Chattanooga Times Free Press - ChattanoogaNow
‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ smartly mixes action, humor
A movie featuring the biggest action movie star working in f ilms today (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) teamed with one of the biggest comedians on the planet (Kevin Hart) would be enough to give “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” the potential to be the most entertaining movie opening for the holiday season. All you need to do is look at their team-up for the 2016 action/comedy “Central Intelligence” if you have any doubts about what they can do when they put their comedy minds together.
They are so good together they don’t need help, but they get it in the form of Jack Black, who turns in his best work since “School of Rock,” and Karen Gillan, the “Doctor Who” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” star, who shows she can handle comedy with just as much ease as she can deal with massive action sequences.
The four make “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” one of the funniest and fun films of the year. This one is a real blast.
The film, just like the 1995 feature film “Jumanji” starring Robin Williams, is based on the 1981 book by Chris Van Allsburg, where it is win or game over for anyone who finds the mysterious board game. The big difference is while in the 1995 version, the board game came to life in the real world of the players, this version gets an upgrade. This Jumanji is a video game. Instead of wild ani- From left, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black and Dwayne Johnson in a scene from “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.”