Jumanji: The Next Level Movie Review - Repeat Juvenile offense!

Jumanji poster

Jumanji: The Next Level

U/A: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Director: Jake Kasdan
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas
Rating:

The kids-turned-adult heroes of Jumanji are joined by veterans Danny DeVito and Danny Glover in Jake Kasdan's sequel but the fun is still largely, a big miss!

This sequel basically gets the group of four; Spencer (Alex Wolff), Bethany (Madison Iseman), Martha (Morgan Turner) and football star Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain) to head back to fantasia in the guise of an antiquated video game, Jumanji, where they are given three lives in order to (this time round) put the jewel back in its place and resurrect the utopian jungle from a desert.

The excuse for going back rests on Spencer's teen insecurities and asthmatic issues - with him wanting to re-inhabit the body of The Rock, in a bid to feel manly and desired. It's a case of aiming for the impossible, really, because initially, he finds himself in the guise of his friend Bethany whose host body in the game is that of Awkwafina who plays a pickpocket. And it so happens that its his Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) who gets the Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) persona and frenemy Milo (Danny Glover) gets to play the Zoologist earlier played by Kevin Hart. Fridge gets Jack Black's nerdy cartographer earlier played by Shelly Oberon. Martha, remains the super athletic Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan). Not much of a laughter-inducing twist that.

Check out the trailer here:

In it's bid to gain new friends, the narrative goes into a round of explanations regarding how to play the game, ostensibly for the oldies Eddie and Milo, who haven't played it before. The gamey thrills offered here don't give rise to much of an adrenaline rush. The mission seems flimsy, the many changes of scenery make the visuals in 3D Imax look splendid but its a kind of deadened entertainment that tends to boring.

Even the sight of hundreds of fast-moving, deadly ostriches chasing the group and their attempts to navigate a maze of suspended bridge segments that swing in and out from nowhere- in a bid to escape deadly, vicious Mandrills, fail to raise the pitch to entertaining. This one is largely trading on fan following!

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