No, no, no! I'm the old fat dude!
In pure dollar terms 2017's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was the biggest blockbuster surprise of the last decade. Part of the reason was its deft blending of comedy and adventure, but more was due to how imaginately it subverted the expectations of everyone who had seen the Robin Williams original. Whatever the cause, the film's outlandish level of success meant that this sequel was destined to exist - only question, would it be more than a cynical exercise in wringing cash from the built-in audience? I can happily report that with the original creative team on board, Jumanji: The Next Level stays original and creative. It's also a lot of fun.
High school is over for our Breakfast Clubby quartet - and while three of them have moved on emotionally and geographically, geeky Spencer is in a hometown rut. Secretly he longs to be video game character Dr. Smolder Braveheart all over again. Thus when his friends arrive home for Christmas break, they find that he has reconstructed the magical game they thought had been destroyed and vanished inside it. What can they do but follow him? However the damaged game is playing by different rules this time. When Spencer's ailing grandfather (Danny DeVito) and the friend with whom he fell out decades before (fellow-Danny Glover) get dragged into Jumanji as well, virtually no one ends up as the avatar they expected. Add to that their new quest - one that turns out to be fraught with even more peril than before.
The big achievement of The Next Level is that it takes all that made its 2017 predecessor so much fun - the video-game tropes, the crackling banter, the sharp visuals - and mixes things up enough to keep them fresh. With the bickering protagonists of Welcome to the Jungle now firmly united in friendship, it's inspired to have them teamed with a pair of grumpy old men, painfully trying to explain the rules of what's going on as the usual Jumanji madness breaks out all around. And while Karen Gillen's Martha gets to revisit her Amy Roundhouse character (a move which grounds the potentially confusing experience for the audience), Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jack Black all get to play entertainingly against their original types.
This plot device is never less than entertaining, but works particularly well in Hart's case. While Black was the most consistently hilarious character in the Jungle, this time it's the diminuative star of The Upside and Night School who shines, his high-pitched motor-mouth shtick replaced with something very different. And just when that seam of comedy threatens to reach exhaustion, the screenplay stirs the body-swap plotline even more. What is truly impressive - and a credit to the more mature actors - is how easily you can follow the thread of the teens' character journeys through a variety of video game personas. In other words, you never lose track of who's who, however break-neck the pace of the narrative, and stay invested as a result.
The rebooted franchise should also be commended for keeping a tight focus on character interactions, no matter how furiously the action hurtles along. The joke-heavy dialogue never lets up - even when our heroic band are fending off a vicious monkey attack miles in the air - and an impressively high percentage of their gags raise a laugh. Visually the sequel is a step up from before, with Laurence of Arabia desert vistas and craggy snow-capped peaks providing respite from the traditional Jumanji jungle. Throw in some great support performances that I won't even spoil and you have as satisfying a family-friendly advanture as you're likely to watch this Christmas and most others.
There's a concensus among critics that Jumanji: The Next Level is a solid sequel, complimenting but not quite matching Welcome to the Jungle, due to the underlying concept no longer being fresh. Well maybe it's because I came to the Jungle two years late with the surprise already spoiled, but I actually preferred this new one. It made me laugh more, it thrilled me more and - in its sub-plot of two older characters reviewing their life choices - it even moved me a little bit more. The makers should probably quit while they're so far ahead, but from the end-credits that's not going to happen. If they do go for the trilogy (and there's around zero per cent chance that they won't) let's hope the writers have enough ideas in reserve to re-summon that Jumanji magic. This time around it was so worth it.
Gut Reaction: I laughed, loudly and a lot, including every damn time Hart opened his mouth. On a few occasions I even got properly enthralled.
Memorable Moment: The mandrill bridge attack. One of those occasions that properly enthralled me.
Ed's Verdict: 7.5/10. A worthy companion piece to the first (new) Jumanji, The Next Level is a great comedy showcase for multiple talents and (occasional genital references aside) a terrific family night out. Pass the popcorn and enjoy the ride.
It's a lot easier to be brave when you've got lives to spare.
This time two years ago I was so absorbed with The Last Jedi as the big holiday family movie that I bypassed another little filmic entertainment - one that went on to gross nearly a billion dollars at the worldwide box-office. With its sequel now on general release, here at last is my Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle review:
The Gist: Four disparate teens in detention - so far, so Breakfast Club - discover a video version of the game Jumanji. That's the same one Robin Williams and a group of kids played back in 1995, only twenty-four years ago they were all dealing with a magical boardgame. This time around the players in question find themselves not only sucked into the game, but transformed into the avatars they so innocently choose. Thus nerdy hypochondriac Spencer - for example - becomes the unfeasibly muscular Dr Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), while his gym-enhanced fellow-student 'Fridge' is reduced to the Kevin Hart-sized zoologist Franklin 'Mouse' Finbar. Together these unlikely adventurers must find their way through Jumanji's various levels, fulfilling an epic quest before they run out of video-game lives, and developing a sense of camaraderie along the way. (See? The Breakfast Club with ravenous rhinos.)
The Juice: It actually worked in Jumanji 2017's favour that no one really cared about a sequel to the Williams movie. Expectations were so low that this revamp exploded into cinemas as a refreshing surprise. Chief among its plus-points is the comic use of a video-game avatar conceit. Johnson and Hart make great comic capital out of their role-reversals, Karen Gillen embraces both the irritation and the exuberance of a sardonic alt-teen dropped into the body and costume of a Lara Croft-esque bad-ass and Jack Black steals one scene after another as the high-school it-girl turned into - well - Jack Black. The bickering foursome with all their excitement, outrage and jokey banter form the story's centre, so that the special effects serve to enhance rather than to overwhelm. The script has inventive fun throughout with gaming tropes and succeesd in raising the stakes when it matters. It all zips along so that you don't even feel the two-hour runtime, nor have room to ask why the villains have independent lives in a video game. (Well they wouldn't, would they???)
The Judgement: 7/10. I'd been told for two years the Jumanji reboot was a good time and it didn't let me down. One or two dubiously adult (but nonetheless amusing) jokes aside, this is an exhilerating family adventure, which spins the Jumanji format into something fresh, funny and entertaining. Never more so than every time Jack Black speaks. An unexpected treat - or it would have been, had I not been so late to the virtual jungle party.
You've seen a horse-fly... You've seen a dragonfly...
We're going to be bombarded this year by live(-ish) action remakes of classic Disney animations, of which Dumbo is but the first. This can be viewed in one of two ways - the cynical milking of a cash-cow (cash-pachyderm in this case?) or the creative re-imagining of great cinematic stories that deserve to be brought to a new generation of youngsters. Being a glass-half-full kind of blog Filmic Forays will opt for the latter stance, which means it's all about the quality of Dumbo 2019 and whether it has anything new to offer. And while the film isn't proving an elephantine success at the box-office, it certainly took flight for me. (A pun embargo will hereon be enforced.)
The 1941 version of Helen Aberson's children's book is a relatively slight affair (it comes in at 64 minutes), so this Tim Burton retelling beefs things up substantially. The events of the original film serve as the first of two acts, with Medici Bros circus-elephant Mrs Jumbo giving birth to the humungous-eared baby who comes to be known as 'Dumbo'. Ridiculed by audiences for his physical abnormality, he nevertheless has a secret that will amaze them - the ability to fly courtesy of those same enormous lugs. So far, so familiar. The almost entirely new second act involves impresario V. A. Vandervere (Michael Keaton) and what befalls both Dumbo and the Medici troupe when this charismatic newcomer introduces them to the big-time.
The expansion of the Dumbo tale gives much room for writer Ehren Kruger and Burton to craft a distinctive vision, one stripped of talking-animal whimsy and with a much more human feel. This take on the little elephant with big dreams is darker for sure, set as it is in 1919, post-war and post-flu pandemic. Both have taken their toll on the circus's horse-riding Farrier family, with dad Hope (Colin Farrell at his most sympathetic) returning from the battle front to pick up the pieces for kids Milly and Joe. The entire troupe is a community of lovable misfits, the circus a frayed and paint-peeling shadow of former glories, presided over by its increasingly desperate owner Max Medici (Danny Devito visibly loving the chance to work with Burton a fourth time). It's into this boisterous environment that Dumbo is born, a vision of advanced CGI cuteness.
It's a brash and lively opening, one that speeds through the well-known stuff, before embracing the new part of the tale - Medici's Faustian bargain with Keaton's flamboyant but shady futurist. Here Burton's mastery of filmic setting asserts itself, as the rustic colours of the humble travelling-show are replaced by the mega-circus's garish splendour. Keaton meanwhile sneers like few others can, clearly enjoying his reunion with the Batman director as much as Devito. It's Eva Green, however, who adds the most glamour and mystique to the Vandervere scenes as trapeze artist Collette Marchant.
If I have one issue with the new Dumbo, it's that the bolstered human element undermines suspension of disbelief (for adults at least), crucially on that issue of whether or not an elephant can truly fly. Frankly you end up thinking too much about the aerodynamics of the situation. It also means that whatever else you're feeling, and however detailed the CGI, there's not quite the emotional connection with the title character that you might hope. That said, someone behind me was snuffling a lot when Dumbo's relationship with his mother was jeopardised, so maybe that's just me.
Ultimately this is a visually magnificent film, boosted by a solidly crafted story and eased along by an evocative period score from Burton's regular musical collaborator Danny Elfman. Along with the core story of an outsider triumphing in the face of derision are broader themes of family, community, capitalist greed, self-discovery and - naturally - animal rights. None of it feels crowbarred in either, just a natural extension of the classic Dumbo story. A good addition to the Tim Burton canon then, and a Disney remake that's nicely justified its place in the world.
Gut Reaction: No tears, but fully engaged and entertained, while undergoing eyeball ravishment throughout.
Memorable Moment: Mess with Mummy Jumbo at your peril.
Ed's Verdict: 7.5/10. A fully realised Burtonian world, with plenty of enjoyable nods to the original. Family entertainment with a trunkful of charm. (Pun embargo lifted.)
