Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

This is a film you can watch with a friend while reclining in your seat with no worries of plot or character development. With a brilliant cast and great jokes, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle proves its worth of being not only a memorable comedy but also an enjoyable sequel to a childhood classic.

Dwayne Johnson is my favorite actor in this film, but Jack Black had the stand out performance. He had to play the role of a popular teenage girl, and he put his full effort into each gag. How he walked, how he fixed his hair, and each man he met he instantly fell in love with was perfect. The best jokes were from this premise, and even though the shredded Dwayne Johnson playing an introverted nerd was hilarious, it had no comparison with Jack Black teaching the other girl character how to be sexy. There were other gags that I was embarrassed to laugh at, but I will save those for you to see.

Kevin Hart was himself, but it was the right amount of his humor where it was not lacking or annoying. He never seemed to be a football jock. There were some lines that it came out but not entirely. The jokes he did have were the funniest lines that came out of his mouth since he started acting. I know his stand up is quotable, but most of his movies have him screaming and running around with no intriguing intention. This film is smart enough to pull that back and give him some character to work with. Dwayne Johnson worked with him in Central Intelligence, and that chemistry worked perfectly in this film. The dynamic between the two high schoolers, now in completely different bodies from their own, going back and forth on who is manlier was brilliant.

I found it interesting how women were complaining how the actress Karen Gillan (Ruby Roundhouse- Killer of Men) was scandalously clad, even though that was the first thing the Karen pointed out in the first trailer. In the actual story, I was surprised to see that her clothes were the only “low hanging fruit” joke the writers used. Ruby Roundhouse was very powerful and one of the most useful people on the team, second to Dwayne Johnson. Most the things the writers did with this character was a lot cleverer than I predicted. Her interactions with Jack Black’s character were great and the “dance fight” scene still has me humming the music in my head.

It made sense for the villain to be undeveloped for a retro video game, but it was still disappointing for this film because it seemed like they tried to make him intimidating. The plot continuously cuts back to him, even though it is a video game and the playing characters are not present, and all he does is be slightly threatening. There was a lot of potential with what he could have been, but honestly if the writers tried to create something memorable with him there would have been less screen time for the more expensive and funnier actors.

The main problem I had with the film was the high school kids before they entered the game. They were very flat, on purpose, and some of the dialogue between them tried too hard at being “cool” and “up-to-date.” Their characters did not show their true colors until later when they were stuck in the game, and that made the beginning almost forgettable. There were some good jokes, but it was a rocky start to an otherwise fun and action-packed comedy. It might have been the star-power of Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and Kevin Hart, but I personally think that the writers did a good job and knew when to play their cards.

Story Rating: 6/10

Character Rating: 8/10