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Join UsStar Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Rhys Darby, Nick Jonas.
Director: Jake Kasdan
What’s Good: This is for the millennials! After they watch this, we – the kids of 90s don’t need to ask them have they watched Jumanji yet? Because after watching this they’re surely going to watch the original.
What’s Bad: The movie takes itself too serious at several junctures losing the grip created by the story.
Loo Break: Only if you’ve an overactive bladder.
Watch or Not?: For sure if you’ve watched the original, if you haven’t watch this and then the original. In any case, watch it for some real fun.
User Rating:
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle starts in the year 1996 on a beach – when a kid named Alex finds the infamous board game buried in the sand. It’s that time of the era when “who plays a board game?” and instead television games have taken over the trend. Getting ignored by Alex, the board game turns magically into a video game cassette, remember how we had the Super Mario one?
It all starts, years later, when a group of kids find the cassette and try to play it in a vintage television. Originally a group of four (Two guys and two girls) get sucked into the game turning them into 3 guys and a girl. Spencer (Dwayne Johnson) – originally a nerd turns into the Rock (Literally!), Fridge (Kevin Hart) – the tall black guy turns into a short black guy, Martha (Karen Gillan) – the female nerdy version of Spencer but just a little more aggressive turns into a fly bomb (90s term for a bombshell).
The most interesting, Bethany (Jack Black) the millennial version of a hot bimbo turns into a fat & funny guy. With all of their transitions they land in to a jungle of Jumanji to achieve a never-solved-before mission. The entire movie is about solving that mission and getting back to their real avatars and life.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Movie Review: Script Analysis
Story of the movie could be explained in one line but it’s the execution of twists which emerge as the real winner. Keeping the original ingredients of Jumanji intact, mixing some of the new ones makes this recreation one palatable dish. Chris McKenna has penned the story for this keeping the taste of today’s audience in mind.
The thumping sounds during a level change, some adrenaline pumping sequences, a bit of below-the-belt humour keeps you intrigued. The makers take the template of Hunger Games and adds the Jumanji touch to it. It fulfills every kid’s feeling of “How awesome it would be if I was in the game crossing levels”. Loved the way how the makers kept it real by making other than main/real characters repeat their pre-programmed lines because they were not real.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Movie Review: Star Performances
Dwayne Johnson plays the guy who is a nerd at heart but his character Bravestone teaches him to fight whatever comes in achieving their goal. He is having fun throughout the movie and is very good at it. Huge yet charming is what he achieves in this one – thanks to the way how his character was sketched. This movie helps us to discover a brand new thing about Dwayne, he is a pro at smoldering.
Kevin Hart is surely the funniest of all! With his impeccable comic timing he manages to draw a heavy dosage of laughter. He has a gut-busting “that’s what she said” joke – do not miss it. Jack Black who is Bethany adapts the feminine version to-the-point. Never crossing the blurred lines, Jack gets into the skin of his/her character.
Karen Gillan is beautiful as Martha! Not being just a skin-show, she charms the bad guys away with her dance-fighting. She emotes her inter-layered annoyance with perfection. Nick Jonas enters late but gives an out-and-out flawless performance. He will surely drool his female fan base with his charming presence.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Movie Review: Direction, Music
Jake Kasdan, the director, plays an artist here. It’s like he has a canvas with a beautiful painting on it and he has to repaint it only to make it look more lively. He has included everything – from Albino Rhinos, Elephants, Jaguars to The Rock climbing a hill on his bike. The good thing is, nothing seems forced and it entertains.
Where Jake fails is justification of few sequences. Yes, you don’t need to apply logic in such movies but some things are just dumb putting a brake on your fun. Henry Jackman injects thrill with his thumping music to the scenes. This guy has worked with Hans Zimmer manyatimes and proved his worth with Kingsman series. He orchestrates the instruments well, just sometimes they are hidden by too much of action happening on screen. What I missed was a super-cool theme song, there is one – but not par to the visual delight served.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Movie Review: The Last Word
If you’re a 90s kid, this might be a good chance to to relive your childhood memories. The board game has turned into a video game but the fun quotient remains intact. Kids will love it, but as I said there are few jokes only for grown ups.
Three stars!
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Trailer
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle releases on 29th December, 2017.
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