Welcome to Jumanji everyone! Today I’ve got an exciting new review waiting for all of you and it will involve going back into a game that I quite enjoyed last time around. All jokes aside though, I did really like Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle as it was text book example of how to reboot a franchise the right way. It took the IP and used it to create an original, high concept that was different from the previous movie, hired a great, charismatic cast, and stood on its own as a quality feature film. The results: $404 million domestically from a small opening, $962 million worldwide, solid reviews from critics, rave word of mouth from audiences, and a brand new franchise is born. So while I am not surprised Sony fast tracked a sequel I was admittedly a little concerned on how it was going to turn out mostly due to the fact with how quickly it was announced and how it did all of its filming in 2019 , and it just felt like it was coming a bit too soon after Welcome to the Jungle. But I was still cautiously optimistic thanks to some really funny trailers, and I’m happy to see that I was proven wrong. Heck I might actually like it a little more than the last one. So let’s head on our next adventure with Dr. Bravestone and his crew to see what makes this one work as well as it does.
Three years after their adventure in the world of Jumanji, best friends Spenser, Fridge, Martha, and Bethany are off doing their own things but are still keeping in touch with each other and plan on having a reunion. Spenser though has been facing a great deal of depression and thinks about going back to the world of Jumanji once more. So when his friends come to check up on him to see if he is alright they find Spenser’s grandfather, Eddie, who is staying with Spenser due to a hip surgery, and his old friend/business partner, Milo Walker. They too have no idea where Spenser is and they go about searching the house until they find a most peculiar thing, the Jumanji game fixed up! This then leads them to presume that Spenser is inside the game and they decide to go in and find him. Things don’t go all according to plan however, as while Marta is still in the same avatar as she was before (Ruby Roundhouse), Fridge is now Sheldon Oberon where while Bethany didn’t even go in at all. But thats far from the only complication as it turns out that both Eddie, and Milo were both sucked into the game as well filling in the roles of Dr. Smolder Bravestone, and Franklin “Mouse” Finbar. And if that that wasn’t bad enough it looks like the land of Jumaji needs saving once again this time from evil warlord Jurgen the Brutal and to do that they need a mystical artifact known as the “Falcon Jewel”. So with all of these new challenges can the gang find Spenser, and save the world of Jumaji once again?
Perhaps my biggest worry for this movie besides the somewhat rushed production was that it would just merely re hash the first one and just feel like a lazy cash grab. That thankfully didn’t turn out to be the case because while yes the story here is pretty similar to the last one, it still finds ways to actually improve upon its predecessor. First off would be that I feel the pacing was a lot more smoother here as the story is able to have a nice mix of character interactions, comedic moments, and action sequences and I think the change in locale helps it as well as it makes it feel a lot bigger in terms of scale as they venture through not only the jungle but also the desert, and mountains as well. It helps differentiate itself from Welcome to the Jungle while still retaining what worked about it like the use of video game tropes as a source of comedy. That is once again a highlight here as we get to see both Eddie, and Milo try and navigate their way through a video game which made for some good laugh out loud moments as well as the jokes about cut scenes, the over the top video game deaths (one involving a rocket launcher had me bursting), brand new strengths, and weaknesses for the avatars (mainly the weaknesses), and plenty more that I won’t give away. Heck there’s even some fun slapstick thrown in for good measure which was a nice addition. One other great surprise here was that the screenplay takes advantage of the body switching element and uses it a lot more here and I am happy that the trailer’s didn’t give away too much. It even has some nice heart to it thanks to the relationships between Milo, and Eddie, and Spenser, and Martha which added some nice emotion, and depth to the proceedings and develops the characters more and are surprisingly effective. While it may seem at first like its playing the same game the writers are still able to throw in some new surprises as well as build off of other elements to craft an adventure that’s just as fun as ever.
Admittedly, one area in Welcome to the Jungle that could’ve been improved is the action as it was fine even though there not too many stand out moments. Here however, Jake Kasdan and his team really stepped up their game when it came to the creativity of the set pieces. Not only are they a lot more memorable and have a more confident direction this time around but I also feel they take an even greater advantage of the video game setting. The stand out here is when our heroes are trying to get across a cliff using all of these bridges that are around while a bunch of killer baboons attack them as it feels very much like an exciting (yet difficult) Super Mario Bros. level and its easily one of my favorite action set pieces of last year, though I did really enjoy the ostrich chase in the desert, and the climactic battle as well (even if the latter was little more conventional than the others). The CGI also looks much more polished this time around as it was again mostly serviceable in the last one and overall the directing just feels a lot more confident all around. But what audiences truly love about these movies is the characters themselves and the actors who play them and not to worry they are in great supply here. The actors who do the kids (Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain, and Madison Iseman) are once again good and have nice camaraderie while Danny Devito, and Danny Glover are as good as they always are when their truly onscreen (been a while since I’ve seen Glover in anything good recently). But of course the avatars are the ones who still the show and boy do they put one on here! We’ve got Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Kevin Hart having a blast playing against type, doing impersonations of DeVito, and Glover respectively and they do a perfect job mimicking their voices and mannerisms (Hart especially is a hoot) while Karen Gillian makes for a nice straight woman as Ruby Roundhouse. But the MVP is once again Jack Black who proves himself to be an actor with a lot of range and he is a ton of fun playing Fridge this time around once again also playing against type. It could’ve easily been a performance that becomes stereotypical but he absolutely nails it once more. Oh and forgot to mention that Awkwafina also plays a role in this as an avatar named Ming Fleetfoot and without giving anything away she is also a highlight and gets some really good moments also showing how adept she is. I guess my biggest disappointments with the cast is that I wish Nick Jonas had more to do Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough (Alex’s avatar) as I liked his character a lot in the first (or second?) movie and like Welcome to the Jungle the villain is pretty generic despite Rory McCann’s best efforts to make Jurgen the Brutal a menacing presence. Still though glad to see one of the best things about the last adventure be expanded on here.
Man Sony really is on role recently with their sequels with the likes of Spider-Man Far From Home, the Angry Birds Movie 2, and now this. All of these keep what worked well about their predecessors and not only expanded on it but also even improve on certain aspects as well. Like those aforementioned follow ups, Jumanji the Next Level looks at went well with Welcome to the Jungle like the humor, the video game tropes, the acting, and the character work and made it even better, while also improving on things that weren’t as great as they could’ve been like the action, some of the direction, the CGI, and the pacing to craft a more than worthy sequel. Even if it does have some issues of its own (weak villain, same basic concept as the first, a couple of underutilized characters) it still works very well as fun popcorn entertainment that still succeeds at keeping things fresh for this franchise and satisfy those who are in the mood for a good time. Speaking of which after the movie ended I found myself looking forward for the direction in which a proverbial Jumanji 4 would go and judging by the tease at the end it should be very exciting.
Rating: B+
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