Jumanji (2017)

2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, directed by Jake Kasdan.

Starring The Rock, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Bobby Cannavale, Ryhs Darby, Alex Wolff, Ser'Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, and Nick Jonas.

What is it about?

Both a sequel and a reboot of the 1995 film, we meet 4 teenagers attending high school (Alex Wolff, Ser'Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, and Morgan Turner). While sentenced to detention together, they are sucked into a video game, called Jumanji. Given new avatars (The Rock, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan) with respective strengths and weaknesses, they are summoned to reclaim the jewel of the jaguar’s eye from a villain (Bobby Cannavale). Whomever possesses the jewel can control the animals of Jumanji, and balance can only be restored by replanting the eye in Jaguar Mountain. With a limited amount of lives, and a jungle full of hostile animals and Cannavale’s goons in pursuit, will our gang be able to return the jewel and return to our world?

Why is it worth seeing?

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is inventive in how it updates its original premise. Rather than bringing the board game zookeeper inspired chaos to our world, our protagonists choose avatars and jump into the jungle. Immersed in a world of adventure, how the characters reconcile their personalities with their new found bodies and skills and weaknesses is its most interesting wrinkle.

With a comfortable PG-13 rating to ensure no one is offended by the implicit violence and adults smooching like teenagers, the most appealing part of the story is watching the characters process through their avatars. From the Rock’s nebbish character learning how some people consider him charismatic, to the under developed Kevin Hart demonstrating how limited he is when not a typical high school football player in America, to Karen Gillan adjusting to having curves (and a body double), to Jack Black hilariously playing a teenage girl, the chemistry is appealing as the rag tag group slowly team up to self actualize.

Cannavale plays the villain, and despite a whopping amount of eye liner, isn’t much of a foil for our protagonists- he’s no scorpion king. It’s a bummer, since he is a versatile performer (most recently hysterically so in I, Tonya). And the opening/closing scenes of the high school students feel like a trailer for The Breakfast Club’s outtakes. But as the football player transitions into a career in bowling, the series yet again dares its next gaggle of screenwriters to figure out a way to make another sequel when it should be impossible. For some reason, it all reminds me of how back at Art School, my cocaine inspired Photography instructor used to exclaim, “What a game!”

Rating:

3.5/5

Trailer: Click Here.