Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle Is The Pleasant Surprise Fans Hoped It To Be

The 2017 winter box office season has brought forward several box office smashes and surprise blockbusters (Not Justice League unfortunately) from Thor: Ragnarock to CoCo to Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  What was essentially viewed as being a winter season, that would conclude with The Last Jedi completely taking over the box office, audiences were surprised to see direct competition take on the blockbuster sequel to The Force Awakens from a sequel that almost no fans of the original Jumanji asked for nor cared to see. What shocked audiences upon its release was not that Hollywood dared to make a long distant sequel to the original Jumanji that starred Robin Williams, but that the reviews coming out for it were surprisingly very strong saying it honors the first movies legacy while taking the franchise in a new direction, creating an alternate fun ride. Along with Jumanji's surprisingly energetic reviews, the real impressive fact was how it gained steam at the box office with its weekend gains increasing throughout the holiday season and eventually overtaking The Last Jedi at the box office. Suddenly the box office story of the winter 2017 was not The Last Jedi's stellar box office opening nor the large division between the fans over the quality of the film, but how Jumanji defied all expectations and took the box office crown from what was supposed to be one of the most highly anticipated sequels ever. Having now seen Welcome To The Jungle, one can say with ease that the sequel to Jumanji most definitely deserved its success, and actually proves to be a great deal of fun on its own terms.

       Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is not the sequel that fans of the first movie asked for, but it's the one that surprises with how much fun it is while paying the utmost respect to the original film. Going into the sequel, the filmmakers knew that no one wanted to see a remake of the original otherwise it would be a disastrous flop in the making, so instead they chose to make a distant sequel that begins a year from the events of the first movie, where the audience last saw the board game washing up on a beach and going from there with the new twist being instead of the story revolving around a board game, it is now a video game. The new concept fits beautifully with the new generation of audiences as young people in today's world, are more into video games compared to the first movies concept of playing a boardgame 22 years ago. The new concept proves to be bold and gives the new film a fresh feeling with both the story and concept with equal amounts of fun and adventure. The original Jumanji film for its time was a fun family adventure, that was clever and entertaining due to its slick concept of a board game carrying with it a special power that releases a host of dangers unless the players of the game stop them by completing the game. The concept of Welcome To The Jungle plays out similar with a young boy uncovering a magic video game, that sucks him into the world of Jumanji in a similar vein to Robin Williams. The story centers around four other teenagers becoming sucked into the magical video game, now inheriting the body of adults. The four young teens realize that the only way they can escape Jumanji is by working together to finish the game.

        Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is certainly not the first movie nor has Robin Williams as it's main star, but the film proves to be as fun, clever, witty, and surprising of a thrill ride as audiences would hope for it to be. What makes Jumanji work as a successful sequel and reboot is not just that the film is well written as an action, adventure, comedy, but how well it's main stars perform together and demonstrate strong chemistry as a team. From the young teen cast delivering strong and believable performances, the adult roles are even better with Dwayne Johnson delivering an awesome performance as the nerdy kid Spencer turned macho leader of the group, Kevin Hart surprising with playing a more straight-forward character named Fridge going from being the sports athlete of the group to playing a more vulnerable part once sucked into the video game world of Jumanji. Jack Black does a great job and steals the show as Bethany, the young female in the group whose more concerned about her looks and popularity in school experiencing a midlife crisis in the game when she realizes she inherits a man's body. Karen Gillan shines as Martha, the smart love interest to Dwayne Johnsons character, who enters the game inheriting a sexy new form that allows her new physical looks to become a tool in helping everyone escape Jumanji alive. The cast of Jumanji is essential to the movies success as they provide the laughter for the audience as well as help sell the video game concept of the story. Whereas the first movie showed the consequences of playing the board game outside of the environment of Jumanji, Welcome To The Jungle brings the main characters as well as the audience into the world that Robin Williams was stuck inside for 26 years, even giving his character a worthy homage at one point. Seeing the Jumanji world gives the storyline a new angle as well as a breath of fresh air compared to repeating the same story functions of the first film. What could've ended up being a complete redo of the first film that would've been an automatic fail in many fans eyes as no one was interested in redoing the first movie, turned out to be the winters surprise smash hit as well as a sequel, that stands as it's own story while paying homage to its predecessor as well as expanding the Jumanji storyline for another future installment. One can only hope it continues to surprise audiences and defy expectations much like this one did.

      Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is the sequel to Jumanji, that manages to live up to the hopes that fans had for it while defying all expectations set that the film would fail. What makes Welcome To The Jungle thrive and succeed is not that it's continuing the Jumanji story nor flipped its concept to being a videogame, but rather the film is full of heart and made with great care in terms of preserving the first movies legacy while reintroducing the concept for a new generation. For a sequel that virtually no fans of the first movie wanted, Welcome To The Jungle does extremely well of entertaining fans while being a nice surprise. The key to enjoying both movies to their maximum potential is to separately first film from the new movie and judge them as their own films. Welcome To The Jungle never disrespects the legacy of the original nor Robin Williams, but shows a clear interest in introducing a new generation of audiences to the world of Jumanji that dazzled moviegoers 22-years prior. Welcome To The Jungle Succeeds because of a charming cast and it's hilarious twist involving the teens turning into adults in the game with the videogame aspect of Jumanji giving the story a fresh new approach, that was needed and also feels relevant as young teenagers play videogames nowadays compared to playing boardgames. As a piece of entertainment, Jumanji is solid and has a great deal to offer in regards to delivering adventure and laughs. Much like a videogame, Jumanji doesn't deliver deep character development and exposition, but instead puts the cast together and makes them work together in order to survive while taking the audience on a hilarious journey. The film essentially feels like a videogame adaptation of The Breakfast Club with how the story starts out involving four teens being brought into this new world and forced to find their way out of it together while becoming closer friends along the way. What Welcome To The Jungle lacks in the presence of Robin Williams or James Horner's heartfelt score that went great with the theme of a young boy becoming a man throughout his experience of being sucked into a boardgame, Jumanji more than makes up or it with its awesome cast, well-written and clever screenplay, and the same level of energy that made the first film a hit with audiences. Welcome To The Jungle is well deserving of its critical and box office success, while also managing to be one of the most entertaining movies of the winter season hands down. If one hasn't seen Welcome To The Jungle yet, this is the fun ride to take if one is looking to have a good time.

                                                                                                          Final Verdict: SEE IT