Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
It’s not like anyone was begging for a sequel to the 22-year-old stuck-in-a-game comedy Jumanji.
While it was entertaining and demonstrated what CGI could do, the scenario didn’t seem to lend itself to a sequel after Robin Williams and the young Kirsten Dunst escaped.
Oddly, this has wound up being a blessing for director Jake Kasdan (Orange County and the under-appreciated Walk Hard). Because so much time has passed and Williams tragically isn’t available, the filmmaker and a legion of screenwriters (working from Chris Van Allsburg’s picture book) have a clean slate and generally make the most of it.
Except for some Easter eggs (a few familiar names), there isn’t much to tie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to its predecessor. It actually chucks the board game itself in the first few minutes. In 1996, when an annoyed teen (Nick Jonas) receives the haunted board game as a present, he rolls his eyes and stays at his video console. Shortly afterward, the wooden box containing the analog game opens revealing a cartridge that’s configured for his system.
For future reference, never trust self-opening boxes bearing gifts.
Just a little over two decades later, high schoolers Spencer (Alex Wolff), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany (Madison Iseman) and Martha (Morgan Turner) discover the console and the cartridge while they’re stuck in detention. Sensing that the game might be more fun that pulling staples from magazines headed for recycling, they pick characters and instantly awaken to discover themselves in a fictional jungle.
The rail-thin, bookish Spencer, gazes at his newly tall, buff physique. If you found out that you now had Dwayne Johnson’s voice and body without having to follow his diet and exercise regimen, you’d gaze in wonder at yourself, too.
The other three aren’t as lucky with their choices. The tall, athletic Fridge (Kevin Hart) is now two feet shorter and can’t bully Spencer into writing his papers for class anymore. He also can’t eat cake without regrettable consequences. Bethany (Jack Black) is no longer a young girl who lives for showing off her fashion choices on Instagram (the game was conceived before cellphones were omnipresent). She’s now a portly middle aged man and is bewildered by her new, um, equipment.
Before she picked up a controller, Martha (Karen Gillan) was a mousy lass who preferred hiding behind a book. It’s easy to tell the game of Jumanji is intended for teenage boys because she now sports the minimal, midriff-baring attire that Lady Lara Croft wears. While these clothes are suitable for dealing with tropical heat, they don’t seem adequate to deal with the harsh terrain.
The four must place a jewel in the eye of a giant statue of a jaguar. A mad adventurer named Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale) has swiped it and used it to control all the critters in the rainforest. They get some help from people who are also part of the game, but they can only respond to specific questions or actions. Like most computers, the game continues if it doesn’t get the proper response. As with video games, each player gets three lives. With Jumanji, however, the players die for real if they make a third fatal mistake.
There are lots of digital terrors for the quartet to avoid, but most of the fun comes from watching them adjusting to their new bodies. The Scottish Gillan has a long comedy resume and is a riot to watch as Martha tries to move flirtatiously for the first time in her life. She sashays as if someone had a seizure at the controls of a PlayStation.
In case you forget which studio is responsible for this film, don’t worry. There are lots of Sony electronics on display. Who needs commercials when the movie is clearly advertiser-driven?