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Rating: 4.25 out of 5
I remember when the first Jumanji came out back in 1995. I was around 10 years old, and I went and saw that film in the theaters around six times. I even bought the board game and played it once or twice with my family. The board game was meh cause, with my little kid brain, nothing happened. Oh, to have an imagination. After that time, I forgot all about the board game and movie. I watched the original Jumanji periodically when it popped on TNT or TBS.
With Hollywood, if you wait long enough, a film will either get a sequel, remake or reboot. Sure enough, Jumanji was getting a sequel/remake for the modern audience. As I watched the trailer, I saw that it brought out some big guns with the film starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Nick Jonas. The trailer looked interesting as I wondered how those actors would become the game’s characters and how the game would become relevant. Directed by Jake Kasdan from a screenplay by the writing teams of Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, and Jeff Pinkner, the team launches us back into the world of Jumanji with this funny and adventurous twist on the classic film.
The story begins in 1996 (damn, that doesn’t feel so long ago, and the 90s were great) in Brantford, New Hampshire, where teenager Alex Vreeke finds the original Jumanji board game on the beach. Alex looks at the game and dismisses it because who plays board games in the 90s. The game is like, hold up, and transforms itself into a video game cartridge. Alex sees the game and decides to play the game, only to end up being sucked into the game and disappearing.
End of the film, right? Twenty years later, in 2016, we meet four students who are opposites from each other, like the Breakfast Club. The four students are Spencer Gilpin (Wolff), who is a smart student but was caught writing essays for his former friend and football star, Anthony “Fridge” Johnson (Blain). Fridge is also placed in detention for plagiarism. Also in detention are beautiful and social media influencer Bethany Walker (Iseman) and nerdy, unpopular Martha Kaply (Turner), who were disrespectful to their teachers during class. While in detention, their principal decides that they must clean the basement, which looks like a disaster zone. While cleaning, Spencer finds an old-ass counsel that is probably worth some money and the game Jumanji in it. Jumanji is a multiplayer action-adventure video game, but one of the characters is inaccessible. Spencer convinces the crew to play with him, and the second he hits the start, everyone is sucked into the game.
The crew find themselves dropped into a jungle in the form of the game avatars they picked. Spencer is now the powerful, muscular explorer Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Johnson), whose strengths are stamina, courage, reflexes, climbing, smoldering charisma, and his specialty, smoldering charisma, but he has no real weakness. Fridge becomes the short, loudmouth, and right-hand zoologist Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Hart). Mouse knows all animals and is a weapons specialist, but his weaknesses are strength, speed, and cake. Yup, cake. Martha becomes a freakin bombshell, gorgeous commando, and martial arts expert, Ruby Roundhouse (Gillan). Ruby is proficient in almost all fighting styles, but her only weakness is venom. Finally, and much to her dismay, Bethany becomes Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon (Black), an overweight male cartographer whose only weakness is his obesity and endurance.
The group quickly realizes they are in a video game, each having three lives. If all their lives are lost, they will die in the game, aka GAME OVER! The game starts when Nigel, an NPC, rolls up and states that Russel Van Pelt is after the “Jaguar’s Eye,” whose powers will help him control all of Jumanji. To win the game and escape, a player must return the eye to an enormous jaguar and call out, “JUMANJI!”
The film was interesting and fun to watch. Some of the best parts of the entire film are watching the real-life characters in their avatar bodies and how they speak to each other. For example, when Spencer and Fridge get into it as their avatars, watching Mouse try to bully Bravestone was hilarious because you knew Bravestone could whip Mouse’s ass all over the place. When Bravestone slaps the shit outta Mouse, it is hilarious, and Mouse completely deserves it. Another scene was watching Martha as Ruby trying to be sexy and do her sexy walk before whipping some much ass.
For the actual game, I found this version better than the original because it puts the characters in an actual game and puts some stakes in playing. Like a video game, you get three lives, and the film shows that some characters waste a life before getting serious. Like a game, the story went through different levels the characters had to complete to pass. They ran through the jungle, had to go to a market, deal with a stampede of rhinos, and fight off jaguars. All these levels made the film very entertaining to watch.
The acting was spot-on and fun to watch. The friendship and chemistry between Johnson and Hart are always fun to watch. They knew how to play off each other well, and that is why they make hits in the movies. Gillan was equally fun to watch, especially in her sexy walk scene. Jack Black knows how to be entertaining and funny in almost any film that he does.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a fun film with a great cast and a really good story. This is the type of sequel most films need. A film where it raises the bar of the original but makes it modern and connects with audience who play video games. Johnson, Hart, Gillian, and Black are great in their respective roles. I highly watch this film. Just like the end credits song from the iconic Guns N’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle!”
