JUMANJI THE NEXT LEVEL: A Charming, Lighthearted Follow-Up That's As Good As the 2017 Smash Hit

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

Produced by: Dwayne Johnson, Matt Tolmach, William Teitler, Hiram Garcia, Danny Garcia  

Directed by: Jake Kasdan    

Written by: Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg   

Production Company: Columbia Pictures

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Madison Iseman, Alex Wolff, Colin Hanks, Dania Ramirez, Awkwafina, Rory McCann, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain  

Runtime: 123 minutes                  

SYNOPSIS: 

Spencer (Alex Wolff) is missing, leaving his friends Martha (Morgan Turner), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain) and Bethany (Madison Iseman) worried. As they search through his house, they discover that Spencer has returned to Jumanji, the same video game that they have played, won and escaped three years ago. And so, the gang must now reenter the game to save Spencer and bring him back home. What lies ahead is not easy since the game has become a different world to the one they entered before, where the rules have changed and the stake is even higher. 

REVIEW: 

Having the guts to open on the same weekend against the highly-anticipated Star Wars: the Last Jedi (2017), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)’s persistence was eventually rewarded. Welcome to the Jungle did not just hold its ground against the pop culture juggernaut, but it also somehow outlasted its competitor in the theaters on its way to becoming that year’s fifth highest grossing movie worldwide. 

Its achievement was unprecedented, considering how the project received lukewarm reception when it was first announced. And the fact that Sony announced it a year after Jumanji (1995)’s star Robin Williams’ death did not set a good precedent either. Furthermore, in a holiday season stuffed already with many movies, Welcome to the Jungle’s modest debut of $36.2 million, slightly below the industry projections, isn’t exactly a promising start. 

Its drastic leap from being an underachiever to an overachiever could be attributed to one thing: legs. Whereas the Last Jedi came and went like a flash in the pan, Welcome to the Jungle, boosted by strong word-of-mouth, was an immovable object, staying put way beyond the Last Jedi’s entire theatrical run, even until spring before finishing with $ 962 million, just $40 million shy of a billion dollars. 

Welcome to the Jungle’s positive critical and financial response inspires Sony to turn Jumanji into their next big franchise. It only took the studio two years to get the band back together for Jumanji: the Next Level, with Jake Kasdan still in the directorial seat along with its star-studded quartet Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan and a few additional members like Danny DeVito, Danny Glover and Awkwafina. But most importantly, it’s Round Two in the fight for box office supremacy between the Jumanji franchise and Star Wars franchise as 2019 sees history repeating itself, with the Next Level being released close to Star Wars: Episode IX – Rise of Skywalker (2019) in its attempt to remind people that its success last time out was not a one-off. 

Jumanji: the Next Level is a worthy, mostly triumphant continuation to the fledgling Jumanji franchise, proving once and for all that lightning does strike twice. It is the rare sequel that manages to build on what makes the first movie so enjoyable, and in some respect, the script, credited to Kasdan himself, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg, has perfected the people-trapped-in-a-video-game formula. And the end product is simply a swashbuckling good time at the movies, bigger and better than the original. It’s a movie with more than enough fresh and ambitious ideas to take its high concept to the next level (no pun intended). A terrific mix of irreverent comedy and edge-of-your-seat blockbuster thrills, the Next Level feels like a gleeful throwback to the sort of globetrotting, whimsical adventure romp that Steven Spielberg used to make with the Indiana Jones movies. 

And this sequel delivers pretty much all the Saturday matinee-style entertainment and spectacle required for the big screen spotlight. Picking up from where he left off in Welcome to the Jungle, The Next Level is a further confident showcase of the comically-inclined Kasdan’s hidden talent as an action movie director. The action sequences throughout this movie are genuinely jaw-dropping in every sense of the word, treading the fine line between suspense and silliness and one which Kasdan pulls off admirably towards maintaining its virtual-reality video game illusion. 

His vision is equally matched by the exciting world-building, pushing boundaries of what is possible with this franchise’s video game realm concept. For one, Jumanji itself feels considerably more epic and expansive in its scope and flat-out bonkers, throw-everything-and-the-kitchen-sink-at-the-screen in its aesthetics this time around, as the movie exposes the audience to plenty more interesting places besides just the jungle such as the snowy peaks and the sparse desert in order to add some scenic variation to the action/adventure plot. 

And the Next Level’s emphasis on these island-hopping excursion into uncharted corners of the Jumanji universe offers one of its delightful treats and each new revelation is an awe-inspiring cinematic discovery reminiscent of players unlocking one new level after another in a video game. Kasdan makes great use of the environment’s exotic potential to stage some truly thrilling set-pieces. The movie has one particularly elaborate, fun action sequence where the characters come across a horde of vicious mandrills as they try to pass some floating rope bridges that beat basically any action sequence in its already impressively-helmed action-wise predecessor. 

In typical action-adventure movie fashion, the scene is filled with so many heart-in-mouth narrow escapes and icebreaking moments of levity and it’s all funny, suspenseful and earnest enough to satisfy as a love letter to video games, one which gently pokes fun at the tropes while also embraces its tradition. As far as CGI and technical wizardry goes, the mandrills are convincingly rendered, finding the much-needed middle ground between camp artifice and photorealism to somehow blend seamlessly with the live-action elements (e.g. the bridges). 

Much credit must also be given to its surprising attention to detail. As a movie set primarily inside a video game, the Next Level captures its spirit much better than Welcome to the Jungle in a sense that the filmmakers are more committed here into having the plot obeys the same logic as if it is an actual video game. There’s a first-person shooter nature to the story construction which adds to its immersive appeal, where the main characters serve as the audience surrogate who experiences the world and the action as they go along, without ever being a step behind or two or three steps ahead. The Next Level almost feels like a bunch of mini side-quests that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the main plot or the main villain strung together as a feature-length picture, and yet, it’s a fairly consistent reflection of a video game’s level-to-level style of storytelling. Even when there are some scenes meant to explore its side characters’ back stories, the script makes sure to insert them in those scenes for the sake of continuity and giving the impression that they’re, like the audience, also listening to these stories for the first time, something that’s slightly missing from the previous movie.

Besides being a decent video game movie, which is a rare feat considering the genre’s many missteps, and even rarer, a decent sequel to said video game movie, the Next Level manages for the most part to freshen up its franchise’s body-swapping formula and bring in new elements to the table with some comic and heartfelt inspiration. The script is rife with clever creative decisions throughout in order to preserve the characters and, to a certain extent, the audience’s childlike sense of awe at pretty much a familiar sight of Jumanji, mixing the teen-based savvy comedy of Welcome to the Jungle with a mean-spirited edge often found in a Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon-style geriatric buddy comedy into one hell of a unique spin on the old men-Millennials relationship story where, this time around, it’s the old men who has to learn the trade from the Millennials, which makes perfect sense in the context of the alien, technologically advanced environment surrounding the former. 

In a way, it’s that dysfunctional, yet somewhat endearing Matthau-Lemmon-esque dynamic between Spencer’s grandfather Eddie Gilpin (Danny DeVito) and his friend Milo (Danny Glover) that forms the crux of this sequel’s story as the old couple has to get used to not only the youthful bodies of their video game avatars Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) and Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Kevin Hart) respectively, but also each other’s company. It’s a comic goldmine for fish-out-of-water, mismatched-buddy road trip scenarios, in which the Next Level takes full advantage of. But these characters do get some dramatic arc to play, giving its seemingly throwaway popcorn movie premise some semblance of thematic depth and emotional power as the movie evolves from being just another laugh-out-loud riot about patching up old friendships to an occasionally touching exploration of men coming to terms with growing old, their fears, doubts, disgusts and eventual acceptance of it, even if that means having to let go of the past. And these serious themes are handled quite gracefully, hitting the sweet spot between sincerity and sentimentality. Without spoiling anything, the ending is capable of pulling the rug from under its audience’s feet in ways that wrap everything up neatly in a beautiful bow. 

Common in many sequels, the only drawback to the Next Level is in its script’s occasional tendency of repeating the same mistakes they made with the original. 

This sequel starts off just as sluggishly as Welcome to the Jungle, taking way too long to get going as it plods along rather aimlessly into a generic, sitcom-ish John Hughes-style “character-driven” teen comedy, there simply to tick off genre clichés. Two movies in and it’s baffling to see that each of the teen characters here are nothing more than stock archetypes. The script’s attempt at character building is sketchy and surface-level, as if the writers are going through the motions during its first act. The movie simply lacks any compelling reason to care for these characters outside their video game avatars. Not to mention the hit-and-miss, even first grade humor, which further serves as a painful reminder of how boring and lifelessly mundane these real world sequences are to endure. 

Still, once the real plot kicks in, the Next Level leaves a lot to be desired. The script couldn’t quite justify bringing the same exact teen characters from the previous movie back into the Jumanji game, bearing in mind how the ending of Welcome to the Jungle kind of closes the book on their story. And the seemingly contractually obligated decision to lengthen their story for another chapter in some way undermines the arcs they went through in the previous movie, especially Spencer. Spencer is never really a character at all in this movie. He becomes whatever the plot needs him to be. Spencer’s sudden disappearance feels merely like a convenient plot device to finally get his friends back in the game. How the writers eventually connect the dots between the excuse behind his disappearance and the game is ludicrous and not worth the hassle. 

Bethany is another teen character whose arc seems like wasted comic potential. She spends most of the movie trapped in the body of a black horse (which sounds funny on paper), but this particular body-swapping antic winds up being underused and underdeveloped. Horse Bethany’s role here is relegated to being an extended cameo at best, the unfortunate pawn the script chooses to sacrifice in order to give the newer characters more screentime. She doesn’t show up onscreen until its third act, and even then, the script doesn’t give her anything interesting to do. As an allegory on body image obsession, Bethany’s internal struggle with her horse form in this movie is scarcely touched upon with the same weight as when she was in Shelby Oberon’s (Jack Black) portly, middle-age man’s body in the previous movie, instead settling for below-the-belt, one-note jokes. 

The Next Level also highlights the franchise’s core issue with its villains. Having a brutish, caveman-like figure such as Jurgen the Brutal (Rory McCann) in this movie instead of someone slighter, cunning like Bobby Cannavale’s Russell Van Pelt from Welcome to the Jungle is hardly an improvement. Jurgen is as forgettable as Van Pelt and, even worse, he barely feels like a presence at all. If anything, Jurgen seems more like an afterthought than he is a character, shoehorned in so awkwardly and superfluously to the story. He only has a few scenes, none of which matter a whole lot. There’s a cut video game sequence when he’s first introduced that suggests he had a bad blood with video game character Smolder Bravestone and it doesn’t go anywhere, evident from the fact that Jurgen never even bothered to send his men out to chase after the protagonists. 

Regardless though, The Next Level still rises to the occasion where it matters the most in the acting department. The movie takes full advantage of its quartet of notoriously multi-talented performers like Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan playing the teen characters as well as Milo and Eddie’s video game avatars in a fittingly fun, crowd-pleasing kind of way that’s just as successful as or even more than in Welcome to the Jungle. Here is a solid cinematic proof where putting funny individuals in one room together can make for a great team, because there’s such an off-the-cuff feel to their constant bickering and bantering that gives its humor verve and much-needed edge. 

Dwayne Johnson is thoroughly entertaining as he slips easily into the body-swapping antics of Danny DeVito’s grumpy old man character Eddie being trapped in his Samoan, strongman-type video game body Smolder Bravestone like when he was Wolff’s teenage character Spencer two years ago. In a role that’s right up Johnson’s alley and out of his comfort zone, he commits to the bit, channeling hammy theatrics and trademark action movie star charisma with only his ever-reliable smoldering stare. He kicks major butt like a seasoned pro as always, but his finest gift is his comic impersonation, especially with his loud, boisterous, mostly spot-on impression of DeVito. 

But it’s Kevin Hart who is the real star of this show, showing a surprisingly wide comedic range to better embody the character of a different kind of old man to Johnson’s: Danny Glover’s cool, laid back old man character Milo inhabiting the body of the diminutive video game avatar Franklin “Mouse” Finbar. Hart’s performance here is an improvement over his work in the predecessor, because he’s doing something new with the character, toning down his usual shrill persona to create a hilariously calm, smooth-talking Mouse that’s not only good on its own right, but also, like Johnson, as an uncanny impersonation of Danny Glover. 

Jack Black supplies his signature manic energy and vivacity to a suitably over-the-top, enjoyably cartoonish and against-type rendition of his portly, middle-aged Caucasian video game avatar Shelby Oberon with the soul of Fridge, an African American teenager. Black’s hysterical attempt at mimicking Blain’s big, fast-talking, outspoken, almost Kevin Hart-like accent and swagger is as much of a scene-stealer as when he pulls off Iseman’s Instagram-obsessed valley girl-type character Bethany’s accent from the previous movie. He also does a fine job of showcasing his inner chameleon-like comedic ability, especially later in a scene involving a pool of water which allows him to experiment with various stereotypes. 

Karen Gillan perfectly demonstrates her immense physicality and impeccable comic timing as the Lara Croft-ish heroine Ruby Roundhouse and her real personality Martha.  Gillan is given a lot more to do here, even taking center stage for awhile as she makes as charming a supporting player as she does a leading lady. Like her MCU character Nebula, Ruby is a legitimate badass during the action scenes, but there’s also some kooky charm about her during some of the tender moments that believably exudes Martha’s plain Jane demeanor. She proves to be a pretty skilled impersonator, especially in one scene with Jack Black in a pool. 

As far as the newcomers go, they’re a delight to watch. Awkwafina is a lively comic relief presence as Jumanji’s latest avatar and pretty much the main gang’s plus one Ming, matching them strength-by-strength, impersonation-by-impersonation. It’s hardly a stretch since it’s the same shtick she’s been doing in these big-budget movies, but still, she does it very well. Beyond being comic references, Danny DeVito and Danny Glover also appear in the flesh as Eddie and his friend Milo, and the only time they share the screen, being a breakfast scene, their electric odd couple chemistry offers the best part in an otherwise uneventful first act. 

CONCLUSION: 

Jumanji: the Next Level maintains the same level of adventurous fun and screwball comedy as its 2017 predecessor with a charming, lighthearted and overall exuberantly-directed follow-up that benefits greatly from the versatility of its hugely talented cast. 

Score: 8/10