The Jurassic Park franchise has thrilled audiences for decades with its incredible dinosaurs and edge-of-your-seat action. Behind all that excitement, though, are characters who consistently make head-scratching choices that leave viewers yelling at their screens. From ignoring basic safety protocols to wandering off alone in predator-filled jungles, these poor decisions have become as iconic as the dinosaurs themselves.
1. John Hammond deciding to build Jurassic Park in the first place
Creating a theme park filled with prehistorical apex predators was Hammond’s first and most catastrophic mistake. The wealthy entrepreneur ignored nature’s boundaries and millions of years of extinction to satisfy his god complex.
His childlike wonder blinded him to the obvious dangers of resurrecting creatures that evolution had decisively removed from Earth. “We spared no expense,” became his mantra, except when it came to adequate security systems and emergency protocols.
Hammond’s fundamental failure to respect the power and unpredictability of the animals he created set in motion every disaster that followed. His hubris ultimately cost lives and created a scientific nightmare that would span decades.
2. Dennis Nedry sabotaging the park’s security systems during a tropical storm
Nedry’s timing couldn’t have been worse. The disgruntled programmer chose to betray InGen during a tropical storm when evacuation options were limited and visibility was near zero. His plan to steal embryos for Biosyn showed shocking disregard for human life.
He deliberately shut down critical security systems, including electrified fences containing the most dangerous predators. Nedry somehow believed he could navigate treacherous roads in a downpour, reach the dock, and escape before anyone noticed the sabotage.
His greed-driven decision freed the Tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptors, directly causing multiple deaths. Ironically, his own demise came from underestimating the very creatures he helped unleash – the venom-spitting Dilophosaurus.
3. Dr. Alan Grant bringing kids to Isla Sorna in Jurassic Park III
After surviving the original Jurassic Park nightmare, Dr. Grant somehow thought returning to dinosaur island was a good idea. Even worse, he allowed young Eric Kirby’s parents to trick him into a rescue mission, eventually putting a child in harm’s way… again.
Grant knew better than anyone what these prehistoric predators could do. His financial desperation led him to ignore every survival instinct he possessed. The paleontologist who once said “dinosaurs and man…separated by 65 million years of evolution” willingly shortened that gap a second time.
His decision to board that plane, regardless of the deception involved, showed astonishingly poor judgment from someone who had already experienced the island’s horrors firsthand.
4. Leaving the raptor paddock door unlocked in Jurassic World
Owen Grady and his team demonstrated shocking negligence when handling the park’s most intelligent predators. The paddock’s security relied entirely on a single sliding door that wasn’t automatically secured – a baffling design flaw for containing deadly animals.
When a worker fell into the enclosure, the rescue team rushed in without proper protocols. No one stationed a guard at the door or implemented secondary containment measures. This oversight allowed the clever raptors to slip through before the door closed.
The mistake reflects the franchise’s recurring theme of underestimating dinosaur intelligence. Despite decades of evidence showing raptors’ problem-solving abilities, Jurassic World’s management still treated them like ordinary animals rather than the calculating hunters they truly were.
5. Claire Dearing wearing high heels throughout Jurassic World
The operations manager of a dinosaur theme park somehow decided stiletto heels were appropriate footwear for a workday. When the Indominus rex escaped, Claire continued outrunning prehistoric predators in these impractical shoes instead of finding alternatives.
The jungle terrain, mud, and uneven ground would make walking difficult even in hiking boots. Claire’s decision to maintain corporate fashion standards while fleeing for her life defied both common sense and basic survival instincts.
Her footwear choice became even more ridiculous when she outran a T-rex in those same heels. While demonstrating impressive athletic ability, her stubborn refusal to swap shoes remains one of the franchise’s most mocked moments – a triumph of style over survival.
6. Separating from the group in predator-filled environments
Characters across all Jurassic films seem determined to wander off alone, despite knowing hungry dinosaurs lurk nearby. From Gennaro abandoning the kids to use the bathroom to Zach and Gray leaving the gyrosphere’s designated area, solo adventures consistently lead to disaster.
This pattern of separation defies both common sense and basic wilderness survival knowledge. The franchise repeatedly demonstrates that groups fare better against predators, yet characters continuously split up to investigate strange noises or take shortcuts.
Perhaps most egregious was Amanda Kirby in Jurassic Park III, who used a loudspeaker to call for her missing son across the island. Her decision not only separated her from protective companions but essentially broadcast a dinner invitation to every carnivore within miles.
7. Owen Grady and Claire entering the Indoraptor’s cage in Fallen Kingdom
When tracking the Indoraptor at Lockwood Estate, Owen and Claire made the baffling decision to enter its cage rather than securing help or better weapons. They knew this creature combined the worst traits of raptors and the Indominus rex, yet approached it with nothing but a tranquilizer gun.
The hybrid dinosaur had already demonstrated extraordinary intelligence, strength, and killing ability. Despite this knowledge, they entered its confined space with minimal protection and no backup plan when the sedative inevitably failed.
Their reckless approach nearly cost them their lives when the supposedly sedated creature revealed its ability to regulate its bodily functions and fake unconsciousness – a trick that should have been anticipated given the raptor DNA in its genetic makeup.
8. Vic Hoskins trying to weaponize velociraptors
InGen’s head of security developed the catastrophic plan to turn nature’s perfect killing machines into military assets. Hoskins ignored every warning from Owen Grady about the raptors’ unpredictability and intelligence, insisting they could be controlled like attack dogs.
His military background gave him dangerous overconfidence in humanity’s ability to dominate these predators. Hoskins dismissed the raptors’ complex pack dynamics and problem-solving abilities as manageable challenges rather than fundamental obstacles to weaponization.
The ultimate irony came when Hoskins finally got his face-to-face moment with Delta, the raptor he so admired. His miscalculation about the creature’s loyalty became fatally clear as Delta recognized him not as a commander but as prey, demonstrating exactly why his entire premise was fundamentally flawed.
9. Building the Indominus rex with predator DNA cocktail
Jurassic World’s scientists, led by Dr. Henry Wu, created a genetic monstrosity by combining T-rex DNA with velociraptor, cuttlefish, tree frog, and other species. This reckless genetic experimentation prioritized “wow factor” over safety considerations.
The decision to include cuttlefish genes, which enabled camouflage abilities, and tree frog DNA, allowing temperature regulation to hide from thermal sensors, was particularly negligent. They essentially engineered countermeasures to their own security systems into the creature’s genetic code.
Most baffling was keeping these genetic additions secret from the park’s operations team. Even Owen Grady, responsible for behavioral analysis of dangerous predators, wasn’t informed about the raptor DNA that would significantly impact the Indominus rex’s hunting strategies and intelligence.
10. Hiring just one IT security person for the entire park
John Hammond’s infamous cost-cutting reached its peak with the decision to entrust Jurassic Park’s entire computer security system to Dennis Nedry alone. This single point of failure proved catastrophic when Nedry turned against the company.
No backup systems, secondary authorization requirements, or additional IT personnel existed to prevent or quickly reverse Nedry’s sabotage. The park’s most critical security features—electric fences, door locks, and tracking systems—all relied on code that only one disgruntled employee fully understood.
Even more recklessly, Hammond gave Nedry unrestricted access while simultaneously underpaying him for additional work, creating both motive and opportunity for betrayal. This staffing decision ultimately caused more destruction than any dinosaur could have managed alone.
11. Dr. Wu leaving dinosaur embryos unguarded in Fallen Kingdom
Dr. Henry Wu, despite his brilliance, repeatedly failed to secure his precious genetic materials. In Fallen Kingdom, he stored irreplaceable dinosaur embryos in an easily accessible laboratory with minimal security measures.
These containers held millions of dollars in intellectual property and potentially world-changing genetic material. Yet Wu relied on basic locks and a handful of mercenaries rather than biometric safes or secure underground facilities that would better protect such valuable assets.
His carelessness allowed Maisie Lockwood to access restricted areas and eventually release all remaining dinosaurs into the wild. For a scientist obsessed with control and genetic purity, Wu demonstrated shocking negligence in protecting the very specimens that represented his life’s work.
12. Reopening Jurassic World after the original park’s disaster
Following multiple deaths and a PR catastrophe at the original Jurassic Park, Masrani Global somehow concluded that building a new dinosaur theme park was a sound business decision. They ignored the fundamental lesson that containing prehistoric predators was inherently unsustainable.
The company’s executives dismissed the original disaster as a security failure rather than a conceptual flaw. They believed better technology and infrastructure could overcome the biological reality that these animals evolved to survive and escape confinement.
Even more recklessly, Jurassic World expanded beyond Hammond’s original vision, housing larger and more dangerous species like Mosasaurus and creating entirely new hybrid predators. This escalation showed a corporation that had learned nothing from history except how to make the same mistakes on a grander scale.
13. Lowering a goat into the T-rex paddock with children watching
Jurassic Park’s tour designers made the bewildering choice to turn feeding time into family entertainment. They lowered a live goat into the T-rex enclosure while visitor vehicles were stopped directly outside the paddock, essentially training the dinosaur to associate vehicles with feeding time.
This decision violated basic zoological safety practices. Modern zoos never feed predators in front of visitors, especially not live prey that struggles and triggers hunting instincts. The presentation conditioned the T-rex to approach vehicles when hungry.
When the power failed during Nedry’s sabotage, this feeding routine became deadly. The T-rex, now free and seeking food, naturally investigated the tour vehicles where food had previously appeared. What began as questionable entertainment became a perfect setup for disaster.
14. Maisie Lockwood releasing all dinosaurs into the wild
Young Maisie made perhaps the most consequential decision in the entire franchise when she released dozens of dinosaurs into the North American ecosystem. Facing the dinosaurs’ impending death from toxic gas, she chose to free them rather than allow their extinction.
Her emotional choice, while understandable for a child who recently discovered her own clone status, demonstrated catastrophic ecological ignorance. These prehistoric creatures had no natural predators in modern environments and carried unknown diseases and parasites.
The decision essentially guaranteed countless human deaths and ecosystem collapse across multiple regions. While the franchise portrayed her choice as morally complex, releasing apex predators into populated areas was objectively one of the most dangerous actions any character could have taken.
15. Dr. Malcolm antagonizing the T-rex with a flare
When the T-rex attacked the tour vehicles, Dr. Ian Malcolm grabbed a flare to divert its attention from the children. While heroic in intent, his execution proved dangerously flawed.
Instead of simply throwing the flare far away, Malcolm ran with it, ensuring the dinosaur focused on him. He then threw the flare aside but remained standing in the open, completely visible to a predator that hunts by movement. This half-commitment to his distraction plan nearly cost him his life.
His mistake appears even worse compared to Dr. Grant’s more effective technique moments later. Grant correctly threw his flare far away before freezing in place, understanding that staying motionless was crucial to survival once the T-rex’s attention was diverted.
16. Leaving weapons behind when pursuing dinosaurs
Throughout the franchise, characters consistently abandon or misplace their weapons at critical moments. From Robert Muldoon setting down his shotgun to Dr. Grant dropping his flare gun, these lapses in basic survival instinct occur with baffling frequency.
The most egregious example came from the InGen hunters in The Lost World. These supposedly experienced big-game professionals repeatedly ventured into dangerous areas without their rifles, left weapons unattended, or failed to maintain proper ammunition supplies.
Even military-trained characters like mercenary teams in later films demonstrated this strange tendency. They would enter known predator territories with inadequate firepower or abandon functional weapons after a single use, choices no actual combat veteran would make when facing lethal threats.
17. Not evacuating the island immediately when systems failed
When Nedry’s sabotage caused park-wide systems failures, Hammond and his team wasted precious hours attempting repairs instead of initiating immediate evacuation. The decision to keep visitors and staff on an island with compromised predator containment defied basic emergency management principles.
Even after confirming the T-rex had escaped, park management focused on restoring power rather than getting people to safety. They had functional vehicles and a clear path to the visitor center and docks, yet chose to leave everyone exposed to increasing danger.
Most inexplicably, Hammond refused to authorize lethal force against escaped predators until multiple deaths had occurred. His emotional attachment to the animals directly contributed to the high human casualty count during what should have been a manageable evacuation.
18. Bringing dinosaurs to the mainland in Fallen Kingdom
Eli Mills orchestrated the transportation of numerous dangerous dinosaurs from Isla Nublar to the Lockwood Estate in California. This decision to bring prehistoric predators to a populated area showed catastrophic disregard for public safety.
The plan involved housing multiple carnivores, including a T-rex and velociraptors, in a basement facility never designed for such dangerous creatures. The inadequate containment systems lacked backup power, multiple security layers, or proper isolation protocols.
Even more recklessly, Mills invited wealthy buyers to an auction in the same building where these predators were held. The entire operation placed hundreds of lives at risk and ultimately resulted in dinosaurs escaping into the North American wilderness – all to satisfy the greed of collectors who wanted exotic pets.
19. Distracting Owen while he’s in the raptor enclosure
Jurassic World opened with a worker falling into the raptor paddock after another employee distracted Owen during a critical training moment. This careless interruption occurred while Owen was maintaining eye contact with highly intelligent predators, teaching them complex commands.
The distraction broke the raptors’ focus and reminded them of their predatory nature at the worst possible moment. The employee’s decision to shout and draw attention demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of predator psychology and training protocols.
This mistake revealed the park’s systemic problems with untrained staff working around dangerous animals. Despite being promoted as more professional than the original park, Jurassic World still employed workers who didn’t grasp basic safety concepts around apex predators.
20. Trying to steal T-rex eggs in The Lost World
The InGen hunters in The Lost World made the mind-boggling decision to raid a Tyrannosaurus rex nest, seemingly oblivious to the fact that parent dinosaurs would fiercely protect their offspring. This reckless egg theft triggered one of the film’s most intense sequences.
Paleontological evidence already suggested strong parental instincts in these animals. The hunters ignored this science along with basic wildlife management principles that warn against approaching predator nesting sites.
Their poor planning extended to setting up camp downwind from the nest, essentially creating a scent trail directly back to their location. This combination of scientific ignorance and tactical errors led directly to the death of multiple team members and the destruction of their equipment and camp.
21. Bringing an injured T-rex to San Diego
Peter Ludlow’s plan to revive InGen’s fortunes included capturing an adult T-rex and its offspring for a San Diego attraction. The execution of this already questionable plan went catastrophically wrong when the sedated adult was given too much tranquilizer during transport.
The crew then administered stimulants to prevent the dinosaur from dying, creating an unpredictable cocktail of drugs in a multi-ton predator. Inexplicably, they opened the cargo hold upon docking without confirming the animal was properly secured.
The resulting rampage through suburban San Diego caused numerous deaths and millions in property damage. Ludlow’s hasty implementation and poor oversight transformed a controversial business decision into one of the franchise’s most preventable disasters.
22. Claire sending technicians into the Indominus rex paddock without tracking it first
When the Indominus rex appeared missing from its enclosure, Claire Dearing made the fatal decision to send maintenance workers inside before confirming the dinosaur’s location. She relied solely on the paddock’s thermal sensors, which had already shown inconsistent readings.
Basic security protocol would demand visual confirmation of a dangerous animal’s whereabouts before human entry. Claire skipped this fundamental safety step, leading directly to multiple deaths when the camouflaged dinosaur revealed itself.
Her decision became even more questionable when we later learned she knew about the creature’s genetic modifications, including DNA from animals with camouflage abilities. This knowledge made her hasty dispatch of workers into the paddock not just negligent but bordering on criminally reckless.
23. Building the Indoraptor as a weapon without proper containment protocols
Dr. Wu’s creation of the Indoraptor represented the pinnacle of scientific arrogance. He engineered a dinosaur specifically designed to hunt and kill humans efficiently, yet housed it in a standard cage with conventional locks and barriers.
The creature’s intelligence, agility, and predatory instincts demanded extraordinary containment measures. Instead, Wu and Mills kept it in a basement facility with minimal security personnel and no specialized restraints tailored to its unique abilities.
Even more recklessly, they brought this prototype killing machine to a public auction before completing behavioral testing or establishing reliable control mechanisms. The decision to showcase an unstable, experimental predator to civilians demonstrated complete disregard for safety and directly led to the creature’s inevitable escape.
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