Welcome to the Jungle… not the 2003 Dwayne Johnson Film.
By Aiden Tirli
Excited is not a word I would use to describe how I was feeling before seeing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, apprehensive is more suitable. The original Jumanji which came out back in 1995 was a decent family film which I had pretty fond memories of watching when I was younger but I hadn’t seen the film for nearly a decade. In preparation for this new standalone sequel, I re-watched the original which thanks to Robin Williams performance (who is always a joy to watch) holds up pretty well apart from some noticeably dated visual effects. This new film does reboot the concept for a new generation but is still very much set in the same world as the first Jumanji, so it’s actually worth revisiting the original as there are quite a few nods to it but it’s not necessary to have seen it.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle follows four teenagers Spencer, Bethany, Fridge and Martha, who are pretty much ‘The Breakfast Club’ stereotypes updated for the modern era. During detention, Spencer discovers an old video game console containing the Jumanji game and convinces everyone to play. They are all sucked into the game world of Jumanji as their avatars they’ve chosen and must now complete the game in order to go home.
I’ll say it straight away I enjoyed this movie a lot, way more than I thought I would, don’t get me wrong this isn’t a great movie by any means but it’s definitely fun. When I saw the trailer for the film I was very sceptical, one of my biggest worries was replacing the board game for a video game and just being a straight-up remake. I’m happy to report they address this in a pretty good introduction, that sets up the story nicely in relation to the previous film and got me on board with the video game idea from the get-go. The main four characters are surprisingly all likeable and relatable to some extent; there should be at least one character that you can relate to and the actors portraying these high school kids do a decent job in the limited screen time they have.
The real enjoyment of this story though comes from their respective avatars in the game world as we get to see Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan act like teenagers, who have basically experienced a body swap into the complete opposite of what they are and represent. The standout of the bunch is without a doubt Jack Black, he does a surprisingly earnest portrayal of a teenage girl stuck as an overweight middle-aged man, has most of the best moments and you never doubt that he is anyone but Bethany. Dwayne Johnson gets to play against type since his real-life counterpart Spencer is a nerdy game loving geek, who is also afraid of nearly everything which leads to some funny scenes. Karen Gillan’s portrayal is kind of similar to Johnson’s as Martha is a shy teenager who has been transformed into a bad-ass woman in a skimpy outfit, which causes her to feel uncomfortable but also allows her to come out of her shell. Kevin Hart, on the other hand, feels like he’s playing Kevin Hart, he does end up providing some decent laughs but doesn’t quite feel like the same character.
The film has fun with its game based setting by playing off various elements in games such as having NPC’s (non-playable characters) who basically repeat the same lines over and over again until the player proceeds. All the main players have three lives (represented by three tattoos on their wrist) when those are gone its game over, they also have a list of strengths and weaknesses that actually do come into play in satisfying, surprising and funny ways.
On a technical level, a lot of money has clearly gone into production design as everything looks relatively top-notch. CGI is mostly acceptable for a film of this scale but there are definitely some animals which they spent more time on. There isn’t necessarily an over-reliance on CGI which is always a good thing as we get to see plenty of real landscapes. The action within the film is fairly tame which is understandable since it’s a family film, but there is some decent stunt work throughout. In terms of length, the film never feels overlong, thanks to the pacing which keeps your interest throughout as the story moves along swiftly and thankfully doesn’t drag.
The weakest element of the film is easily the villain which wastes Bobby Cannavale who is basically reduced to exposition scenes, clichéd bad guy stuff where he is very weird and has bugs crawling in and out of his ear. That sentence will make a lot more sense once you’ve seen the film but yeah you could take the villain out of this story and it would barely change anything. There is also your standard moral of the story type of stuff which you’ve seen before hundreds of times but it’s executed well enough here to not feel tacky or overly corny.
The new Jumanji is a harmless adventure popcorn flick that I can see being a bit hit with families over the holidays as there is enough content here for both adults and children to enjoy. I’d like to rate the movie higher but it ultimately doesn’t do anything new or special, although it is a very well made family film that’s full of laughs and honours the original while also being its own thing. Believe it or not the film actually avoids sequel baiting as well and feels like a complete story which is quite rare in this current era of blockbusters. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a fun film to watch with either your family or friends, is a decent way to kill nearly two hours and is pure escapism which is what going to the cinemas and watching films is all about. The game has truly evolved.