Two years ago, a small little movie that was a sequel to a rather ordinary film came out and did what nobody expected it to, make money. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was one of the biggest box office surprises in history by going head to head with a Star Wars film and not just meeting expectations, but far surpassing them. Now they are back trying to see if they can get history to repeat itself in Jumanji: The Next Level and while it is yet to be seen if success will be replicated, the quality of the film will certainly help. Jumanji: The Next Level takes what made the last one so fun and just made some minor tweaks. Its result is another fun adventure the whole family can enjoy.
Jumanji: The Next Level takes place about a year after the events of the previous film. The kids have all started college and now returned home for Christmas vacation. Spencer, who is not happy with who he is as a person, decides he wants to feel confident again and goes back into the game hoping to be Dr. Bravestone again. His friends go in to get him back out, but they soon find the game has evolved and what they thought they would see is completely different. It is always difficult to recapture that magic a previous film had with another one. This industry is so weird where something works one day and then the next year it doesn’t. Sony has been doing this whole take something that was once popular and reboot it thing over and over again. It missed with Men in Black: International and Charlie’s Angels but hit with Jumanji by making over $900 million worldwide. They are just throwing things to the wall to see what sticks they are trying to capitalize on that hit.
What worked so well about the previous Jumanji two years ago was the dynamic between the characters. You could feel just how much fun they were having in every scene and it translated to the audience’s enjoyment. In this film, they do the exact same thing but with a twist, now they have switched bodies and thrown Danny DeVito and Danny Glover into the mix. This seems like a funny idea, which it is, but it brings me to my biggest issue with this film, resting on its laurels. Jumanji: The Next Level is a complete copy and paste job from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. They go into the game, have to not get killed by animals, worry about their lives, have to get a jewel, and fight some lifeless bad guy. They think that adding two old guys for Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart to play will be enough of a change, but it can only carry them so far. Basically saying, everything that worked about the last film works again in this one, it just doesn’t feel fresh anymore. I’ve seen this before now, give me something new.
Like I said before, Jumanji: The Next Level is rather enjoyable despite its lack of creativity, and most of that reason comes from its cast. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart are just as incredible together as they have always been. Being able to do their best Danny Glover and Danny DeVito is absolutely hilarious and while Dwayne’s DeVito voice gets annoying after a while, it doesn’t last the whole film. Hart on the other hand completely embodies Glover perfectly. Jack Black is also having a ball getting to play a wide range of characters from a big athlete to a teenage girl. The real star of this film is Karen Gillan. My goodness this woman is amazing. She plays the only character that is the same from both films and really takes charge of the situation and puts the crew on her shoulders. The result is an actress both able to be the best actor in every scene and have fun at the same time. She is the source of humanity that keeps the film from feeling to outlandish. People really need to start noticing who Gillan is because she is crushing everything she touches.
While Jumanji: The Next Level is not as magical as Welcome to the Jungle, it still does everything right you loved about that film and gives it to you again. It is essentially an encore with a new song that isn’t as memorable as the greatest hits. The cast is awesome, and Karen Gillan is a gift to the world, I just wish they had more to do. Hopefully in the next film, one they do tease, they do something different again and recapture that lightning in a bottle.
The Verdict