I saw the original Jumanj film in theaters back in the 90s. I enjoyed it as a kid, even though I knew, at the time, the film was somewhat flawed. It was a fun kids’ movie, and even with my cynical attitude toward all things nostalgic, I think it holds up in some respects and is still watchable. So a sequel 20 years later (not counting Zathura) for a movie like Jumanji seemed a bit odd, and unlikely to be any good. Not to mention, it was all about a killer board game, and kids don’t play those anymore—unless you take into account how a certain viral outbreak forced everyone to stay at home and interact with each other more. How is it going to suck in some unwitting victims this time? By jumping to the new generation in technology and becoming a video game, of course.

Pros

Cast does a good job of playing their “characters” in the jungle
Jokes are legitimately funny
Action sequences are a spectacle, even if they lack a bit of excitement
Pacing is solid; movie never feels like it’s dragging its feet

Cons

Villain is over-the-top in a dull way and is ultimately pointless as a character
Some of the CGI animals don’t look great
Nobody bothers to ask the question of how can you fall to your death when you respawn a mile up in the sky
When everyone is in high school, the behavior and circumstances of the group getting together is all somewhat unbelievable
Cheesy sentimental tones at the very end make me gag, but it’s fine

Plot & Thoughts

Spencer (Alex Wolff) the local nerd, Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain) the standard jock, Bethany (Madison Iseman) the blonde air-head, and Martha (Morgan Turner) the loner girl, all end up getting detention for one reason or another. The reasons why they end up there are somewhat irrelevant other than establishing that their crappy attitudes towards everyone else and each other will have to change by the end of the film. Their punishment is to come to the school on a Saturday and help clean out a storage area for it to be re-purposed. In the process of cleaning it out, they find an old video game console that Spencer has never recognized before with the Jumanji game in it. In the opening scene of the film, the original board game that had been thrown away and washed up on a beach, was handed to some kid playing Twisted Metal on his Playstation in 1996. Recognizing that it had to get with the times, the sentient board game magically turned into a video game overnight and got its first victim. How it ended up in a school storage closet is anyone’s guess, but just go with it.

After the kids all pick their in-game avatars, the usual Jumanji thing happens and they get sucked into the game. Spencer becomes Dr. Bravestone (Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson), Fridge becomes Mouse the zoologist (Kevin Hart), Bethany becomes Dr. Oberon the cartographer (Jack Black), and Martha becomes Ruby Roundhouse: Killer of Men (Karen Gillan). They arrive in the jungle and quickly have to learn the rules of the video game while also getting used to the physical nature of their new bodies. There are also the quirks that come with the avatars, like Dr. Bravestone’s occasional ‘smoldering intensity’ that just sort of happens when he starts to say something. Of course, it’s assumed that the kids need to beat the game without dying and they should therefore be able to return to the real world once that challenge has been completed.

A majority of the humor comes from the fact that the avatars of the game all have to behave like their real-world characters, which is at odds with most of the actors. Dwayne Johnson is still the primary hero who has become even more amplified in his physical abilities, but he’s got the personality of Spencer, who is a bit of a neurotic dork who doesn’t know how to socialize and gets easily intimidated. The most entertaining switch is Jack Black who has to behave like a stuck-up, self-absorbed, teenage girl who is obsessed with her phone. As everyone gets a bit more comfortable in their avatars, they’re able to do more action sequences together, learn to like each other, and work as a team. Even with all this attention to character growth and focus on the action, the movie still manages to be funny to the end.

When it comes to the action itself, it’s entertaining enough. Modern movies are all so green-screened that it’s difficult for me to feel much tension or excitement watching the action, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is no different. The only way it really gets a pass is that it’s supposed to be taking place in a video game so I’ll arbitrarily justify it for that reason, I guess. It’s still a fun time watching things explode, people doing flips through the air, and henchmen getting punched through walls. The real reason to watch this movie is the comedy and how the jokes bounce off the different characters so well. It certainly isn’t for the villain, who is very cartoonish in his villainy, but so one-note that he could have been cut out of the movie entirely and it wouldn’t have changed anything.

TL;DR (Conclusion)

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ended up being a lot better than anyone expected of a sequel to a movie that was 20-years old. After hearing so many people tell me it was actually good, I gave it a watch and was thoroughly entertained. The action is perfectly serviceable with some cool fight sequences and explosions, but the comedy is where this movie shines. It’s simple family fun that manages to be funny and goofy up to the end without wearing out its welcome.