The Rock says the new ‘Jumanji’ is to die for
‘Welcome to the Jungle’ tangles up video game lore and teen angst for adventure and laughs
Dwayne Johnson dies in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. More than once. And it’s awesome.
In fact, The Rock, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan undergo multiple, outlandish onscreen deaths in the humorous action-adventure hitting screens Dec. 20.
But as the second Jumanji trailer (arriving Wednesday) reveals, the crew have the standard three lives to give as avatars stuck in an elaborate video game.
Johnson knew he wanted to fully play with the three-lives concept even during initial brainstorming for the new take on 1995’s original Jumanji.
“That first meeting we had, I said, ‘ We have this gift of these three lives. What are the most fun, awesome, crazy ways that we can die and audiences are going to love?’ ” says Johnson, an executive producer. “That just opened up a new level of creativity.
“That means all of us, you know, um, well, we’re going to go to meet our maker,” he adds.
Then the characters are transported right back into the game.
Jumanji is all about playful wish fulfillment, focusing on four teens cleaning out a school basement during detention who stumble across the retro video game. When they chose their avatars to play, they’re sucked into the characters and the jungle adventure.
The nerdy teen finds himself in the body of brawny Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Johnson), the jock becomes diminutive weapons valet Moose Finbar (Kevin Hart), the cheerleader transforms into
pudgy male Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black) and the bookish girl becomes butt-kicking Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan).
Despite new gifts, the characters never lose their high-school personalities as they attempt to escape the game, getting help from a mysterious guide (Nick Jonas).
“What would you discover about yourself when endowed with capabilities you didn’t know you had and (the ability to) live in someone else’s skin for a day?” di- rector Jake Kasdan asks. “It’s the story of these kids taking that ride. Not these action heroes.”
That means The Rock’s Bravestone can throw serious punches, but the allergy-plagued teen still cries easily and finds it tough to talk to girls.
Johnson says he can find that sensitivity. “It’s no secret if you look online and see pictures of me” in school, he says. “I tapped into my insecure 16-year-old self. No girl wanted to talk to me.”
Kasdan is still perfecting the intense special effects. But most of Jumanji was shot in deep, dark Hawaiian rain forests, where Black would belt out Guns N’ Roses’ classic Welcome to the Jungle.
“Jack said to me one day, ‘ You know, we really should call this Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,’ ” Kasdan says. The director took that as seriously as a Rock uppercut. The title was made official, and Kasdan promises wild action with the comedy.
“If you’re going to do action sequences with The Rock, you have to make them really good. It can’t live in a comedy half-action space,” says Kasdan. “When he punches someone, it hurts; when The Rock rides a motorcycle, it’s with a flamethrower.”