#jakekasdan

Since childhood, I’ve had a fascination with Jumanji.  It began with Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s book, released in 1981, that featured a twisted story and amazing illustrations, both courtesy of Allsburg.  It continued with the 1995 film, starring Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier and more, that stayed faithful to the original book while expanding the imagery into the world of film.  The first true surprise came in 2017, when out of nowhere, Jumanji : Welcome to the Jungle hit screens with plenty of commercial success and positive acclaim from crowds and critics alike, including myself.  The surprises continue in the form of the late 2019 release of Jumanji : The Next Level, and at this point, I’m obligated to take part at a theatrical level.

Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), Martha (Morgan Turner) and Bethany (Madison Iseman) make plans to catch up over the winter break from their ever-evolving lives, but Spencer (Alex Wolff) feels unfulfilled, leaving him alienated from his friends.  Upon returning home from New York, Spencer finds himself roommates with his aging and jaded grandfather Eddie (Danny DeVito), who finds himself estranged from old friend and former business partner Milo (Danny Glover).  On the morning that Spencer’s friends are supposed to meet for brunch, they find Spencer is not only missing, but non-responsive, and the group heads to his home in hopes of finding him there.  Prior to their arrival, Milo pays Eddie a surprise visit, and as the two attempt to work through their awkwardness, Spencer’s friends arrive.  To their horror, Fridge, Martha and Bethany discover that Spencer has jumped back into the Jumanji video game that was supposedly destroyed.  The group makes the tough decision to return to the game in hopes of retrieving Spencer, but in a surprise occurrence, Fridge and Martha are pulled into the game, while Bethany is left behind.  Martha returns to her Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) avatar, but Fridge is surprised to find himself in the Shelly Oberon (Jack Black) avatar.  Shockingly, it is discovered that Eddie and Milo have mistakenly been pulled into the game, as Dr. Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) and Mouse Finbar (Kevin Hart) respectively.  After discovering Spencer in the form of an avatar named Ming Fleetfoot (Awkwafina), the group attempts to navigate and entirely new set of obstacles presented by Jumanji, including a powerful new villain named Jurgen the Brutal (Rory McCann), in hopes of finding a way back home.

The depths of the Jumanji idea mines seem to be limitless.  In terms of the obvious elements, the animal attacks continue with a new group of unique threats rather than retreads of former animalia included, and different variations of the jungle are replaced by a desert, an Eastern-themed village, and different varieties of mountainous terrain.  The update from board to video game is further mined for ideas, with our characters being adjusted in terms of their strengths and weaknesses.  All of the original characters you’d expect to see are back, including Nigel the NPC (Rhys Darby) and ‘Seaplane McDonough (Nick Jonas), but the addition of Ming Fleetfoot as a thief, and Jurgen the Brutal as a warlord add new elements that work thematically in terms of narrative and the adventure game that is presented.  The idea of looking to find yourself in imagined ideas is once again the basis of the story, but adding in the perspective of aging characters to parallel against the insecure ones keeps the premise fresh.

The film really works best, however, when it comes to how fast and loose it is willing to play with the Jumanji avatars.  ‘Seaplane’ McDonough stays as a fixed role, and Ruby Roundhouse is mostly familiar (though Fridge’s brief appearance as Ruby is priceless), but the remainder of the characters find themselves inhabited by multiple real-world counterparts throughout the course of the adventure.  When Kevin Hart is playing the Mouse role as Danny Glover, the laughs are nonstop, and it is clearly evident that he is having the time of his life doing the characterization.  Danny DeVito is given flattery via imitation in two hilariously different packages : a gigantic and overly confident Dwayne Johnson, as well as a ridiculous deep dive courtesy of Awkwafina (who I had no idea could be so proficient with imitation).  Jack Black shows amazing range in his embodiment of both Madison Iseman and Ser’Darius Blain, swinging from tough posturing and frustration due to limitation all the way to a self-obsessed but self-aware beauty in a less than flattering form.  Even Cyclone the horse manages to go from ditzy to distinguished in very subtle ways.

The special effects are very strong overall, with the majority of the animal CGI being non-noticeable, even when you’re aware of the fact that it clearly had to be used to achieve the sheer volume of animals in some scenes.  The CGI work continues to be strong in the forming of the grand locations, especially the desert and the rope bridges.  The writing of the overall series continues to be strong, turning what could have easily been a one-note tribute to a children’s book into a surprisingly viable series, with their even being a mid-credit button that clearly sets up a continuation of the series.  The writers also know to keep the real-world stories as simple and grounded as possible (up to this point), in order to keep us familiar with and connected to the main characters at the service of making their video game avatar characterizations unique and interesting, depending on where (or in whom) they may land.

Seeing the core cast of Wolf, Iseman, Blain and Turner make returns immediately puts us in a familiar and inviting place, eliminating the need for a lot of story-setting exposition.  Danny DeVito and Danny Glover lean into their odd couple-esque connection, with DeVito’s natural edge playing well against Glover’s tender nature.  Johnson, Hart and Black are given leeway to take the baton and run with it, getting chances to play their original characters, as well as bizarre switches of their characters with new real-world counterparts.  Awkwafina does a great job of embracing Wolf’s insecurities, as well as DeVito’s unaware (or uncaring) brash nature.  Nick Jonas and Rhys Darby both get to revisit their original roles, making solid cameos.  Rory McCann, though not as integral to the plot as one would imagine he’d be as a villain, does manage to provide an intimidating presence when given the chance to be the focus.  Appearances by Dania Ramirez, Massi Furlan, Colin Hanks, Marin Hinkle, and cameos by Bebe Neuwirth and Lamorne Morris round things out.