better fate.
The Good Dinosaur has gotten an unfair rap as “Pixar’s first failure”, and while that’s technically true given the movie’s sky-high budget, that doesn’t diminish the movie’s quality. It’s visually stunning, and while the dinosaurs are far more cartoonish than the surrounding environments, it’s still loaded with incredible animation and effects work. The story is simple and straightforward, but has plenty of heart despite never reaching the highs of Pixar’s all-time greats. At one point in the narrative, Sam Elliott voices a T. rex who’s also a bona fide cattle-wrangling cowboy, and sometimes elements like that are all a movie needs to be well worth the price of admission.
1
‘King Kong’ (2005)
The ape may be the star, but the dino action is unmatched.
Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy adventure King Kong is so much more than a movie about a giant ape that winds up in New York City. The story begins on Skull Island, Kong’s isolated home that was lost to time. It is positively loaded with prehistoric monsters with sensational designs, most notably the Vastatosaurus rex, or “V-Rex”, that Kong fights. Jackson’s command of epic scale and action is on full display in the dinosaur sequences in particular, with the raging brontosaurus stampede and Kong’s frantic battle against three V-rexes standing as benchmarks in dinosaur-centric cinematic set pieces. Kong’s name may be on the marquee, but for the first half of the runtime this is an outright dinosaur movie.
- Release Date
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August 14, 2026
- Runtime
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100 minutes
- Producers
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Chris Bender, J.J. Abrams, Tommy Harper, David Robert Mitchell, Jake Weiner, Matt Jackson, Joanne Lee
