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Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Starring: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jack Black
1/5
The first Jumanji remake in 2017 is probably an equally appalling film.
It wouldn’t make a difference whether you’ve seen that as this is just more of the same trite.
The white dude, Spencer, is all sad about his life when he finds the game console version of Jumanji, which is what they use now instead of the good old board game.
Within the suspended reality of the game, he figures he can be a fearless hero, different to who he actually is.
In order to save Spencer the sad boy, his friends who happen to be in town to reconnect, venture after him.
Inside the game, the harshest natural biomes are brought to life with an assortment of animals looking to off you.
Each person who enters is assigned an in-game avatar with certain attributes and weaknesses.
What was refreshing but short-lived was the on-screen interaction between veteran actors Danny Glover and Danny DeVito who play old friends.
The two haven’t seen each other in years and happen to be in the same house as Spencer’s twisted console.
The game sucks everybody in but there are a few differences from last time, all of which are stupid. Hart and Johnson do have a decent rapport, but the slapstick humour between them and Jack Black is almost nauseating.
Of course, they say you must see this in 3-D, the biggest scam Hollywood is running right now because the technology should be getting better every year. But the creators make the image blurry and pass it off as 3-D.
The cartoon Jumanji (1996) had a sinister grace about it and the first live action film starring the legendary Robin Williams in 1995 was comical but not as corny as this.
What is even more shocking is that this film owns the highest spot at the local box office right now. Are we this bored? The kids might love it, but I’d fear that my child’s IQ would radically decline after being exposed to this.
Hart’s character is a zoologist and provides information on any wild animals approaching to either kill everybody or on occasion offer a helping hand. Besides learning that mandrills are in fact the largest monkeys in the world, something Siri could’ve told me, I found this movie to be a snooze.
