Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

We all know about the spooky board game Jumanji – its sturdy wooden design and that magic 8 ball middle. But times, they have a-changed.

Like many relics, the board game has had to fight to stay relevant – because you know… how else is it supposed to trap and torture innocent players?

Welcome to the 21st century.

Whilst rebelling against the bores of detention, four teenagers end up being sucked into an old school video game called Jumanji.

Each student soon finds themselves physically changed to reflect their chosen avatar – a random selection that not only helps them over come obstacles that arise in the game, but also helps highlight their own personal insecurities.

The game is simple: Beat every level, restore the Jaguar’s eye, stick together, and don’t die.

Team work, trust and a little dance fighting is needed if the kids who sought a way to find a way to leave their world behind, want to get back to reality.

I have to keep checking myself to make sure I am being as non comparative as possible, because even though Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a remake/standalone sequel of the 1995 original movie Jumanji…. it felt more like a reboot.

What I liked – which surprised me – was how the board game morphed into something more alluring for the generation it found itself in.

It opens up to the possibility of Jumanji reinventing itself again further down the line into perhaps an app or a Virtual Reality gaming software which is both cool and creepy.

The crossover combination of character types between the teens and their avatars were chosen really well, e,g; shallow, ‘hot’ and less than smart Bethany (Madison Iseman) being turned into Professor Sheldon Oberon (Jack Black), a portly middle aged cartographer. And Nerdy germophobe Spencer (Alex Wolff) suddenly becoming the muscular leader of the pack; Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) etc.

Yes the in-game cast comprising of Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan and Nick Jonas, made somewhat of an odd assembly of people (Amy Pond and Luke Hobbs?!) but it worked.

What didn’t sit right with me about Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, was the lack of fear or worry I felt about the characters and their situation and even the believability that they were worried about themselves. There seemed to be a lack of danger/seriousness to their predicament, even with the whole three lives thing hanging over their heads.

This doesn’t count as being comparative *cough*, but the name Jumanji has always instilled a level of fear in everyone I know – when I was younger I felt so bad for Alan Parrish being trapped in the game and all he went through and would (naturally and irrationally) fret over it happening to me.

Clearly the remake was appealing to more modern times and the newer generation by making it more of an action comedy than sticking with the supernatural thriller vibe (or fantasy adventure if you prefer) of the original.

Though this was a clever way of severing as many comparable ties as possible, I think in doing so it took away some of what was so great about the mysteriousness and creepiness of the game Jumanji and those fear inspiring drums.

So the movie didn’t exactly bowl me over with its amazingness or anything, and I’m not gagging to see any of the characters again… Except maybe Professor Sheldon Oberon inhabited by Bethany.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle had its funny moments and also its fair share of duller ones – but it was okay. I appreciate that it didn’t bring too many elements of the original movie into it and the references that were made were sweet and subtle.

For me, only one question still remains… Did they ever finish pulling out all those staples?