Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle

A surprisingly entertaining movie for all ages and moods

I had a very pleasant time watching Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle next to my nephews and daughter. First of all, it is an action packed movie mixed with quality humor, a bit of romance, excellent visual effects and a deluxe cast; it is an instant blockbuster that will keep you and the little ones very much entertained. Jake Kasdan is the movie director and his work has been praised by many, he obviously likes comedy because of previous movies such as Bad Teacher and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle has some pretty funny situations throughout the entire movie.

Jack Black and Kevin Hart are notorious comedians and they make a very good team next Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (who knows how to be funny) and the gorgeous redhead Karen Gillan. These 4 actors are the main characters avatars in Jumanji 2 but it actually starts off with Alex, interpreted by Nick Jonas in the Jumanji world, a teenager busy playing video games who also had the original Jumanji table. It mysteriously turned into a video game and Alex jumped into the fray. After that, the story turns to four high school students from different backgrounds. Spencer is the main character: a geeky guy who does his best friend’s homework and is secretly in love with a redhead, this role is interpreted by Alex Wolff and his avatar in the game is Dwayne Johnson. Ser Darius Blain gives life to Fridge (Kevin Hart in the game), Spencer’s so called best friend from childhood who takes advantage of his good nature and hogs all the action. The female characters are played by Madison Iseman as the nomophobic blonde teenager Bethany, who turns into a chubby archeologist (Jack Black) in Jumanji, and redheaded Morgan Turner plays Martha (Karen Gillan in-game).

The four of them got into different kinds of trouble and that led to detention. They were given the task to take off the staples of a huge load of papers and during this task they find a very old looking console with a cartridge game called Jumanji. All four of them choose their players and suddenly the console starts to suck them in and they appear in the Jumanji world, but something weird has happened: each of them has become the player they chose at the start. It is hilarious to watch Jack Black perform a teenager girl addicted to her cell phone and losing it in the jungle and Kevin Hart’s talent for comedy is well noted too. Dwayne Johnson also shows us his funny side and he is actually very entertaining.

After dealing with many surprises, they all notice a strange tattoo on their forearm, which depicts the three lives each player has. Whenever you suffer a fatality in Jumanji you get a second and even a third chance but no more than that. I especially enjoyed this movie because it makes you feel inside a video game full of adventure, different characters each with its own set of skills and a final quest. Jake Kasdan imprinted his own signature in this movie because it is completely different from the first Jumanji, which was about the board game and really gave you that feeling of playing it. Kasdan turned it into this action packed, adventure video games with lots of villains, obstacles and friends that come to their aid when most needed.
So if you are considering watching this movie but are not fully convinced I highly recommend to give it a try. Personally, I found it funny with nice visual effects and never ending action, a nice combination to enjoy with all the family and friends or by yourself!