 Tagline: The game has evolved. Four teenagers are sucked into a magical video game, and the only way they can escape is to work together to finish the game. Storyline: In a brand new Jumanji adventure, four high school kids discover an old video game console and are drawn into the game's jungle setting, literally becoming the adult avatars they chose. What they discover is that you don't just play Jumanji - you must survive it. To beat the game and return to the real world, they'll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, discover what Alan Parrish left 20 years ago, and change the way they think about themselves - or they'll be stuck in the game forever, to be played by others without break. Written by Sony Pictures Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, March 18, 2018 It's always a joy when a movie truly surprises. What might have been a superfluous remake or re-imagining of the original fan favorite Jumanji is instead a spirited follow-up that reverses the flow -- characters are pulled into the game rather than the game pulled into the real world -- and follows four agreeably constructed characters as they battle their way through its perils, pitfalls, creatures, and villains. As the characters maneuver through a world built around video game rules while inhabiting new bodies and coming to understand the skillsets they now possess, individually and as a team, they face various trials along the way to saving the day while trying to find a way back home. More a sequel and less a revamp, Director Jake Kasdan's (Bad Teacher) film is actually a welcome new addition to the Jumanji family that pretty much gets it all right. Four high school students -- the smart video game nerd Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff), the star football player "Fridge" Johnson (Ser'Darius Blain), the self-absorbed and phone-obsessed beauty Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman), and the introverted Martha Kaply (Morgan Turner) -- find themselves in detention. Their punishment: clean up the school's basement. They are left unsupervised and quickly find an old video game console that even Spencer cannot identify. Inside is a game cartridge titled "Jumanji." There's also an old CRT TV on which to play it. The four of them gather around, take a controller, and as soon as the game boots up, they're pulled into it. They find themselves in a dangerous jungle environment but, perhaps more shocking, inhabiting new bodies. Spencer is the brawny leader named Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson). Fridge is a wisecracking sidekick named "Mouse" Finbar (Kevin Hart). Martha is a butt-kicking beauty named Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan). And Bethany is a cartographer...and a man named "Shelly" Oberon (Jack Black). They quickly learn that their mission is to return a stolen gem to a large statue, and each only has three lives with which to do it. It won't be easy; perils and pitfalls, a few surprises, and a strict video game structure that Spencer may be able to predict await them. This iteration of Jumanji is, first and foremost, a character film. Whereas the older film was more an event movie, about the special effects and the novelty of it all, this film's success or failure falls squarely on the characters and the cast that portrays them. The script is witty and packed with humor, but never obnoxiously so; it's a Comedy, and the cast hams it up and has fun with the character moments which are many and equally dispersed between the four primaries. Jack Black, probably the most reliable comedian working in movies today, is hilarious. He commits to the part -- a self-absorbed high school beauty queen dropped into the body of a middle aged, pudgy man -- with glee and no boundaries. Scenes of self-deprecation are a joy, and he nails the cadence of the overstressed teenage girl who is not simply out of her body and (more importantly) out of touch with her phone but also out of her league, at least until she realizes she has a gift for reading a map, ironic since she'd otherwise probably have an app dictate directions to her and likely wind up as one of those people who drives off a cliff because she too trusting of her device and too distracted to watch where she's actually going. Dwayne Johnson is awesome portraying an allergy-riddled weakling teenager who, amongst the four, is the most familiar with video games. Karen Gillan rocks as a shy girl who is suddenly Lara Croft, and Kevin Hart does classic Kevin Hart as the support character who totes a magic bag full of whatever the others need and who will explode if he eats cake (it sound ridiculous but provides one of the movie's funniest scenes and, hey, what a way to stay on that diet!). Structurally, the movie is very firm in maneuvering from one set piece to the next, but in this case a rigid, by-the-book approach is the only working option. The characters are forced to follow a prescribed set of rules. They are not in control, of course, in terms of how the story plays out; it's a video game, and one predetermined level invariably follows another. All they can control is how they respond to any given situation, how they "play the game," which is why it's so vital that the film get its characters right. The fun comes not so much in what new danger awaits but rather how each character, individually and collectively, will combat every new trouble, struggle, enemy, and obstacle the game places before them. Welcome to the Jungle has fun with video game cliché. It knows the rhythm, it knows the verbiage, and that not all of the unwitting players know their way around a game makes it all the more fun as they sort out not only "game play" mechanics but also the probability of success and the very real consequences of failure. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a rare hit of a movie that actually builds on a franchise, takes it in the right direction, and creates its own identity without negatively impacting the original. It's very funny, spurred on by a great script and a perfectly assembled cast; few movies are this purely fun anymore, and Kasdan and Sony got it absolutely right. Sony's Blu-ray gets it absolutely right, too, with fantastic video and audio presentations and a nice little collection of bonus content. Highly recommended. [CSW] -3.6- I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this remake. The jokes are nonstop and witty. Characters are well fleshed out with each person playing a physical opposite of their persona outside of Jumanji. The Rock is always fun, but shines as a scared nerd with no confidence. Karen Gillan is adorable as the socially awkward nerdy girl. Jack Black playing a self-obsessed popular girl is laugh out loud funny. Kevin Hart as a shrunken jock with many assigned weaknesses is just classic. This is not a remake it's a sequel. The nice switch was that the game sucked them into Jumanji and not just monkeys running around the streets. I did feel that the original was a little too dark. I think most of the humor is above child level, however I believe kids of all ages would still love this movie. The easiest way to say it is that this movie is pure fun and extremely enjoyable to watch! I can't say that for too many movies these days. [V5.0-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box IMDb Rating (06/07/18): 7.0/10 from 168,612 users
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
