Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

There actually isn’t anything truly bad about the movie. The actors are pretty okay, the locations are also quite solid, here and there the action has nice ideas, which, when it comes to Hollywood, is quite a miracle. I just don’t know if I am getting old and prefer older movies that are more authentic, entertaining and the actors are a few notches better. Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart are pulling the comedic aspect of the movie as hard as they can. They also nicely twisted the premise for the new version of Jumanji so you don’t get the same movie in a different shade of blue. I just cannot shake the impression that in the past similar movies were better. And no, I don’t want to complain that the grass was greener then, but I don’t know if I am onto something and if I am not aging together with the movies. (09/20/2018)

Okay, I wasn't expecting it, but surprisingly it was quite good. It was brisk, entertaining here and there, and well-paced from start to finish. I didn't even think the acting was bad, on the contrary everyone did a decent job. As a relaxing, no-frills follow-up to the 1995 film, it accomplishes what it's supposed to. A strong 3 stars. (12/15/2019)

I do not like to rate movies on the basis of comparison, but it can not be any other way with such calculated unoriginal remakes. The original Jumanji from the 1990s had, in addition to well-developed characters played by great actors, another great advantage, because the whole magical adventure stemmed from the conflict of these characters with horrific scenes emerging from a board game in the real world. In addition, it worked very well on both comedic and dramatic levels, and even had a naturally evolved villain, created by the tumultuous relationship between father and son. As for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, in short, well it is lacking all these things. The story has been updated and changed to a video game console, thus losing its magic, because in a video game, anything could happen really, and so the shock-value is lost. The plot is completely random, practically only going from point A to point B, and there is no room for a more powerful storyline, and the villain (Cannavale), is only an unnecessary obligatory device that could be completely omitted. The humor only comes from the basic premise of a weak nerd who finds himself inside an avatar of a muscle-man, a bimbo Barbie doll inside the avatar of a fat academic, etc. Actually, this is a terribly lazily designed remake. The only added value of the new Jumanji is that after watching it, perhaps more viewers will appreciate the original version with Robin Williams. (12/04/2019)

It does not hurt to give it a single watch, but the original film remains and will remain unsurpassed because its adventurous atmosphere has not been invoked or imitated by anyone else. It's also a shame that when it comes to humor, the new Jumanji benefits the entire time from just making the players and characters look completely different, and how they behave. Not that it doesn't lead to good comic situations, but there's too much going on, and it's more or less the same thing over and over, only with little changes. And when even the action scenes don't really dazzle you... It is average, but not terrible. (12/25/2017)

While the original Jumanji is a classic in the family film genre, the Zathura variation was aimed exclusively at younger children, and then the modern Jumanji is pure entertainment for fans of Jack Black and Dwayne Johnson. If you enjoy those two, you'll be satisfied, if not, you can safely skip it. (05/22/2022)