Of all the possible franchises and remakes that clutter our theaters, there is only one that I feel absolutely no guilt giving money to. Jumanji: The Next Level is an incredibly solid sequel to 2017's unexpectedly successful remake Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and one that to me, is impossible not to at least have fun with. There is no denying how unbelievably ridiculous and fun these films are and I derive all of my enjoyment from that aspect alone. Jake Kasdan's direction and the script itself is, again, not the greatest but it really does not need to be. I went into the first film with relatively low expectations and left very satisfied. Same goes with this sequel, as I went in only wanting to have a good laugh while enjoying two more hours with these characters and I got just that. This is by no means one of my favorite movies of the year or one that I can see myself raving about but as a winter blockbuster, it works flawlessly and provides everything that a memorable sequel needs.
After their first year of college, friends Martha (Morgan Turner), Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain), and Bethany (Madison Iseman) reunite in their hometown where they had previously had their cursed video game Jumanji adventure with their friend Spencer (Alex Wolff). When Spencer goes missing, the three of them go back into the game to try and find him but encounter an entirely new adventure to conquer along with some new characters and unexpected changes to their avatars. This sequel amps up what made its predecessor so entertaining and definitely capitalizes on that. The awesome set pieces and action scenes are mesmerizing to watch and the production design really stands out in this film. There are a plethora of fictional cultures that this film explores and the costuming in the different climates and locations made for such an impressive visual aspect. The piece of this film that stands out to me the most, however, is how it is a perfectly-executed sequel. This film does everything right when it comes to expanding on its original film, including adding new elements, characters, and more world-building in the video game of Jumanji itself. It's really just the classic "bigger and better" trope that this movie works with and that is actually what I enjoyed the most. More or less of the same, this film does not try to be risky with its storytelling or take any bold new approaches but simply treats its story as if its a sequel to an actual video game. In particular, I loved the new take on the body-switching and the various performances that were all brought out. Karen Gillan, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart all played a different incarnation of their original character and the fact that they were all able to portray these different personalities so well is amazing. Gillan and the new addition of Awkwafina were the absolute standouts throughout this entire movie and I really enjoyed the switch of focus to Gillan as the leader. I love to see indie star Awkwafina get that nice Sony paycheck and I am sure that it was a blast for her to be a part of a harmless franchise like this one. Her performance was great and there were actually some genuinely emotional moments that may be generic but worked for me regardless.
This film is unabashedly cheesy and ridiculous but its willingness to take these goofy risks is what makes it so much fun. While Jumanji: The Next Level succeeds in those regards, I found a lot of the humor to be much more lacking this time around. It did not work for me as well in the sequel and I feel like a lot of the same jokes were rehashed over and over. This issue mainly stems from the inclusion of Danny DeVito and Danny Glover as Grandpa Eddie and Milo, respectively. Glover and DeVito are both incredibly legendary talents in both comedy and drama and I can see why these filmmakers were enthralled to get them on board but I found their subplot to be painfully forced. Their falling out after owning a restaurant together was very strange and I feel like their story existed in its own world outside of this film's main plot. It was nice to get background on their relationship but their addition to the main plot was definitely not needed and, unfortunately, Kasdan relies too much on old jokes and the corny impressions from Johnson and Hart. They were very humorous at first but their jokes became tired very quickly and the overall story displays Kasdan's main weakness. From the first film and this sequel, he has never seemed to be too outstanding of a director but the lack of focus was much more prominent this time around. There were lots of scenes scattered throughout this movie that never contributed to forwarding the plot and instead relied on the wacky new choices made. This movie definitely would have benefitted from a shift of focus from its humor to its adventure and action as I find these elements of the film to be the most effective. This movie would have greatly benefitted from a shift of focus from its humor to its adventure as I find these elements of the film to be the most effective. Overall, this film is pretty messy due to not being able to decide what it's trying to say but that is not really these filmmakers' priority when they are just having a complete blast with the story.
Jumanji: The Next Level was surprisingly one of my most anticipated releases this month and I can confidently say that it is exactly as I expected. I can clearly understand why people would not want to waste their time on another sequel or remake such as this but I would always rather give my money to a franchise like this over others that rehash the same idea and profit off of their monopoly. I would strongly recommend this film and I will absolutely be first in line when they announce the inevitable third film of this trilogy.
My Rating: ★★★½
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