A Hilarious Love
Letter to Video Games
By Chris Sabga
 |
Release Date:
December
20th,
2017 – U.S.
Rating:
PG-13
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Comedy
Running Time:
119 minutes
Director: Jake
Kasdan
Writers:
Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers,
Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner
Cast:
The
Rock, Kevin Hart,
Jack Black, Karen Gillan,
Rhys Darby, Bobby
Cannavale,
Nick Jonas, Alex Wolff, Ser'Darius Blain,
Madison Iseman,
Morgan Turner,
Missi Pyle, Marc Evan Jackson
|
"Jumanji:
Welcome to the Jungle" is
an unapologetic love letter
to video games that left me
laughing almost nonstop.
The
film begins with four high school kids getting detention: shy nerd
Spencer (Alex Wolff), stocky football star Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain,
whose character seems like an obvious nod to NFL player
William "The Refrigerator" Perry), socially-awkward
loner Martha (Morgan Turner), and vapid teen queen Instagram addict
Bethany (Madison Iseman).
There
are a couple of fun adult cameos, with Marc Evan Jackson as
the principal (he's
perhaps best known for his
role as Shaun from "The Good Place," playing the same type
of dryly entertaining character here) and Missi Pyle ("Dodgeball")
as the coach.
As
punishment, the children are
forced to clean the school basement. There, they discover a dusty old
video game system. The cartridge included
is, of course, "Jumanji." As
soon as they press "Start" on the controller, they're
suddenly inside
the game, where they
literally turn into the
characters they just
selected.
-
Geeky Spencer becomes musclebound action hero Dr. Smolder Bravestone (The Rock).
-
Imposing football star Fridge shrinks into a mini-refrigerator, embodying the much shorter and scrawnier form of zoologist Franklin "Mouse" Finbar (Kevin Hart).
-
Bookish outcast Martha morphs into buxom Lara Croft wannabe Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan), complete with a tight top and overly short pants that could work nowhere else but in an over-the-top action movie or video game like "Jumanji." (Luckily for them – and us – "Welcome to the Jungle" is both.)
-
And – most hilariously of all – phone-addicted queen bee Bethany transforms into Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black), not realizing until it's too late that Shelly is actually short for Sheldon.
"Jumanji:
Welcome to the Jungle" smartly spends several minutes allowing
the kids to explore their new bodies, characters,
and abilities. It's
hysterically funny watching them to react to such
an unimaginable situation.
But
the real fun comes from the way "Jumanji" inhabits the
world of a video game, with
amusing nods to all of the quirks and idiosyncrasies gamers take for
granted that are bizarre in any other context.
 |
Almost
every video game has a "life bar." So, too, does this one –
in the form of disappearing tattoos on the characters' wrists. There
are also pop-up menus in most games that display important
information. In the world of "Jumanji," a
character can press on his
or her pec like a button to
bring up a list of skills,
strengths, and weaknesses –
the funniest of which are cake (weakness) and dance fighting
(strength). Naturally,
death is never final in any game – unless you're down to your last
life. Like many video games,
dying in "Jumanji" takes the form of a quick explosion –
poof! they're gone – and then the character falls down from the sky
to play again. Real-word logic and physics don't apply here, just as
they don't in many games. There are also "NPCs" –
non-player characters – who repeat the same scripted, stilted
dialogue whether appropriate or not. The most amusing of these is
their tour guide, Nigel (Rhys Darby).
All
of this will seem like a foreign language to anyone who has never
picked up a video game controller, but any gamer reading this will
smile in recognition.
The
Rock, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black do an incredible job
of portraying confused, scared kids who are stuck in new bodies and
trapped inside a video game. They may be adults in the world of
"Jumanji" but they're still really children. That has its
benefits too, though, because Spencer can use his gaming skills to
progress from "level" to "level" with the goal of
getting everyone back home to the real world. As
much as I love The Rock and Kevin Hart (I hope they do 20 more movies
together), and as great as Karen Gillan is here, the underrated Jack
Black steals the show as a shallow teenage girl who now has to
contend with being a fat middle-aged man.
As
the fearful foursome progresses, they eventually run into two other
major characters. Jefferson
"Seaplane" McDonough
(Nick Jonas) seems
like a heroic fighter pilot but he's
really another
kid named Alex who is also stuck in the game. He's down to his last
"life" and afraid to move forward because a tough "level"
has claimed his previous" lives." They all have to contend
with the villainous Van Pelt
(Bobby Cannavale), who is the "final boss" – another
video game staple.
"Welcome
to the Jungle" comes 22
years after 1995's "Jumanji." but it's a standalone
"sequel" that requires no knowledge of the original.
However, there is one reference to Robin Williams' character, Alan
Parrish, from the first film. There
are also nods to The Rock's other
career – as a professional wrestler. In an action scene, we see The
Rock's finishing move, the Rock Bottom, and his character refers to
himself in the third person at one point like The Rock always did in
the WWE. All of that is right
in line with the clever winks provided throughout.
"Jumanji:
Welcome to the Jungle" is the rare example of an action-comedy
that's smartly written, has clever characterization, and is actually
funny. It's the perfect movie to see when you need to take your mind
off your problems and simply laugh in the dark for two hours.
