The Original Jumanji film is a likable and enjoyable experience. While I wouldn’t call it one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, I do agree that it is a mostly faithful adaptation of the Chris Van Allsburg picture book. In 2017, Columbia thought it would be a great idea to reboot the film into a traditional action and adventure flick with stars like Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black. I’ll admit that at first I thought the idea for the film would bomb hard as a forgettable piece of garbage. After seeing the movie though, I found that I actually understated how well-executed of a film it would be on a humor scale and an adventurous scale.
It has been many years since the last time anyone had played on the Jumanji board game as now the game has been turned into a video game and has already claimed the life of one soul who has stumbled across the game cartridge back in 1996. In a high school two decades later, we see four kids, Spencer, Anthony, Bethany, and Martha who stumble across the game while in detention and once they start to play the video game, they instantly find themselves teleported into the world of the Jumanji video game as their chosen avatars. The characters have strengths and weaknesses as well as only three lives to play with. Each of the characters will need to use all their powers and abilities to beat the game to save Jumanji and be teleported back home.
You’d think this would be just another run of the mill action adventure flick and while sometimes that is the case, it’s actually quite entertaining as this movie is good at reviving Jumanji for a new audience while also giving the viewers a new entertaining story with a lot of humor and action-packed suspense. This movie is really funny and a lot of jokes really hit their marks and even the ones that don’t are in no way painful to listen to which is quite impressive considering what this movie could have been. The main characters, although cliche, are really good at playing their respective characters but they are even better when they become their Jumanji game avatars. Most of the story and humor comes from the characters interacting off each other and it is very effective for laughs and character growth. When I heard big stars like Dywane Johnson and Jack Black were gonna be in this movie, I thought they only picked the celebrities for recognition but they are so good at playing the characters stuck in the bodies of the avatars so well that they prove how well they can play a character even when their celebrity name is attached.
The Visuals are nice even if they aren’t anything very remarkable but they do get the job done for transporting us to a different world. There are some well-done action-packed moments that are a lot of fun to witness and even though the film looks almost like every action-adventure flick in the jungle, I still believe that much like the visuals, it works in giving the audience a well-constructed set that offers a lot of adventurous possibilities. One thing I wished could have been improved upon is seeing more jungle animals as we get to see a lot of human villages which isn’t all bad but it would be nice to have some variety. The CGI effects are pretty obvious but they don’t take away from the enjoyment of the film. There are also a lot of great visual gags that really make the humor even more enjoyable to sit through. The music score was done by Henry Jackman who for animation fans may be recognizable as he’s responsible for providing the soundtrack to movies like Wreck-It Ralph and Big Hero 6. While this is far from his best musical compositions, the film’s soundtrack still delivers on decent-sounding jungle-themed tunes that are fun for the ears.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting this film to be as likable and funny as it was. While it’s far from being a masterful experience. I would still say that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a well-made reboot that has an action-packed and humorous story, Likable characters both as the avatars and as not, decent visuals that offer more than enough compensation for the lack of ideas they could have used with a premise like this and a decent music score from Henry Jackman. This movie has got me curious to see the sequel that would come out two years later and I’m hoping that movie will be just as funny and adventurous as this movie surprisingly was.
(Final Grade: B)