Day 193 - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Day 193         Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle [2017]

                          

Screenplay                    Chris McKenna

Based on                       ‘Jumanji’ by Chris Van Allsburg

Director                         Jake Kasdan

Cinematography            Gyula Pados

Music                            Henry Jackman

Leads                            Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, Bobby Cannavale, Alexx Wolff, Rhys Darby, Madison Iseman, Ser-Darius Blain, Morgan Turner

Production                     Columbia Pictures, Matt Tolmach Productions, Radar Pictures, Seven Bucks Productions

IMDb                                 7/10

Rotten Tomatoes                76%

How has it been 22 years since Jumanji came out? Karen Gillan and I both count it amongst our favourite childhood films and with good reason. Based on a book written in 1981, the first film saw the inimitable Robin Williams getting trapped in the board game and then being released and playing the game with a young Kirsten Dunst. Someone decided that there was more money to squeeze out of the franchise and so we have Welcome to the Jungle. I’ll level with you and admit that I hated this from the second I saw the trailer. The first film was iconic, and I really didn’t see why we needed a reboot with two of the hardest-working men in Hollywood, Doctor Who’s assistant and Jack Black, who I actually can’t make fun of because I love him. I thought I’d watch it so that I could rip it to shreds in the review. I’m happy to announce that they proved me wrong, I thought it was great, and so far, everyone I have spoken to hasn’t had a bad word to utter. It’s a loose sequel in that a boy finds the familiar board game washed up on the beach in 1996. He takes it home where it transforms into a Nintendo game overnight and it sucks him in when he plays it. That was the first thing they did right in the sequel – made it a sequel. I was worried it would be a remake, but rather than bringing the jungle to the real world, Jumanji brought the real world into the jungle. Four teenagers are dragged into Jumanji in the present day and this is where hilarity ensues as our four teenage protagonists are dropped into adult bodies. A quiet geek into The Rock. A jock footballer into Kevin Hart. A popular beauty into Jack Black. Another quiet geek into Karen Gillan. The video game theme worked well as our teenagers became adults in the sense that one plays as a particular avatar when playing video games. Jack Black and Kevin Hart provide most of the laughter. It’s always going to be funny when Jack Black gets cast as a teenage girl. The writing is catered to what will mostly be a teenage audience, although certainly made for parents to enjoy too as it emphasises modern teenage stereotypes. I’m not going to be ridiculous and say it gives the other film a run for its money, but I’m mentioning them in the same sentence so that’s something. Round of applause for attempting this and getting it right where so any would have failed

Acting                           3.5 / 4

Writing                             3 / 4

Cinematography            2.5 / 4

Music                               2 / 4

HWF rating                  3 / 4