Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
We’re just as surprised, Jack Black, that this sequel turned out well.
Four high-schoolers on detention (Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman) find an old video game in the school storeroom and begin to play—only to be yanked into it, morphing into their chosen avatars (Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, Jack Black) and forced to play for life-or-death stakes. Joe Johnston’s underrated 1995 Jumanji (from Chris Van Allsburg’s book) had wild adventures encasing a warmly sweet heart, and director Jake Kasdan manages nicely to duplicate the formula, albeit at somewhat greater length—a result, perhaps, of too many writers (Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner). Still, the kicks keep coming and the stars have a lot of fun channeling their teenage alter egos. A final cameo from an unbilled Colin Hanks wraps things up nicely.
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