Reboot, remake, homage, rip-off, call them what you will,
films that recycle old ideas have been with us since the early days of
cinema. If it’s successful once on the
silver screen, studio execs are libel to keep going back to that particular
well until it runs dry. We’re in the
period now of what I like to call “nostalgia reboots,” properties long thought
dead (Men in Black III, Independence Day:
Resurgence, etc.) yet resuscitated in order to fill the respective studio’s
coffers and take advantage of new special effects techniques that will
supposedly make them better.
Jumanji: Welcome to
the Jungle is a perfect example of this sort of film and it’s one of the
better entries as it manages to incorporate elements from the original (the
1995 Robin Williams starrer) while updating the premise to incorporate modern
concerns and appeal to today’s audience.
While the board game from the original makes an obligatory appearance
early on, contests in the video arena drive this story.
A mini Breakfast Club kicks things off as four disparate
high school students find themselves in detention with little to do. Awkward
smart guy Spencer (Alex Wolff) and football lunk Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain),
former best friends are assigned to take the staples of a mountain of magazines
so they can be recycled with clueless rebel Martha (Morgan Turner) and the ever
vacuous Bethany (Madison Iseman).
Boredom soon gets the best of them and they mange to find an old video
counsel that’s been donated to the school. Once it’s hooked to an old TV, a
video version of that old chestnut Jumanji pops up and each is required to
select an avatar before play can being.
However, once that’s done, they find themselves literally sucked into the
game where they are required to complete a mission before using up the three
lives they’ve been assigned.
The movie takes its time setting up its rules and, truth be
told, it sags during this initial section, as well as during its third act. The
most inspired element is that the teens assume the identities of their avatars once
they enter the video arena. Dwayne
Johnson is a suddenly muscle-bound Spencer, Kevin Hart is the ironically
diminutive Fridge, Karen Gillan is the butt-kicking Martha and Jack Black is
the suddenly middle-aged fat guy Bethany.
Johnson, Gillan and Black do a marvelous job of emulating
their young counterparts, taking care to replicate the cadence of their speech,
the way they move and the impulsivity they would exhibit due to the massive
changes they undergo. Seeing Johnson deal with teen insecurity or Gillan
express wonder at her newfound fighting abilities are inspired moments, as is
Black’s looks of horror when teen dream Bethany realizes she looks like her
father. These moments and many more from
the trio throughout the film provide the necessary jolts that keep this
exercise moving. As for Hart, he makes little effort to project the sort of
frustration Fridge must experience once he finds himself trapped in a much
smaller body. The actor approaches this
role as he does all others, giving us once more the loud, angry man his persona
based on.
It comes as no surprise that the teens gain a great deal of
confidence during their adventure that has a profound effect on them once they
return home. It’s pretty standard stuff
as far as its theme and message is concerned, yet Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle proves to be an entertaining enough
diversion to adequately fill a couple of hours during the holiday season.
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2017.
