NEW ‘JUMANJI’ IS STILL A GAME WORTH PLAYING
When “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” hit theaters two years ago, it represented something of a gamble for home studio Sony.
OK, when you have Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart and Jack Black populating your cast, maybe “gamble” is overstating things a bit. Nonetheless, the film had the task of building off a fairly beloved Robin Williams vehicle from 1995 that had grown only more beloved since the actor’s passing in 2014. Even more of an obstacle, it was scheduled to arrive in theaters mere days after a “Star Wars” epic was expected to mint all the money.
So, needless to say, the dice were stacked against the “Jumanji” redux being anything other than a here-and-gone punchline, a cynical cash grab based on a pre-existing IP. But then the unlikeliest of scenarios played out in quick succession: A) It was good. Really good. And, B) It not only held its own against the Force of “The Last Jedi,” it actually sailed to nearly a billion dollars at the global box office and became one of the biggest smash hits in the entire history of Sony Pictures.
It’s not hard to see why. While cleverly paying homage to the Williams film, director Jake Kasdan also found an “in” to the premise by updating the board game of the Williams film to a video game. That change allowed for some world building while expanding the boundaries of what to expect within this world — such as putting
people in “bodies” that don't match their personalities. Ultimately, the whole thing glided along with a spirit of spritely fun, thanks to a story that was engineered to encompass the outsize presence of its superstar cast.
And so, before you can say “green light,” another installment was quickly put on the calendar, with the key creatives back in play both in front of and behind the camera. This brings us, almost exactly two years later, to “Jumanji: The Next Level,” the franchise’s fourth installment (if you include Jon Favreau’s 2005 opus “Zathura,” which you absolutely should, because it’s that’s good). Quite remarkably, “The Next Level” actually does manage to level up — both in terms of different landscapes and scenarios and surprising new characters (and actors to play them) — ably matching its predecessor for emotional investment while exceeding it in ambition.
And that’s no small feat. The inherent problem of the “Jumanji” hook is a simple one: If playing the game is what causes the problem, then continually contriving excuses for the same characters to keep doing it starts to strain credibility. It becomes a self-limiting premise. To the filmmakers’ credit, they came up with a pretty compelling reason in this sequel, even alluding (albeit obliquely) to the narcotic effect a game like this would surely have. Not saying this goes into “Heart of Darkness” territory, but one can imagine the emotional drop after getting to live life as the Rock, however briefly.
Such is the case with erstwhile lead Spencer (Alex Wolff), who has once again disappeared into the titular video game for … reasons. Before long, his friends Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), Martha (Morgan Turner) and Bethany (Madison Iseman) follow him in, along with Spencer’s grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) and Eddie’s former friend Milo (Danny Glover). But unlike last time, where our heroes picked their video game alter egos beforehand, a glitch in the game has shuffled the deck of their personas, leaving Eddie in Dwayne Johnson’s muscle-bound body and Milo in Kevin Hart’s pint-size frame.
Given that “Jumanji” has gone, in two short years, from a curiosity to a Very Important Franchise for its studio, another entry is inevitable. But before booting the game up again, I hope they pause and truly appreciate what takes “The Next Level” to, well, the next level. Yes, it expands the scope and scale of what the video game world of Jumanji offers, but it all rests on a sturdy foundation of character development that’s a worthy and natural progression from where we last left the main characters. That’s what makes the game worth playing.
AWKWAFINA, LEFT, DWAYNE JOHNSON AND KAREN GILLAN STAR IN “JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL.”