[hider=Minor Spoilers]
[quote=@Hey Im Jordan]
As you can see from the trailers, the island is blowing up. Volcano's erupting, whatever. Ian Malcolm gives you the whole spiel (by the way he's just in the movie, they just have him be there. they don't explain who he is so or why he's giving a speech to the U.S. Senate. [b]I still have no idea if the first three movies are canon or not).[/b] Whatever, cool. Everything needs a reason.
[/quote]

They are canon, though the clues are really subtle and/or within movie tie-in material that isn't directly stated, so I can see the confusion behind that. Like how Vic Hoskins oversaw the clean up of the Pteranodons that escaped Isla Sorna at the end of JP3, and he and his team recaptured Rexy (the original Tyrannosaurus we see in the first film). The Spinosaurus we see JP3 had been illegally bred by InGen employees unbeknownst to InGen or Masrani, and later helps to inspire the creation of the Indominus Rex.

Jurassic World has Zac and Gray use the banner that fell at the end of JP1 as part of their torch, and Jeep 18 (the one Alan, Ellie and Ian rode to the visitor center is the one that Owen and Claire tried to start up before the Indominus showed up. As for the explorer Rexy pushed over and into the moat (EXP 04), we see Blue jump onto it when she meets Owen again, though it is later melted away by the lava flow.

But yeah, I do agree that the movie was rather terrible.[/hider]