“Jumanji: The Next Level” Movie Review

    Every December, especially around Christmas, the multiplex tends to be fairly crowded with a slew of new releases.  One could say it’s a bit of a jungle out there in the theaters, so another Jumanji movie seems like a no brainer.  I finally got a chance to catch “Jumanji: The Next Level” and I can finally give you my take on the film.

    The film takes place a few years after the events of “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”.  Spencer, Martha, Fridge, and Bethany are now separated from each other and going to different colleges.  The group decide to get together but Spencer is reluctant to meet back up with them because he feels insecure and inadequate now.  Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Spencer patches the Jumanji video game together and returns to the game in an effort to regain his confidence.  Unfortunately, Spencer becomes trapped in the game again and it’s up to his friends to rescue him by returning to Jumanji.

    Let me start off by saying that I enjoyed this film quite a bit.  The film has it’s flaws, but it is hilarious at times and makes for some great escapism.  The main flaw of the film isn’t with it’s humor, it’s in the movie’s lack of an original story.  Despite a great deal of terrific new gags, the film is essentially more of the same plot overall with little new to offer aside from it’s humor.  Thankfully, it very much delivers in that department.

    “Jumanji: The Next Level” is the fourth overall film in the franchise following “Jumanji”, “Zathura: A Space Adventure” (which was the official book sequel but more of a spin-off in regards to the adaptation) and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”.  I sort of hope the inevitable next film in the franchise takes the story in a different direction with more ties to the first film (and possibly Zathura).

    The core cast of “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” all return including Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillian, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Nick Jonas, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, and Colin Hanks.  They are joined by new cast members Awkwafina, Danny Glover, and Danny DeVito who all add a lot of humor and heart to this film.

    One of the funnier gimmicks of the film is that the youngsters of the film end up in different avatars this time around except for Martha (Morgan Turner) who once again becomes Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillian).  Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain) is now in the avatar of Sheldon Oberon (Jack Black) and Bethany initially gets left out of the game completely.  Spencer’s grandfather Eddie (Danny DeVito) isn’t so lucky and gets sucked into the game and becomes Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) while his friend Milo (Danny Glover) is now in the avatar of Frank Finbar (Kevin Hart).

    Dwayne Johnson does a great job channeling Danny DeVito and is given more to work with in this sequel.  Kevin Hart also sounded and acted identical to Danny Glover which was often hilarious.  I really enjoyed Awkwafina in this film as well.  The only actor to get the raw end of the deal was Jack Black because the gifted comedian isn’t given as many funny lines due to his character now being Fridge’s avatar.

    This installment of the popular franchise doesn’t take us to new places or advance the story much but it is still very fun.  When it comes to monkey business, no franchise excels at it quite like “Jumanji”.

Grade: B