Written by: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas
Rating: [4/5]
Adapting with the times serves as the best way to maintain relevance for more than one generation, especially when trying to sell something. The old ways will not keep one afloat forever, which Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle not only accurately displays this within its narrative, but also through its production as a feature film. With plenty of laughs and with actors having to act against type, it allows for an entertaining ride.
All gathered in detention where they must clean out a basement, Spencer (Alex Wolff), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany (Madison Iseman) and Martha (Morgan Turner) each dust off an old game called Jumanji. As they select their characters they unexpectedly get sucked into the game within their avatars and must find a way to get back home.
Long beloved by many, including myself, Jumanji as a standalone film never crossed my mind as something that could have a sequel or reinterpretation that would find success. Seeing as board games do not have nearly the same prevalence now as they did in the 1990s. It only then made sense for the creative team behind this film to change things up and doing so within a video game console perfectly adapts it to our current landscape of what a young person would turn on and actually play. In the end, that’s what the game seeks to accomplish in luring players to begin the game and get sucked into this horrifying experience for them but entertainment for us, the audience.
As for our four teenagers, we get four archetypes we see in all high school films: the awkward nerd, the jock, the pretty girl, and the awkward girl. Nothing necessarily new from what we have seen before in other detention films, but it does help make the avatars they enter once they enter the game of Jumanji that much funner. Each of these characters have now entered avatars that do not match their personality, with Dwayne Johnson as a nerd, Kevin Hart as a jock, Jack Black as the pretty girl, and Karen Gillan as the awkward girl. These actors now have to play into these archetypes, allowing for the natural comedy of the situation to take rise because we know what type of characters the actors portray.
This forces Dwayne Johnson to tap into his natural comedy chops in playing more of a self-denigrating character in how he must portray someone lacking the confidence of someone who typically looks like him. Kevin Hart comes in with all the easy short jokes about himself when his human character was this big football player, but unsurprisingly the star of the show was Jack Black. The man never fails to knock it out of the park in whatever project he decides to take on, and his reenactment of the teenage pretty girl just never missed a beat or a joke. Black struck every note and delivered in ways that come as no surprise but getting to watch this man in action in a comedy never gets old.
Instead of the world of Jumanji and all of its inhabitants coming to the real world, in this iteration the characters get inserted right into the game. Being in these avatars allows for no need to adhere to the law of physics. We have these avatars with specific powers, which provides a different approach in the tasks set before these characters in hope to escape this game with their lives. It further exemplifies that the switch up of Jumanji moving from a board game to a video game runs through all aspects of this film. From the number of lives each character receives and how they must utilize the strength and weaknesses, all of it comes together in the hopes of providing this video game experience mixed in with all the comedy that comes with a film starring these actors. Even with its airiness, high stakes still remain, as the characters do not want to lose their last life and the dire consequences that come with it.
Blowing beyond all of my expectations of what initially appeared as a cynical money grab in cashing in some existing property, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle provides plenty of fun from beginning to end. Jake Kasdan levels up in his filmmaking with his feature and with the screenplay he receives allows these actors to excel as they work against type and elevate this material. Jack Black, to no surprise to be best in show, but everyone else certainly played their part and excelled in their individual roles making for a strong ensemble. One could make the argument this film serves as the greatest video game ever made, not in the sense of it adapting a pre-existing video game but rather in utilizing the mechanics of one to create an immersive and entertaining viewing experience.
Films with Josh 
