It’s that time of year when cinema releases its best. This is when film tackles the very real issues of political corrution, racial tensions, or forbidden love. This is when the best actors show off their amazing talent or great directors find innovative new ways to tell their stories.
And then there’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which tries to fit as many dick jokes as a PG-13 rating will allow.
Yes, Jumanji is incredibly dumb. But it’s also incredibly fun. It fully embraces its silly premise and even satirizes the blockbuster genre as well as video game cliches. There is even a solid, if heavy handed, message about living your life at the fullest. It’s far from perfect…character development is thin at best and the crude jokes do get tiresome at times…but as long as you check your brain at the door, this movie will thoroughly entertain.
“We Have to Save Jumanji!!!”
When the board game version of Jumanji discovers that the modern world has no interest in playing it, the game converts itself into a video game console. After Spencer (Alex Wolff), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany (Madison Iseman), and Martha (Morgan Turner) are assigned detention, they find the game and are sucked into a jungle filled with man eating hippos, evil curses, and over the top villains. In the twisted video game, they become the avatars Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Kevin Hart), Professor Sheldon “Shelly” Oberon (Jack Black), and Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan). Teaming with Alex/Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough (Nick Jonas), a fellow teen trapped in the game, they are forced to save the world of Jumanji…or end up dead.
Unlike the original Jumanji, this sequel has its tongue firmly in its cheek. There was a bit of a serious streak in the 1995 cult classic that led to some genuinely creepy moments and emotional pay offs. Welcome to the Jungle has none of that. The movie wisely goes away from that and fully embraces the silliness. It also takes full advantage of its video game setting, giving us some crazy, over the top action.
All of that starts with a surprisingly fun and talented cast. Dwayne Johnson is incredibly fun, playing his character as the nerdy teen within. It’s a fun change of pace for the action hero and he fully embraces it. There is a running joke involving his “smoldering intensity” that is hilarious and the movie surprisingly never overuses it.
Jack Black is great as Shelly. Like Johnson, he fully embraces playing the vapid teenage girl inside of him. His character is the source of many of those dick jokes mentioned above. The girl inside of Black’s character is fascinated by her new…ahem…toy. Admittedly, this is often hilarious, but feels gratuitous as the movie goes on. However, Black brings some surprising control to the role, staying away from typical teenage girl stereotypes, especially when the girl’s vanity subsides.
On the other hand, Kevin Hart goes way over the top…and he’s entertaining while he does it. Never mind that Hart’s “Mouse” is nothing like the jock teen inside him…it’s just fun to watch. You never really notice Hart is basically being himself until after you’re done laughing.
And Karen Gillan is outstanding as Ruby Roundhouse. She plays the sarcastic teen stuck in a pervert’s dream body incredibly well, offering much of the satirical content. Her skimpy outfit is a constant source of comedy, though the movie does little to change it (More on this later). Gillan has some sweetly awkward romantic moments with Johnson, as the two perfectly portray awkward teens falling for each other. And her flirtation scene? It’s one of the funniest moments in the movie.
The sheer likeability of the cast buoys Welcome to the Jungle. Yes, the plot makes little sense and isn’t particularly deep, but its mostly an excuse for these four actors to entertain us. Even Nick Jonas has some fun moments in his smaller role.
The message of living life to the fullest because you only have one is very heavy handed, but the movie does a decent job portraying it. We root for these characters because we want them to overcome their personal hang ups. It says something when we want a character portrayed by Dwayne Johnson to earn a sense of self worth.
Don’t Think Too Hard…
All of that said, Welcome to the Jungle does stumble a bit when it comes to the character pay offs. As mentioned above, Gillan’s Ruby constantly criticizes her outfit, but only covers it occasionally. By the end of the movie, she doesn’t even try. There is a lack of a pay off here, something that occurs throughout the movie.
Take the friendship between Spencer and Fridge. The opening of the movie spends a lot of time establishing their fractured friendship and Smolder and Mouse have some genuine moments. But their friendship is suddenly mended by the closing moments when it doesn’t feel like it is earned. Bethany’s arc is handled much better.
Then there’s Welcome to the Jungle’s villain, Russel Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale). While he has a cool look and Cannavale hams it up well, he’s just…there. He’s not all that threatening and his connection to the original’s villain (Also named Van Pelt) is never even mentioned. In the original Jumanji the villain had a very personal connection to Robin Williams’ character…he was a version of his father. Here, Van Pelt is simply a bland villain with a mildly interesting look that propels the plot.
The humor is mostly on point, but it does begin to wear on you as the movie goes on. The aforementioned dick jokes (I seem to be obsessed with those) are funny, but feel wildly out of place. The pay off to the joke is especially crude and heavy handed. But when you have actors like Jack Black and Kevin Hart involved, you probably have to be a little crude.
Respectfully Connected
For those of you wondering, yes, there is a tribute to Robin Williams in the film. In a movie so over the top, Welcome to the Jungle pays this tribute surprisingly well. It doesn’t call too much attention to it and establishes that this is a connected, but very different world.
I believe that is why this film succeeds. It is very different from the original Jumanji. It’s an over the top action comedy unconcerned with plot or convincing character pay offs, while the original was a flawed but fun action cult classic with some emotional depth. The best way to pay tribute to Robin Williams is not to ape the style of the original…it’s to do something completely different.
And tell a lot of dick jokes.
SCORE: 7 OUT OF 10