Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I hope you all had a good week this week. I did. Today I'm going to be talking about the 2017 sequel to the 1995 film, Jumanji, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. So let's get right into it because I am pretty excited to be talking about this movie.
2017 was an odd year for me. Especially when it comes to watching movies. I saw three movies at the beginning of the year but then ended up missing a ton of movies that I wanted to see because I spent the majority of the year, from the end of March until the end of August having major abdominal surgery and then recovering from it. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle didn't come out until December of 2017 I just never got a chance to see it. Mainly because it was Christmas time, I'd gone to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and to be honest, having not seen the original Jumanji since I was a kid, I didn't have much interest in this movie. Particularly when it comes to deciding what movies I want to see in theatres. I did think it looked pretty cool from the trailer I saw before The Last Jedi, but I decided to wait until it came out on home media to watch it. Plus I wasn't sure I could manage two trips to the movies in less than a week since I was still a bit wonky from everything surrounding my operation earlier that year. I regret that decision.
I don't think I've ever laughed at a movie as hard as I laughed at this one. While the original movie was creepier in tone, this one felt more like a fun adventure film with more nuanced characters than the first one. Movies always walk a fine line when the main characters are teenagers because they can come off as unbelievable even if they're not written that way. Here though, the teenage characters work alot better than the kid characters in the first movie. And I think that's just because the teens were the focus of this movie, while Peter and Jody didn't actually matter as the original movie was focused on Robin Williams's character, Alan Parrish and his crush, Sarah who was played by Bonnie Hunt. Also this movie got to have it's cake and eat it too because they got to have big name performers in the movie but have the movie focused on the teenage characters by having the big name performers play the teen characters in avatar form, as Jumanji is now a video game instead of a board game.
The cast of this movie is phenomenal. Like I said they really did a good job with having big name performers playing their main characters. You have Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan playing the teen characters in their avatar forms. Which is pretty cool. Of the avatar performers, I think the one I've seen in the least number of things is actually Kevin Hart as prior to this I've only seen him as CJ, Anthony Anderson's sidekick in Scary Movie 3. Everyone else I've seen in multiple things. I've seen Karen Gillan as Nebula in the MCU films, and as Amy Pond on Doctor Who, I've seen Dwayne Johnson as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King, and as a one off character on Star Trek: Voyager, and I've seen Jack Black in School of Rock, Ice Age (2002), and Goosebumps (2015). They just work so well together.
It's hard to pick a favourite character or a funny scene that stands out because all of the characters are great and there's alot of funny scenes. But if I had to pick, I think my favourite character would have to be Martha, played by Karen Gillan. She wasn't the typical girl character and it was great watching her dance fight the bad guys to Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way", which is sung by Big Mountain in this movie. I think my favourite scene was when the kids realize their abilities their avatars have, like Spencer (Johnson) has super speed as his avatar, Dr. Bravestone, a very Indiana Jones esque character. I also laughed hardest when Bethany (Jack Black playing a teenage girl in a man's body) explores what she has in her avatar's body.
I think this movie is actually superior to the original. Mainly because the first film, while certainly creepy in places, had no stakes to it. Basically the only real danger in the first film was the number of animals wreaking havoc on the town. Yeah, they tried to add extra danger with Van Pelt hunting Alan, but it was never explained WHY he was hunting Alan and so it just made that whole storyline superfluous. Here though, you know what will happen if the kids don't return the Jaguar's Eye to it's statue and the danger Van Pelt represents is heightened when the kids are down to their final lives.
I also like how each character grows as the movie progresses. It's subtle though. Bethany doesn't become a completely different person because of her time in the game. She's still Bethany, but she comes to realize that her actions do affect the people around her. Spencer and Martha are still awkward and nervous. They're just more confident by the end of the movie. Fridge is the one with the least character growth, but he does become friends with Spencer again during their adventures in the game. So like I said, subtle and nothing over the top.
Overall this was an excellent film. It was funny, thrilling, and a fun coming of age story. I am glad I watched the first movie earlier this week though as there are several nods to it in this one that I wouldn't've picked up on if I hadn't watched it. It's perfectly enjoyable on it's own, but knowing those little references adds an extra layer of enjoyment to it.
Alright guys that's going to be it for me for this week. I'll be back on Wednesday with next week's comic book review. Next week's movie review is going to be the 2000 Nickelodeon film, Snow Day. So until then have a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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