Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

6/10

Starring

Dwayne Johnson

Jack Black

Kevin Hart

Karen Gillan

Nick Jonas

Awkwafina

Directed by Jake Kasdan

Jumanji: The Next Level plays similar to the tune of the previous Jumanji movie, Welcome to the Jungle (2017). The difference is the reason why the people are back in the game and the change in the characters they came back as, gave the movie the needed twist it needed right from the start.

This needed twist helped in keeping things fresh as the movie maintained the core elements it had from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017).

At the end I felt the movie is just as good and fulfilling as Welcome to the Jungle (2017), but does not carry the power of the first movie, Jumanji (1995) by the late Robin Williams. Jumanji (1995) deserves it’s own pedestal and should probably not be rated along any that follows.

The movie’s change in the motive of the characters going back into the game and the change in the characters they were from the previous movie, added to the fun.

I also enjoyed the addition of two new characters in the movie. At first when they joined the rest I was afraid of the movie becoming over crowded, but the writers handled this very well.

They did so by keeping two characters out for the first half of the movie. This they used to create a reason to bring back Alex (Nick Jonas) and then adding them later on.

This also of added more spice to the already well put together plot.

The plot introduces two new characters in the real world, Eddie (Danny DeVito) and Milo (Danny Glover). Spencer has been struggling since his adventure as Dr. Bravestone (in the previous movie and) in the game he has been left feeling inadequate in the real world.

He had pieces of the game which they all destroyed in Welcome to the Jungle (2017), and even though the game was not functioning well Spencer went back in. The others went to see him at his house, worried about the way he has been acting, only to find the game online. Believing that Spencer has been sucked in, they went in after him to save him.

It was there they discovered that Eddie (Spencer’s grandfather) and Milo (Eddie’s estranged friend), has joined them in the game.

What they also learned is that, Dr. Bravestone is a character with them at present, that means when Spencer came back he came back as a new character. Add to that Bethany did not get sucked into the game and was left out.

The game gave them their new quest and along with the need to find Spencer they all began their journey.

As said above, the movie is a lot like Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and if you enjoyed that, you will enjoy this.