Jumanji: The Next Level review

JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL: 

THIRD “GAME” MAY BE ON REPEAT, BUT STILL HAS PLENTY OF REPLAY VALUE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillen, and Jack Black are back in Jumanji: The Next Level

            Dwayne Johnson (The Scorpion King, Fast & Furious franchise, Rampage), Kevin Hart (Central Intelligence,The Secret Life of Pets 1 and 2, The Upside), Jack Black (Tenacious D, School of Rock, Kung Fu Panda trilogy), and Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Oculus, Marvel Cinematic Universe) are back in the world of Jumanji in Jumanji: The Next Level, the third installment of the Jumanji film series based on the children’s book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg and follow-up to 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Apparently, Jumanji doesn’t just have the power to bring animals into the real world or suck people into its jungle world, it also has the power to completely change a movie franchise, aside from a few references to the 1995 Robin Williams Jumanji film that started it all, Welcome to the Jungle and The Next Level take more of a goofy action/adventure tone reminiscent of Indiana Jones or the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies, definitely a lot different than the murky, gloomy tone of the original. 

            While the 1995 Jumanji movie is a childhood favorite of mine and will always have a special place in my heart, I really enjoyed Welcome to the Jungle when I saw it back in 2017 and was one of the most pleasant surprises of that year. I remembered thinking Welcome to the Jungle looked terrible and a complete betrayal of the original, but after seeing it, not only did I have a fun time with the movie, but I admitted that it was better than the first. 

            Apparently, Welcome to the Jungle was an unexpected surprise for a lot of people as it earned very positive reactions from both critics and audiences, nearly grossed $1 billion at the box-office, and even managed to out-gross Sony’s own Spider-Man: Homecoming that same year. It only makes sense to do a follow-up with the Welcome to the Jungle cast returning and Jake Kasdan (Orange County, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Bad Teacher) back in the director’s chair to bring a new adventure of Jumanji to the screen, The Next Level I should say. 

            Much like Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level is a lot of fun and doesn’t try to completely rehash the last movie, though the basic premise is the same, people get sucked into a video game and have to play through it and win in order to get out. But there are enough changes made to the formula, imagination, as well as even more outrageous performances by its cast to give it plenty of replay value. 

            It’s been a year since the events of the last film and Spencer (Alex Wolff-From Up on Poppy Hill, Patriots Day, Hereditary), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain-Charmed, Footloose (2011), Seberg), Martha (Morgan Turner-Mercy, Mildred Pierce, Blue Bloods), and Bethany (Madison Iseman-Still the King, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, Annabelle Comes Home) have gone their separate ways but make plans to meet up again in Brantford. Spencer, now sharing his bedroom with his cranky but well-meaning grandfather Eddie (Danny DeVito-Batman Returns, Matilda, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) while he recovers from hip surgery realizes his time in Jumanji was what made him feel important and starts to reassemble the game so he can return. 

            When Fridge, Martha, and Bethany find out Spencer went back in the game, they try to go back to Jumanji and find Spencer but the broken game only sucks Martha and Fridge in along with Grandpa Eddie and his former business partner and friend Milo Walker (Danny Glover-Lethal Weapon franchise, The Color Purple, Predator 2) who came over trying to patch things up with Eddie, while Bethany is stuck trying to find another way into Jumanji. 

            However, upon re-entering Jumanji things get a little mixed up, Martha is back as Ruby Roundhouse (Gillen) but Fridge gets stuck in the body of Professor Shelly Oberon (Black), Milo becomes Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Hart), Eddie…is Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Johnson), and Bethany is now a horse.

            The avatars aren’t the only things different in this game of Jumanji as there is a new villain in the form of an iron-fisted warlord named Jurgen the Brutal (Rory McCann-Hot Fuzz, Game of Thrones, XXX: Return of Xander Cage) who had stolen a magical necklace known as the Falcon’s Heart which has the power to turn the wildlife of Jumanji into a dry wasteland. Like last time, the players must play through the game and finish it in order to get out and hopefully find Spencer in the process with a little help from returning Jumanji player Alex (Colin Hanks-Orange County, King Kong (2005), The Great Buck Howard) as aircraft pilot Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough (Nick Jonas-Jonas Brothers, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Chaos Walking) and a thief with skills of pick-pocketing, burglary, and lock picking named Ming (Awkwafina-Ocean’s 8, Crazy Rich Asians, The Farewell) along the way. 

            The film also stars Rhys Darby (Pirate Radio, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) as Nigel Billingsley and Massi Furlan (True Blood, Supernatural, Bad Boys for Life) as Switchblade.

            Overall, Jumanji: The Next Level doesn’t really do anything new with the story and is more of what we had already seen in Welcome to the Jungle, but if you’re a fan of cheesy action movies then you’ll have a blast especially if you enjoyed the last film. It’s literally the same plot as Welcome to the Jungle, the players have to play through the game, find a magical jewel, stop the villain, and get back home, it’s not the point where it’s lazy but if you’ve seen trailers and ads for this movie then you know what you’re getting into. 

            The humor and cast are where the movie shines particularly with the actors portraying certain character stereotypes much like the previous film. Because this is a video game world and the celebrities represent game avatars selected by the players, the actors get to play against type and poke fun at various character tropes like the nerd, jock, dumb blonde, nerdy girl, and yes, even the cranky old man. 

            Dwayne Johnson as Danny DeVito is absolutely hilarious and was the comedic highlight of the movie for me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed him a lot being controlled by Spencer in the last movie but when you hear Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson speak like grouchy but lovable Danny DeVito, it’s comedic pixy-dust from the dialogue to the line delivery, I was laughing hard every time he said a word in this movie, almost like The Next Level’s equivalent of Jack Black as Bethany from Welcome to the Jungle.

            Kevin Hart I thought was an improvement this time around because while he got some laughs out of me in the previous film, it was mostly Kevin Hart doing his usual shtick. Now, with Danny Glover controlling him, he’s a quiet, slow-talking, down-to-earth old black man and Hart portrays the role very well and it’s both surreal and so funny and clever at the same time. 

            Jumanji: The Next Level may be on repeat, but it still has enough replay value for another fun game of Jumanji. Not quite as clever as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle but hey, that’s the name of the game.