Walking into the theatre, I had no expectations from this vaguely titled sequel Welcome To The Jungle of the classic Jumanji. After the trailers, I was sold on the proposition that this was yet another sequel/reboot that no one asked for and would end up ruining one of my favourite childhood movies.
Despite my presumption – set by countless Hollywood money-minting, toy-selling franchises – Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle turned out to be a surprisingly fun watch. A few minutes into the film, I totally forgot about its 1995 prequel as the film detached itself from its predecessor and offered a new fun universe of its own. On top of that, the makers delivered a great video game movie – a venture at which Hollywood as failed time and time again.
Maybe it’s unwise to compare Jumanji with movies like Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed or Warcraft because its source material isn’t based on a video game but rather it is based inside a video game – and using that trope is Welcome To The Jungle's biggest strength.
The film hilariously explores video game features like player’s lives, their strengths and weaknesses, Non-Player Characters and one tiny backpack carrying whole lot of weapons.
With some brilliant performances by the cast, the Jumanji 2 fulfils as a great adventure ride. The main cast members – The Rock (Dwayne Johnson), Kevin Hart, Karen Gillian and Jack Black – are playing the avatars of four misfit teenagers who, while being stuck in a Breakfast Club-like situation, stumble upon a video game and get sucked into it.
This gives the main cast an opportunity to have a lot of fun with their characters and play against their type. The nerd gets The Rock’s avatar, so he now has the body of a beefcake but is actually afraid of almost everything, the tall American football player gets Kevin Hart, which as you guessed, follows tons of short jokes. Similarly, the reticent girl gets in Karen Gillian’s badass avatar and the best among everyone is Jack Black, who plays a high school Instagram princess. Black’s portrayal of a teenage beauty queen is definitely one of the funniest parts of the movie.
The film does rely heavily on CGI (Computer Generated Images) but it is padded up nicely with well-choreographed action. And since we are in the post-Deadpool era of movies, Jumanji also has loads of self-aware jokes. Like why Karen Gillian’s character is in a ridiculous skimpy outfit in a jungle.
It is far-fetched to imagine that Jumanji 2 will leave behind a legacy like its predecessor. The original Jumanji had a darker undertone to it which made the life and death scenarios of the characters more believable. Even the Hunter who comes out from the game to kill Robin Williams’ character in Jumanji was much more menacing than the main villain in the sequel.
In the end, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is an enjoyable holiday film, which is not focused on taking you down the nostalgia hill and barely tries to even connect with its prequel, and doesn’t pretend to.
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