(Reviewed by our Guest Critic, The Movie Knight) It may be over twenty years later, but this new tale picks up right where the original Jumanji left off, with the deadly board game being discovered washed up on the beach. However, no one is interested in playing an antique like that, video games are now all the craze, so the it adapts and turns itself into a video console. Now it just needs to find some new victims to play with it. Enter high schoolers, Spencer, the nerdy kid, Fridge, the school jock, Bethany, the self-absorb popular girl and Martha, the introvert quiet girl. They all get detention together and discover the game. Before you know it, they are transported into a deadly jungle, assuming the identities of the avatars they choose to be.
Since we are dealing with a sequel, the first question that always gets asked is how does it compare to the original. As in most cases on this subject matter, the first one was better. In the one that starred the late Robin Williams, there was more peril felt than here in this latest edition (no one was clamoring for a new Jumanji movie either). In part one, there was always tension after each role of the dice and we the audience and the characters had no idea what would be coming next. Here, while there is plenty going on, we are never quite sucked into the adventure. Director Jake Kasdan has plenty experience delivering comedies, and this movie is often funny, but there is also lots of action, something Kasdan has no experience directing and sadly, it really shows.
On the flip side, we do identify with many of the characters in the movie. Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black play the avatar versions of these teenagers and they all are at their best in this movie. Jack Black steals the show the most, since he is the avatar for Bethany, who rightly freaks out when she discovers her gorgeous self has been transformed into an overweight, middle-aged man. A lot of good comedy comes from the situation they are in and playing by the rules of the video game. The weakest character in the movie is the main adversary, Van Pelt played by Bobby Cannavale who tries to look and act scary, but never really does. No character development there at all. Jonathan Hyde, who played the part in the original movie, was much more effective in the role.
You have the option to see this in 3D, but don’t spend the extra money on those tickets. There are A LOT of movies opening this Christmas weekend, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle will be the choice for many families despite the PG-13 rating. Children are likely to get more out of it than the parents, but it’s a better way to spend the afternoon than letting them get sucked into a video game.
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