LEGO Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler set review: who needs dinosaurs?

This Jurassic Park set may not contain dinosaurs, but it’s certain to please car enthusiasts by delivering both a detailed movie car and an authentic LEGO Jeep experience.

While there are minor quibbles to be made with 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler, these really are minor. This is a workhorse of a set, delivering exactly what is needed of it and more, with a level of polish and attention to detail that is certain to please car enthusiasts and movie buffs alike. Add in the variety of customisation options, and this is a set that’s well worth picking up for fans of the source material.

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LEGO Jurassic World steers into new territory with 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler, a set based on the iconic original movie that doesn’t actually feature any dinosaurs.

As counter-intuitive as that might initially seem, the decision to leave genetically-engineered extinct animals out of this set allows for a build which manages to reach beyond the theme’s usual audience – not only is this a licensed movie set, it’s also an official Jeep Wrangler set, with a high level of detail and authenticity that means this model is likely to appeal to car enthusiasts just as much as movie buffs and dinosaur fans.

Taken as a Jeep set first and foremost, this build absolutely delivers. With 1,924 pieces, this is the largest LEGO System car currently on the market (not counting any vehicle with a large brick-built cartoon Italian plumber sitting on the top). There are a couple of larger Technic cars, but this new Jeep is the biggest and most detailed LEGO System car of the moment.

The attention to detail is genuinely impressive. A lot of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments within the original Jurassic Park film have been squeezed in here as features – most notably the winch at the front of car, used for a only few seconds by Dennis Nedry in the movie. This inclusion goes a long way to providing the ultimate LEGO Jeep experience, even if this particular Jeep is covered in dinosaur skeleton livery.

Note also the options for customisation. The set can be built with four different sets of stickers to represent four of the cars that appear in the film, with an optional canvas top, some supply crates, and a set of floodlights that can be added or removed at the builder’s preference. This gives a lot of flexibility for anyone who wants to display a specific vehicle from Jurassic Park, but it also means that anyone who’s coming to this with a greater interest in cars than dinosaurs has a lot of options for how they choose to arrange this on the shelf.

This is particularly fortuitous because the canvas, while an ambitious inclusion, will likely not be to everybody’s tastes. Fiddly to get into place, this covering sits awkwardly on top of the build, being too tight in some places and a little loose in others. This may be a matter of giving a subtle tweak to the frame underneath to get everything to sit right, but even so, the flimsy material is stretched taut in places to the point that it feels like it might buckle or tear.

Another, far less nerve-wracking problem that comes from the set’s customisation options relates to the liberal inclusion of stickered elements. On the one hand, it’s nice to have four sets of stickered tiles, in order to customise the display and change the numbers on the Jeep’s front and sides. On the other hand, the finished build has a lot of elements that attach by a single row of studs, and it’s not uncommon, when manipulating the car to remove and replace tiles, for other parts to come loose.

Changing the tiles is perfectly fine, but anyone undertaking this process should do so delicately and carefully to avoid losing any of the car’s mirrors, which are all a little on the flimsy side. What’s more, there is no easy way to change the stile on the car bonnet – it will require dismantling the entire bonnet and reassembling it afterwards.

Purists will also quibble the use of this many stickers in the first place. There are two major drawbacks here: firstly, the fact that these are stickers rather than printed pieces means that it takes a steady hand to stick everything down properly, and there’s always the danger that one of the stickers will end up permanently at an awkward angle (as is the case with all LEGO stickers).

Second, there’s no getting around the fact that the shade of grey present on the stickers doesn’t match the colour of the LEGO bricks they’re meant to be stuck on. This has been a point of complaint among some fans for a while now, and alas, the problem has not been solved for 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler. At the same time, car fans who just want a big, brick-built Jeep and aren’t too interested in the movie branding may prefer to leave the stickers off entirely – an option that wouldn't be possible with printed pieces.

It's worth noting that the car’s chassis, which comprises the first steps in the building process, is made up largely of Technic pieces, with a lot of pins that have to be placed very carefully to make everything work correctly. When finally finished, this means that turning the spare tyre on the back of the car causes the front wheels to turn, which is nice – it’s just worth bearing in mind that those early stages for the building process can be fiddly and annoying, especially to anyone less familiar or less fond of building with Technic elements.

The set comes with a plaque and a unique Dennis Nedry minifigure, which references the scene in the film where he spends the most time with one of the park’s Jeeps (spoiler alert: it doesn’t end well for him). This is a charming minifigure with some nice graphic design work on the front and back.

77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler also comes with a sign displaying the way to Isla Nublar’s East Dock (the direction of the arrow on the sign can be changed to match the film), and, hidden away at the back of this sign, there’s a small printed piece which represents a mosquito trapped in amber.

With 1,924 pieces, this is a hefty build – with a hefty price tag to match. That said, while this is by no means a cheap set, the £179.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 price is cheaper than a lot of the similarly-sized Formula 1-branded sets that have smaller piece counts.

Minor quibbles aside, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where they actually spoil the fun for a builder. 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler is a sight to behold: a large, impressive set that’s well polished and overflowing with references and small details.

For those who are drawn to the Jurassic World theme for the chance to build or play with LEGO dinosaurs, this might not be the most exciting set, but it certainly delivers some cleverly constructed Jeep action. For those who are enticed by the prospect of a detailed Jeep with Jurassic Park branding, this set does not disappoint.

Our honest opinion: Not only should this set please Jurassic Park fans, it’ll also satisfy car enthusiasts who want to add a beefy Jeep Wrangler to their collection.

This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group.

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How many ways can LEGO Jurassic Park 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler be built?

The instructions for 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler detail four different customisation options for the four prominent Jeeps that appear in the original film. This includes a canvas over the top, a roll cage that can be removed, some additional crates that can be placed on the back and a set of floodlights for the top. The set also comes with four sets of stickered elements for changing the numbers displayed on the front, sides and back of the build.

How long does it take to build LEGO Jurassic World 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler?

LEGO Jurassic World 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler takes around four hours to build. Multiple building options add a little extra time at the end of the build, should you wish to fully explore everything the set has to offer.

How big is LEGO Jurassic World 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler?

LEGO Jurassic World 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler measures 16cm tall, 34cm long and 18cm wide, and contains 1,924 pieces, making it the largest LEGO System car currently on the market that doesn’t also feature a large brick-built driver.

How much does LEGO Jurassic World 77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler cost?

77984 Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler launches May 7 and costs £179.99 in the UK, $199.99 in the US and €199.99 in parts of the EU.