Jumanji: The Next Level, mini movie review

Rating: B-

Right now everyone is talking about Star Wars as it comes out tonight.  Personally I'm bracing for overwhelming disappointment, not wanting to see my childhood favorite franchise stomped all over in a disgraceful disrespectful way, so I wanted to see something fun.  Lighthearted.  A complete removal from the world, and in this way Jumanji: The Next Level succeeds.  

This latest Jumanji starts off with our previous senior high school students navigating the world of young adulthood.  Everyone is fine.  Everyone loving life beyond the game they survived.  Everyone except Spencer who's struggling in New York.  The idea of going back into a game he nearly died in would be a welcome departure.  He returns home to find he needs to share a bedroom with his grandpa who's recovering from surgery.  Spencer misses the person he was in the game.  Misses the power.  Misses the connection he had with his friends.  In a desperate move he finds the destroyed game console and begins to repair it, and in the process all his friends with a couple new individuals find themselves once again in Jumanji, some more thrilled, or less thereof, than others.

What I loved about the last movie, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, was how fresh it was.  Taking Jumanji from a board game to a video game was cool, the transition fun, silly, and innovative.  In this latest installment we get more of the same.  The movie is still fun and silly, but now it feels formulaic with some new twists, the story not as tight.  The stakes don't feel as high for some reason. 

I love the themes of family and friends with this latest Jumanji.  Bringing in Danny DeVito and Danny Glover as Eddie and Milo was fun, showing friendship from a new angle, and another way to bring ridiculousness to the game.

Junamji: The Next Level is a good family film, though I enjoyed the previous films a lot more overall. Some of the "deaths" felt thrown in for the sake of removing "lives," and because of this carelessness, and a certain repetitiveness of plot, I felt wanting by the end of this film.  Though, if you watch the end, they set up a possible new sequel that could bring freshness to the next movie, if there is one.  I wouldn't mind seeing more Jumanji in the future.

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for adventure action, suggestive content and some language.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, mini movie review

 

Rating: B+

In 1995 we were treated to Jumanji, starring the amazing Robin Williams, a movie about a board game that comes to life.  If you don't win you die, for real, and each turn a player takes can have dire consequences.  This movie was fun and innovative.  My middle-school self loved it, but was freaked out at the same time.  Thank goodness board games aren't really like that!

Fast forward to 2017 (the movie came out over Christmas; I finally saw it), and the game has changed, literally.  Who plays board games these days??!!  (A point the movie makes, but we all know board games are still very cool.  Go check out same of the indie/international games that have come out in the last couple decade.  Awesome stuff).  Anywho, who plays board games . . . ?  Video games are where it's at, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, to remain devilishly relevant, must reinvent itself.  Gone is the board game with a game cartridge in its place, old school style.

A group of four High Schoolers find themselves in detention.  These aren't your run-of-the-mill trouble makers--that's too cliché--these kids have potential, they just have a little something to learn.  While in detention Jumanji, the video game, is discovered, and to avoid work they decide to play while picking avatars.  Suddenly they're zapped into the game where they become the avatars they've chosen, bringing about opportunities and laughs.

And that's where the spoilers end.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is great fun.  It really is.  I laughed so much throughout.

I love how this movie is a stand-alone extension of the original movie.  You don't need to see the first movie to enjoy this new film, though the 1995 version is still great, but this new movie is its own entity.

In the middle of the movie my Dad leaned over to me and said, "This is dumb enough to be good."  I agree, though not so much dumb as just silly and fun.  Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle doesn't take itself seriously, yet it's still a solid film.  The action is great, the pacing good, with a lot of humorous moments.

If you want a fun movie that's a true escape film go see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for adventure action, suggestive content and some language.