Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Is this going to be Fun or Another Fail?
- Romessa Nadeem
- Oct 15, 2017
- 3 min read
Directed by James Kasdan
Starring
Dwayne Johnson as Dr. Smolder Bravestone
Karen Gillian as Ruby Roundhouse
Kevin Hart as Moose Finbar
Jack Black as Shelley Oberon
Who amongst us doesn’t remember Jumanji? That board game that mildly haunted your dreams and entrapped our beloved Robin Williams in the wilderness until “the dice rolls five or eight.” Well, it’s got a reboot now and it looks like… Well, let’s see.
It’s established in the trailer that the board game exists in the reboot. But it’s not the board game that is to be played, It’s a video game by the name of Jumanji. Our main characters get sucked into the video game and are played by the avatars they have chosen. Initial thoughts ranged from indifference to astonishment at the attempt to be relevant to the “millennials.”
Watching the trailer, it’s obvious that director Kasdan isn’t afraid to have fun with the concept of this film. It sounds silly, and it’s meant to be. He wants to keep it upbeat, fast paced and hilarious. But this is the same man who directed the disastrously unfunny and mean spirited Sex Tape and Bad Teacher. It’s a very real possibility that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle might be another raunchy comedy that doesn’t know when to stop for its own good. You can tell, not all the jokes are going to land.
I would cite the writers at this point but the screenplay was written in part by Chris McKenna, who wrote the hilarious LEGO Batman Movie, and Jeff Pinker, who wrote the terrible The Amazing Spiderman 2. So in all honesty, it could go either way.
I never much cared for it but Jumanji is a film people grew up watching and is one of the late Robin Williams’ most memorable roles. Ideally, Kasdan should create something new while also maintaining the spirit of the original. I won’t act like Jumanji didn’t have flaws. The CGI is dated to death at this point. Putting Kasdan’s previous directing ventures to one side, he should be able to explore the possibilities of this new concept, in terms of visuals at least, even if it differs vastly from Jumanji.
While I do love Dwayne Johnson and believe he’s enough to charm his way through just about any movie, I will admit I kept expecting Josh Hutcherson to show up à la Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (If I forced that movie back into your consciousness, I apologize)
Still, he is Dwayne Johnson and the name of his character, Smolder Bravestone, is tongue-in-cheek enough for me to believe he’ll end up carrying this film. Kevin Hart acts like, well, Kevin Hart and safe to say that garners subjective reactions. Jack Black, who is the avatar of a teenage prom-queen, looks like he’ll garner more than his fair share of laughs. Maybe they’ll give Gillian something to do other than stand around and look pretty.
Some might find it distasteful that a film which seemingly has nothing to do with the original has the name so shamelessly plastered in the title. But with a great deal of care, and good taste (which I’m praying Kasdan has developed after his previous failures) it might at least be a fun flick to watch. Just don’t get your hopes too high.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle releases in December, 2017.
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