Movie Reaction: Jumanji: The Next Level

Formula: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle + Danny DeVito + Danny Glover

Thankfully, we're past the point when Jumanji has to pretend to make sense. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is one of the sweatiest premises you'll ever find. It makes the awkward transfer from Jumanji as a board game to Jumanji as a video game. It has to find a video game structure that's cinematic (a challenge that dozens of video game film adaptations over the years have struggled with). And, it has to contrive an excuse to get these kids to play the game in the first place.

But again, thankfully, we're past that. Jumanji: The Next Level just gets to have fun. The movie spends about 10 minutes updating us on all the characters. They're mostly all in college now, back in town for Christmas break and still good friends. Spencer (Alex Wolff) is in a funk that leads to him starting another game of Jumanji. Why? Stop asking questions. How does he have the game still? Stop asking questions. So, the other friends join the game again to help him. A few things are different this time though. First, they don't get to pick their characters, so most of the characters get different avatars. Why? Stop asking questions. Second, this time the game also sucks in Spencer's grandfather (Danny DeVito) and his old business partner (Danny Glover) while leaving one of the original gang behind. Why? Stop asking questions. Third, since they beat the game last time, even though they are playing on the same game cartridge, they go on a completely new adventure. How is this possible? Stop asking questions.

And I repeat, thankfully, we're past all that question nonsense. Jumanji: The Next Level just gets to have fun. The joy of the first movie is seeing Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart all act like different high school archetypes. This time, Johnson gets to act like Danny DeVito. Kevin Hart gets to act like Danny Glover. And, Jack Black gets a different oversized character to play. Simply put, I had a blast seeing Johnson and Hart let loose. DeVito and Glover are pretty distinctive actors, so Johnson and Hart get to play it all for big laughs. It's an excellent tweak of the formula from the first movie. Awkwafina even shows up late and is probably the best mimic of them all. Jumanji is just a body switching comedy at this point with the occasional action scene, and I'm all for it.

I had my reservations about Welcome to the Jungle two years ago. It had to work so hard to sell the video game idea and establish the characters, that I barely had time to appreciate the dumb comedy of it.That's all done now. The actors just get to have ridiculous fun with it.

The Next Level isn't a great movie. The plot barely holds together. No one is giving a deep performance. The jokes are all pretty easy. You could probably argue that it's everything that's wrong with "Cinema". You'd also be a joyless buzzkill. This movie is stupid and entertaining. Disposable and a good way to kill two hours.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend