Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
April 2, 2018
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is arguably the biggest surprise hit of 2017 earning over $400 million domestically and nearly $1 billion worldwide. Most people were expecting the film to be a box office hit, but almost no one thought this would happen. Did it deserve this success? Or was it a success, because it was the last big hit of 2017 and 2018 got off to such a slow start?
The movie begins in the 1980s when a man finds a board game, while jogging on the beach. Jumanji. He brings it home to his son, Alex, who promptly ignores it, because it’s a board game, and goes back to playing video games. That night, something happens to Jumanji and it transforms into a video game cartridge. We see a green glow from his window and we flash forward to the modern day.
In the modern day, Spencer is also playing video games. He gets a call from Anthony, a.k.a. “Fridge”. Spencer is supposed to get Fridge’s history report done and meet Fridge outside of The Freak House in 20 minutes, which we see is the house from the prologue. The pair used to be friends, but they drifted apart. The fact that Spencer self-plagarized part of the paper and gets the two busted won’t help. Next we meet Bethany, who is posing for a hashtag “nofilter” selfie. She’s complaining to a friend that her boyfriend hasn’t commented on her post yet, in class, over the phone, while there’s a test. Needless to say, this gets her sent to the principal’s office as well. We meet the final member of our quartet in gym class. Martha isn’t participating, so her teacher tries to encourage her by saying, among other things, she might have fun. This sets off Martha on a rant and gets her sent to the principal.
Their punishment is to go to the basement of the school and remove staples from magazines so they can be recycled. When they are there, Fridge finds an old-school video game console. When they plug it in, it’s for a game called Jumanji. They start to play, each one picking a character. Fridge tries to pick Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough, Pilot / Rascal, but he can’t, so he goes for Franklin “Moose” Finbar, zoologist / weapons. (There’s not a lot of room for descriptions in the game.) Spencer selects Dr. Smolder Bravestone, Archaeologist / Explorer. Next it’s Bethany’s turn and she goes for Dr. Shelly Oberon, cartographer / curvy genius. It takes a bit coaxing to get Martha to play and the only character left is Ruby Roundhouse, Killer of Men. When they turn the game on, something goes wrong and soon they are sucked into the world of Jumanji.
We are barely 15 minutes into the movie, but I don’t want to spoil what happens in the game world itself.
The original Jumanji didn’t earn good reviews when it first came out, but now many consider it a classic. The main complaints were too much action and special effects, not enough plot and characters. There were also complaints that the action was a little mean spirited. I can’t really argue with those points, as they are all valid. Alan Parrish was sucked into the game as a child and when he came out, he had what you could call PTSD, except the trauma was still ongoing. Additionally, the special effects were “cutting edge” when they came out, that is to say they were a little janky. They certainly haven’t aged well.
Going in, I wasn’t expecting Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to be a classic. I was just hoping it was an entertaining film with a charismatic cast. It more than delivers on that level. This is a fun ride and every member of the cast gives a great performance, and I’m including the kids and the adults playing their avatars. I’m not surprised Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart have great chemistry together, as this is not the first film where they’ve starred opposite one another. At this point, Karen Gillan needs to be an action star.
On a side note, I was really worried about the Bethany / Dr. Shelly Oberon character. Having an adult male play a teenage girl had a lot of opportunities for disaster. Fortunately, the character had a lot more depth and Jack Black’s performance didn’t feel mocking. Additionally, there’s a romance between Bethany and Alex, who both have male avatars in the game. Again, this could have been cringe-worthy, but the script and the actors make it work.
The first extra is two minutes of outtakes, which is strange, as outtakes are usually at the end. Up next is a 15-minute long making of featurette, hosted by Nigel Billingsly. There is a second behind-the-scenes featurette called Meet the Players that is seven minutes on the cast. Surviving the Jungle: Spectacular Stunts spends six minutes on the stunts, while Attack of the Rhinos is a four-minute featurette on the special effects used to bring that scene to life. Book to Board Game to Big Screen is a five-minute featurette on the legacy of the first film. Finally, there’s a music video. This is a good selection of extras, but considering how well the film did in theaters, I was expecting more. I was certainly hoping for an audio commentary track.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is better than it should be. It’s a fun ride, the characters are deeper than they needed to be, and the cast pulls off even the most challenging parts of the script. There’s not quite as much in terms of extras on the DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, at least not compared to its box office numbers, but it is still a Pick of the Week contender.
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The Movie
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Filed under: Video Review, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Robin Williams, Jack Black, Rhys Darby, Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Nick Jonas, Missi Pyle, Morgan Turner, Alex Wolff, Karen Gillan, Ser'Darius Blain, Madison Iseman