Review of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) by Theflashgamer — 26 Dec 2017

By no means is Jumanji a bad movie; the plot works, the characters (for the most part) make reasonable actions and the pacing feels as it should. However, a fatal flaw of Jumanji is that while having it's moments the movie doesn't ever shine too much. In fact the lack of amazing moments really glorifies the stupidity of the movie at times.

During Jumanji there are many moments where the universe basically implodes on itself. There are multiple times where the writers and directors got so lazy where the movie actually hurts from it. For example during the opening scene you see a boy playing on a gaming console. He's holding what looks to be a Playstation controller but later you find he's actually playing on a Atari 2600. Ok then, maybe he modded his system and...wait the graphics look like it's an MS Dos. Moments like this are littered throughout the film and just make certain serious scenes laughable. On top of this every member of the supporting cast is a walking stereotype. You have the nerd, the jock, the preppy girl and the thot. They never budge from their archetype until they reach the world of Jumanji. The problem with this however, is that it leaves you with very little investment in these characters going in. Thankfully the all star cast that plays the Jumanji characters do an outstanding jobs in their roles. They add character to what would be these emotionless husks but the jump in character quality ends up quite jarring. Thankfully the film does have it's moments. While a lot of the jokes didn't quite stick with me there was a few that fit my style of comedy. The film does a great job at using all sorts of comedic styles so at least one or two jokes should stick. On top of this while the main cast might be generic, the fact the film is in a video game makes the other in game characters being one dimensional actually work. The world feels like something Jumanji would make and it really helps tie in with the first movie.

Overall Jumanji while not quite shaping up to the original still stands as it's own film. The comedy sticks for the most part and the world works and ties in with the original. Overall, the movie works and while not being outstanding or memorable it all works.