Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017) Review

Normally, when I hear that Hollywood is planning on making a sequel to a beloved children's film, but updating it for modern audiences, I shudder at the thought.  But, when I saw the trailer for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (hereafter referred to as Jumanji 2), I actually thought it looked good.  Was I right?  Does Jumanji 2 got it going on?

Four high school students, geeky Spencer (Alex Wolfe), jock Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain), narcissistic, popular girl Bethany (Madison Iseman), and studious, but snarky Martha (Morgan Turner), all end up in detention.  Forced to clean out a storage room, they come across an old video game called Jumanji, and decide to play it.  They get sucked into the game and find themselves in the bodies of the video game characters.  Spencer is now the immensely strong and brave Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson).  Fringe is now the weak and tiny Mouse Finbar (Kevin Hart).  Bethany is now a male, the overweight and intelligent Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black).  Martha is now the beautiful, badass Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan).  Together, they must learn how to use each other's various strengths to be the game and return home.  But the game's villain, Russel Van Pelt, (Bobby Cannavale), who has control of the various beasts of Jumanji, and an army of mercenaries, is determined to stop them at any cost.

What Works:

Jumanji 2 works almost solely off of the characters.  The four video game avatars have great chemistry.  All four of them are very funny and work well together.  Johnson and Black are the standouts because they are playing against type.  It's awesome to see Johnson have serious self-confidence and anxiety issues, and trying hard not to cry.  Black is great at playing a bitchy, popular girl.  It's so bizarre that it works.

Another plus is that video game logic works well.  The levels are fun and it's great to see a movie about video games done right.  It's pretty rare.  All of the action is a lot of fun, and both intense and funny.

Finally, there is a nice moment paying tribute to the start of the original film, the late Robin Williams.  They don't overdo the tribute, but it's just the right amount to acknowledge how great Robin Williams was.

What Sucks:

Most of Jumanji 2 works, but it has a few flaws.  First off, while the movie is really funny, not all of the humor lands.  Some of it feels forced, and Kevin Hart mostly gets the same jokes over and over again.  It's funny at first, but eventually they become stale.

The character development also feels a bit forced.  I like how the characters change by the end, but the dialogue about them growing as people and becoming better comes off a bit clunk at parts.

Finally, Bobby Cannavale is underused as the villain.  He doesn't get much to do, which is a bummer, because his look is very memorable and will give anyone who doesn't like centipedes nightmares.

Verdict:

Most people say Jumanji 2 is surprisingly good.  I don't, because I totally called that this movie would be good.  It's a lot of fun.  It's different enough from the original to justify its existence, but it pays enough tribute to the original that it does feel like a sequel.  The cast is great.  The comedy works.  Tighten up the dialogue and give the villain more do and you have a fantastic movie.  But, flaws aside, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good