Parents' Guide to

Jurassic School

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Dreadful low-budget fantasy is hard to watch.

Movie PG 2017 85 minutes
Jurassic School Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

  • Jurassic School Movie: Scene #1
  • Jurassic School Movie: Scene #2
  • Jurassic School Movie: Scene #3

Community Reviews

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age 6+

Based on 12 parent reviews

Lebron12James3
Lebron12James3 Parent
January 18, 2022
age 6+

Lacks the heart of the first 4 movies

Going into the movie, I had high hopes. Shrek is a gangster franchise, but this one disappointed on all fronts. I found the movie to be pretty boring and predictable at times, although the animation was consistently amazing. There were some scenes in the villains lair with Monsters that were creepy in nature, and there was a jump scare that might make younger kids upset. Donkey, Fiona, the kids, and the royal family were barely in the movie. Donkey seemed to go backwards character wize, and the rest were shoved to the side. There were also some questionable themes in the movie. The ending also undermines the themes of the rest of the series with *SPOILERS* Shrek leaving the rest of the group to hang out with the lady who’s name I forgot. Overall, it was a strange installment with a lack of imagination and heart.
RedSoxClover
RedSoxClover Adult
March 29, 2019
age 6+

Rivals Jurassic Park!!

This movie was top notch. Jurassic Park has nothing on this . The special effects were mind blowing. It felt like I was really seeing a dinosaur . The acting was also amazing. Makes you wonder how some actors make millions when these people aren’t well known and outperformed the best. The budget on this must have been in the millions for sure. I can’t wait for the sequel!! Edge of the seat action.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much sex
See all 12 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In JURASSIC SCHOOL, 12-year-old science whiz Tommy creates a dinosaur using his computer, plastic toys, some yellow fluid, an ostrich egg, and a heat lamp. A corrupt researcher named Reynolds (Jon Briddell) reluctantly leads a middle school competition sponsored by his tech company but actually wants to steal any good ideas produced and then claim them as his own. His favorite boy scientist, Ethan (Ashton Pulis), sometimes sabotages the more creative Tommy's work and sometimes tries to take credit for Tommy's project when it seems to succeed. Ethan threatens to have Tommy kicked out of the sponsorship unless Tommy cooperates. The dinosaur Tommy creates gets loose, with Reynolds in hot pursuit and Tommy, his sister Chloe (Amber Patino), and Ethan, now on Tommy's side, trying to save the creature. The police get involved and the dinosaur, whose health is failing, makes a miraculous recovery.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (12):
Kids say (12):

This movie's filmmakers seem to think that if their plot features extremely smart children, their movie can be extremely dumb. Jurassic School is dreadfully written and dreadfully executed. Anyone older than 5 will find its logic and plotting painfully inadequate, to the degree that it's unwatchable. Tommy inexplicably crumbles under pressure to do the bidding of the oily little manipulator Ethan, when he could easily show his work to someone other than the mean old Dr. Reynolds and get full, deserved credit. Creating new life is something the local newspaper might be interested in, no? And when the dinosaur hatches but Tommy decides to hide the creature instead of showing it to everyone immediately, the reason he gives for waiting makes no sense.

Making fantasy movies as cheaply as possible is no crime, but one of the main characters is a dinosaur and around 90 percent of its scenes feature a long green rubber tube with an unblinking dinosaur head attached to its end. Clearly someone off-screen is moving that tube to the left or right as scenes require in the thing's "interactions" with human actors. Also, the plot depends on the staggering availability of ostrich eggs, large numbers of which are required to conduct Tommy's many experiments. None of it makes sense and all of it is awful.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what it means to follow one's passions. Tommy loves science and perseveres in his quest to hatch a dinosaur in Jurassic School. What passion projects do you want to see through to the end?

  • Cloning and DNA research are making it seem as if it might be possible to re-create extinct animals in the lab. What other scientific feats would you like to see accomplished?

  • How does this compare to other dinosaur movies you've seen?

Movie Details

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