Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

The original 1995 film, Jumanji starring the late Robin Williams, became a staple movie of the era for its cast, presentation, and delivery. While not a perfect film by any means, it captured a sense of harsh grit against what is otherwise a goofy tone to create something that was atypical of movies of the time and resulted in a project that a lot of people still remember years later for its fun idea of a living board game that puts you in legitimate danger. The idea was so solid that an idea for a Jumanji 2 was put into play as early as the late 1990s, with many throwing out ideas which never really came to fruition (Sony eventually decide to move onto Zathura, which was very similar in concept to Jumanji). Although a sequel seemed out of the picture, the idea was too strong to leave dead and so a re-imagining was instead announced in 2015 and the film in question titled, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, was eventually released in 2017. Although it originally was met with harsh reactions (as many felt its original pitch came to close to the tragic passing of Robin Williams), people did warm up to it once they saw the finished project. In 1990s, New Hampshire, Four teenagers of differing personalities and school social standings, including the awkward Spencer Gilpin (played by Alex Wolff), athletic Anthony “Fridge” Johnson (played by Ser’Darius Blain), ditzy Bethany Walker (played by Madison Iseman) and cynical Martha Kaply (played by Morgan Turner) are kept in detention at school where they discover a discarded video game known as Jumanji. Deciding to play it, they unwillingly get roped into the game quite literally and are all transformed into their selective avatars; with Spencer becoming archaeologist Dr. Xander “Smolder” Bravestone, (played by Dwayne Johnson), Fridge becoming zoologist Franklin “Mouse” Finbar, (played by Kevin Hart), Martha becoming commando Ruby Roundhouse, (played by Karen Gillan) Bethany becoming cartographer Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon (played by Jack Black). After being told by NPC Nigel Billingsley (played by Rhys Darby) that they must work together to break a curse started by corrupt archaeologist Professor Van Pelt (played by Bobby Cannavale) by retrieving a magical jewel and returning it to its rightful spot, the four are forced to endure life-threatening situations with the help of Alex Vreeke (played by Nick Jonas), a man whose been trapped in this game for over a decade, and confront their problems and grow closer as a friend-group in order to escape this game of death alive. Doing well with critics and audiences and even grossing $995 million at the box office against its $90 – 150 million budget (making it the fifth highest-grossing movie of 2017), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle may have its fair share of cliched elements underneath what is otherwise a very stupid presentation and tone, but it’s simple yet updated handling of the premise, it’s fun in-jokes and references, and very likeable and passionate cast, makes this a charming and enjoyable flick to check out.

The first thing to note about this film is that it’s pretty stupid overall. The tones along in comparison from the original film to this one is vastly different, as the original was presented as quirky and fantastical yet still contain within itself a sense of real danger and threat, whilst this film is totally goofball and doesn’t ever really present anything actively threatening or even that intense. It’s a pretty bare-bones plot with characters arcs and morals that you’ve seen to death in hundreds of other material, but you catch on really quickly that this film mainly just exists for jokes. It’s nice that the film isn’t even trying to emulate the original film in any way from its style, cast of characters and even unique identity as even the method of the threat is different between movies (the original brought threats out into the real world, whilst this film sucks you into the world itself). The biggest issue is that the story, written by screenwriter Chris McKenna, just isn’t that engaging, as it drags its feet for way too long for a film that is nothing that dramatically unique or even that fresh in terms of comedy or drama, making a film that could’ve been 80 – 90 mins easily and stretches it out to about two hours in length. The director for this movie, Jake Kasdan, has made films like Zero Effect, Orange Country, Bad Teacher and Sex Tape, movies that have been received mixed to negative and ones that feel like they benefit from having a bit of an adult edge to excuse some of the more raunchy and even mindless humor. With that edge majorly neutered in this flick, it does result in some moments that can be a little annoying and any attempts at an actual story with emotion and conflict feel a bit too watered down and rushed to really work as a whole. With that said however, while the plot can be an afterthought, the stuff involved with the video game is not only a clever evolution of the original idea, but everything feels much more enjoyable when they just have fun with themselves. It still features its fair share of cliches and expected comedic bits, but it has an active and likeable energy, the script by McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner allow for a few moments that are funny, the tone is allowed to go over-the-top but not without its decent sense of satire and even atmosphere, and even the teen cliches and relationships, while still generic, are a bit more likeable and easier to digest as it keeps going.

The characters are complete tropes of the genre, but you can feel within the script that not only they constructed in such a way as to act as decent irony when the kids take over what are clearly ill-fitting roles for who they are as people (seeing Jack Black play this up-start high school blond ditz is just a funny idea in general), but it also plays into the tropes of typical video games through the different roles people can choose to follow and the various quirks and tasks they can achieve with their skills, which does lead to some fun moments where each kid unintentionally fixes some of their real-world issues through their pre-given skills. If it was played straighter and wasn’t stuck with this wacky over-the-top environment, they probably wouldn’t work as well as they are literally constructed to be Avatars for other standard teen cliches to fill in, but with this tone, it can be a lot of fun and a lot of that comes from the actors. The writing for a lot of the characters is not terrible, but isn’t the most amazing material either, so each actor is pulling a lot of the weight in this movie, and they go leaps and bounds over what they could do with this material, with all of them giving a million percent every second they are on-screen. Each one has very good comedic timing and even those sparse moments where things get a little more serious, they handle them okay as well. The obvious stars are the four video game avatars, but the kids are actually pretty good as well, managing to get across enough personality within their brief showcase and generic scripting to feel like decently realized characters and the adult actors do a good job impersonating them. Dwayne Johnson has never really been good at playing people other than himself, but he pulls off the wimpy kid archetype fine enough and his charm can hold a movie alone, Kevin Hart is great with his over-the-top outburst and even some of the more quiet moments, Karen Gillian proves to hold her own nicely against her more openly comedic co-stars, and Jack Black is very good at portraying this teen-girl stereotype in a way that is clearly over-the-top, but still feels genuine. Even some of the side actors like Nick Jonas and Rhys Darby are down pretty well and add to the overall likeable atmosphere this world has created. The villain is acted fine enough by Bobby Cannavale and can occasionally give a pretty intimidating look, but he is so secondary and pointless in the movie that he honestly could’ve been completely removed from the film, and nothing would’ve been lost.

The film is above most other things an action comedy and both those elements are part of some great moments throughout. The actual locations showcased within this environment do feel stripped right out of a video game and it does result in a lot of vibrant and fun looking locations that range from tropical jungles, perilous canyons, and even exotic marketplaces that always seem to feature a wild action scene. Though it can occasionally steeped into the CG territory which doesn’t always look the most convincing, it deserves credit for really trying to make a lot of what is shown on-screen physical and real, which help make the environments feel more real, the stunts more impactful and even the world more believable. It’s a very colorful movie which no doubt adds to the goofy almost childish nature of the story, but even the costumes designed by Laura Jean Shannon, feel appropriate attires for these people and their line of work, but also brightened up just enough so that they stand out much more. A comedy has to rely on its cast and its writing to not fail instantly and since the cast is great, the writing also hits so good bullseye every once and awhile. Even if some moments go on too long and overall, it is very childish, the atmosphere, acting and tone makes it that much more comforting and therefore, it becomes easier to accept moments that don’t feel as strong. Some of the call-backs and tributes to classic video games are pretty cleverly done and lead to some fun moments, and since the tone of the film is so goofy, even the slower moments could be taken at face value while waiting for another funny moment coming up later. Each of these writers unique projects seem to impact a lot of the pros and cons of this movie, with McKenna and Sommers’ past work on projects like The Lego Batman Movie and Spider-Man Homecoming, providing a youthful and often sketch comedy feel to their projects, Rosenberg bringing a sense of old-fashion chess from his work on films like High Fidelity, Con Air and even Kangaroo Jack, and Pinkner possibly bringing some of the less-than-favorable qualities with his past works on The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The 5th Wave and The Dark Tower, not being very good examples of his abilities. The music by Henry Jackman feels like it calls back to those old classic adventure serials like Indiana Jones, and while nothing incredible, it works for the movie and does bring a more subdued and retro feel to what is otherwise a very contemporary project.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle doesn’t really feel anything like its original film, but that is exactly what you’d want in a re-imaging and seeing this pretty solid idea taken advantage of in the modern era with enough updates to be its own thing, is nice and reassuring. The film is an averagely funny movie with great acting and entertaining writing, and while the clichés can be a bit too mundane, some of the scenes drag the movie out longer than necessary, and it can be a little dumb and mindless at times, for people who are just looking for a simple waste of time with a lot of passion and energy, this is a good movie for that. Start this long-forgotten game up and see if it’s one you’d like to get sucked into both figuratively and very literally.