Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle movie review

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It was 1995, and Jumanji was a very interesting movie, that had a rather unique plot, that made use of cutting edge computer graphics. I recall a scene where a car is run over by a horde of elephants and was totally amazed by how real it looked.

 So two decades later, is there a need for a remake/reboot and how did it fare?

 Well, this second movie serves almost as a sequel, with homage to the original, but the plot does try to differentiate itself, with a much brighter outlook and positive tempo. The original had one of the top comedians around, but Robin Williams did have a darker side and it showed in the show, with a few rather scary scenes which I felt would have disqualified it as a family movie.

 The premise is similar, but you will not need to watch the original to understand or follow this instalment. Once again, four people, all kids this time get trapped in the game and need to finish it to escape. However they are transformed into different personas, and this is where the magic and laughs begin.

The body swop concept is used to good effect here, and the timid geek gets the body of a wrestling champion, whilst the jock becomes his small sidekick. The unpopular quiet girl is transformed into a hot Lara Croft persona, whilst the school flower becomes a fat tubby middle age dude, and they also have a lot of fun whilst she explores the male bits of her body.

 So there are thrills and spills along the way, but the key is how well the cast connect, and milk each scene for laughs in a very kinetic and energetic way, which was very entertaining, both for adults as well as kids. My godson was laughing as loudly as his mother, and everyone had their own laugh out loud scene. 

 Action fans will not be disappointed either, with plenty of action, but there's no gore, although the kill rate is quite high for a PG13 movie. Bass fans will also have no complaints.

 Babe factor was actually quite high. The Lara Croft like persona was played by the same actress that played Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy, and she was game for all the action sequences. The Rock has proven that he can not only do action, but also get the guffaws with ease. Jack Black manages to play a teenage girl with aplomb, and gets his fair share of laughs. Kevin Hart worked with The Rock recently in Central Intelligence and the two have a certain chemistry that certainly shows.

 I think this movie is a keeper, for the family as well as the action fan and will be a real demo disc in time to come. 

 4/5 

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