Jumanji review: Jungle romp falls flat despite
KIND of a sequel. Kind of a reboot. Kind of happy to do its own thing. That’s the wash-up for Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, the frenetic follow-up to the cherished 1995 family adventure gem, writes Leigh Paatsch.
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JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (PG)
Director: Jake Kasdan (Bad Teacher)
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman.
Rating: Three stars (out of five)
A fun game, sometimes overplayed
KIND of a sequel. Kind of a reboot. Kind of happy to do its own thing.
That’s the wash-up for Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, the frenetic follow-up to the cherished 1995 family adventure gem Jumanji.
As everyone should recall, the original movie followed its young characters as they were caught inside a board game come to life.
A generation on, and the stereotypical youths of this tale are now stuck inside a video game come to life.
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But wait, there’s more (arguably, too much more). All of the teens have now been body-swapped into adult avatars.
Which means a nerdy teenager like Spencer (Alex Wolff) will now have the brawny bravado of a Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
A mousy teenage girl like Martha (Morgan Turner) will now have the babelicious bravado of a Karen Gillan.
A he-man, high-school quarterback like Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), will now have the scaredy-cat, motormouth of a Kevin Hart.
Oh, and in the movie’s best jokey twist, a selfie-obsessed teenage girl like Bethany (Madison Iseman) will now have the flabby frame of a Jack Black.
So far, so Freaky Friday, right? Well, that’s not the only movie Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is freely borrowing a few ideas from.
The school detention prologue that initially rounds up all the kids is a straight lift from the 1980s chestnut The Breakfast Club.
Once inside the familiar Jumanji game structure, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle kicks back for a while, and waits for some chemistry to take hold between Johnson, Hart, Gillan and Black.
Surprisingly, it takes ages for the quartet to nail down the right, rollicking vibe.
What does work very well is the video game aspect of Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, which sticks closely to the multi-level, problem-solving ethos of the original Jumanji.
For those who may find themselves losing their way, don’t be too concerned.
The camera pulls away from the action at regular intervals to show you a map displaying where each of the players are at inside the game.
As for the special effects, well, they are not exactly state of the art for a movie of this type (or budget), and there are a few sequences where the synthesised fakery does prove to be distracting.
No doubt, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is empty-calorie escapist fun for the most part, even if it sometimes overcooks what remains a simple recipe to entertain.
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