Yet while the 2017 film pays plenty of homage to the movie that saw Williams run from digital crocodiles (who don’t hold up nearly as well as you recall), that first picture is not really what Welcome to the Jungle is about. Which is one of its greatest assets. Holding as much sly reverence for Tom Hanks’ Big as it does the first Jumanji, Jake Kasdan and Dwayne Johnson’s lighthearted and fairly disarming romp through the jungle (or at least postcard Hawaiian scenery) is the type of breezy, all-ages power fantasy that used to populate family entertainment in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Obviously aspiring to use the Jumanji name to achieve something as broadly appealing as that Penny Marshall/Tom Hanks classic, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle lands closer to The Mask or The Santa Clause. Still, that might just be in the sweet spot for its family entertainment ambitions. Presented with a maximum embrace of archetypal shorthand, Welcome to the Jungle begins with a pseudo-Breakfast Club being forced together during detention. There’s Spencer, the nerd (Alex Wolff), Fridge, the jock (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany, the popular girl (Madison Iserman), and Martha, the anti-social wallflower (Morgan Turner). These generic statuses are as deep as the notebook paper they write on, and the prologue they inhabit threatens to err into deadly cliché. But then the hook happens: they all get trapped inside a 1990s-esque and Nintendo-inspired video game, and the movie blessedly finds new life. Akin to watching the Franchise Viagra™ meme take effect in real-time, suddenly Spencer is played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; athletic and arrogant Fridge has been reduced to Kevin Hart’s bite-sized fun; the introverted Martha is in a shamelessly barely there Lara Croft-inspired costume worn by Karen Gillan; and poor, vain Bethany suddenly looks an awful lot like Jack Black. For all the appeal of the premise, the Jumanji sequel works solely on the charisma of its four performers and their delicious chemistry. As Johnson has become a high-concept made flesh, his open deconstruction of that brand here makes Spencer-as-Bravestone to be a purely comedic presence. Instead of playing an alpha male with cartoonish levels of bravado, this performance sees the Rock in constant giddy awe of his own physique. Otherwise, watching the closest thing we have to an ‘80s action beefcake terrified of snakes or heights is an easy, and winsome, laugh. Conversely, Hart is cast as the alpha of the group and his attempts to try to play aggressive straight man to Johnson successfully reverse-engineers their Bing Crosby and Bob Hope routine. But the real MVP in the whole thing is Black, who has not been this funny in a mainstream comedy for what must be approaching a decade. Leaning heavily into every Millennial and Generation Z stereotype, his fascination with suddenly having male anatomy, and still brazenly hitting on Nick Jonas while teaching Gillan’s Martha how to flirt, is a perfect series of comedy sketches. Gillan also does very well at showcasing her natural charm and sharp comic timing that Doctor Who fans have long been aware of. And in the process she elevates what she was given, providing an apt awkwardness to a script that seems most interested in rationalizing her costume and making excuses for her to dance in otherwise exciting fight scenes. All four bounce off each other so effortlessly that the silly premise can overcome the movie’s steep stumbles, particularly in how it egregiously wastes Bobby Cannavale as a villain so thin that it is a wonder he doesn’t blend in with the flora’s other blades of grass. He’s also only slightly more tangible than some of the dubious CGI that the movie uses for its killer wildlife. Also, while the film has some great fun with deconstructing video game clichés (especially of previous decades), its easygoing nature never dares to suggest it is trying to raise the stakes for an epic final level. It is instead content to mosey along on easy mode. Still, that easiness remains persuasive for the right audience. With knowing winks at the repetitiveness of video games’ Non-Playable Characters, as well as Legend of Zelda staples like the self-actualizing overworld map or the limitless inventory system, the movie fills out its journey with enough humor that it is potentially be the best video game movie to date. But it deserves more than that faint praise. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a slight but amusing bucket of holiday popcorn for families wanting a second (or third) trip to the theaters this season after Star Wars. Stocked to the brim with fan-service for those who grew up wallowing in ‘90s pop culture, including the original Jumanji, it is a game too simple to challenge anyone, including its players. But like these onscreen survivalists actually stopping mid-film to make margaritas while hiding in the wilderness (really), it’s an escape that is all too inviting for at least a few hours.
title: “Jumanji Welcome To The Jungle Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-07-13” author: “Jacqueline Hensler”
When ‘nerd’ Spencer (Alex Wolff), ‘jock’ Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), ‘princess’ Bethany (Madison Iseman) and ‘weirdo’ Martha (Morgan Turner) are all given detention, they discover an old games console in the school basement. Eager to avoid the actual job at hand (endlessly removing staples from old magazines), they turn it on to find old 90s video game, Jumanji. First and foremost, it’s a pleasure watching these actors play against type, whether it’s Johnson as the hypochondriac video game nerd or Gillan as the awkward, shy teenage girl. Jack Black is the stand-out, in a role that could have gone terribly, terribly wrong had it gone for the obvious, lowest common denominator gags over what we’re actually given. The writing and a surprisingly well-judged performance ensure that, while it’s obviously humorous to see Black behave like a self-absorbed, social media-addicted teenage girl, that’s never the main butt of the joke. It also forces us to ask the question – does it count as passing the Bechdel Test if one of the girls is played by Jack Black? My instinct says yes, but it’s still an unexpected question for a film like Jumanji to inspire. A loose-remake like Jumanji, relying on the same formula as 21 Jump Street (success) and Baywatch (failure) to entice audiences into the cinema, lives and dies on how good its jokes are. We’re not in Jump Street territory here, but the film manages to be both funny and thrilling enough to justify its existence. We may forget that the original film was genuinely frightening for a whole generation of kids and, while Welcome To The Jungle doesn’t ever really attempt to scare, there’s a great action-adventure movie here. It’s basically what this year’s The Mummy could and should have been – a family-friendly blockbuster with slightly rough edges, relying on its charming cast and some clever twists and off-beat choices. That’s the delightfully 90s vibe talking, of course, a time when this kind of film was allowed to be a bit naff so long as the audience had a good time (the original Jumanji only has a 50 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes). There are some fun connections made to the both the original film and the legacy of Robin Williams, none of which should be spoiled before going in. Refreshingly, the presumed limitations of the film are glossed over with wit and speed, whether it’s why the original board game has suddenly become a videogame, or a great final note that apparently kills one obvious route to a follow-up. Rarely derivative and always enjoyable, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is not the uninspired imitation you may have been expecting.
