“Jack Black is the New Mean Girl”
(9.5/10)
If you are going to see this movie with the expectation of it being a direct sequel to the original Jumanji, you would be partially right. We say partially because this movie does have several hints to the original, but it comes with twists. Essentially, take the original movie and fast forward it 20 years and have it go from a simple board game to an Atari-like video game.
First off the characters in this movie could not have been casted any better. Each actor fit perfectly. The best part of the movie is that the actors didn't act like the adults that they were portraying, but rather like the teenagers in adult bodies. It makes for hilariously unexpected interactions. For example, watching Dwayne Johnson freak out over not having his Claritin because he's a nerdy teenage boy who's allergic to everything in a jungle was hilarious. Another thing we absolutely loved was how the game evolved to connect with the new generation, which is represented by the line “Who plays board games anymore?”. The overall look of the jungle setting was gorgeous. After all, where else could you see Jack Black get eaten by a hippo and Kevin Hart explode after eating cake?
The storyline, as a whole, was fantastic. It showed great continuity with the original movie. When we saw the name of Allen Parrish (Robin Williams character from the first Jumanji), it made our hearts excited and our eyes well up with tears at the same time. Conversely, we felt that the movie was too much of a copycat of the first film. Everything just has a sweet and predictable outcome, which of course isn't all bad, but was a bit of let down because they could have done something new. We would've loved to have seen more of an actual “boss fight". There was so much build up for it with little to no application, unfortunately, and it was disappointing to say the least.
As you can imagine this movie is full to the brim with laughter. Keep in mind though, with the humor of today's generation, the actors, and the PG-13 rating, a good portion of the laughs are in the style of bathroom humor. WARNING: DO NOT BRING THE 5 YEAR OLDS! But, with that being said, we just loved this movie. It made us so happy to see a classic brought back to life in a new way. It made us want to see it again and again...and we have. We shed a tear to see it not be done with Robin Williams’ touch of humor, but if you haven't seen this movie yet, you're in for an amazing treat and an exciting journey.
PS: We know this one is short, but don't worry, there's a much longer review in video form on our YouTube channel and a link to it on the Videos page. Go check it out!