I put off watching this movie for so long, but, I finally got around to watching it – and I really enjoyed it.

Much different to the original Jumanji, this one is based around a video game. Four students who are semi-known to one another get detention and find the game. These four students are transported into the game and have to beat it in order to return to reality, but if they die, they never leave.

But pull back for a second, what I liked about the start of this movie was that there was no wasted time. We got to know the characters quickly, we got to find out their role and their stereotype and this worked really well in getting straight to the action of the game. And this game is awesome! It looks good, feels like a real game, and it seems like the creators of this film really understood what they were doing in creating a video game world.

And I loved how they made jokes about different stock characters in video games. How the girl is always badly dressed for the jungle and how stereotypical they are but with their own quirks – like Franklin Finbar not being able to eat cake without exploding. The personalities of the ‘real’ characters came across really well too – especially for Jack Black.

I did love how exciting and bold this movie was but also how it had a sensitive side with Alex having being trapped for 20 years – although, let’s talk through this a minute.

When Alex finally returns to reality he returns back as if he had already been gone. This was, as I said, 20 years before the main characters enter the game, so wouldn’t this change reality and their world? Could this cause issues with their lives? What if he met one of their parents and then they were never born? It left me with a lot of questions but I did get goosebumps when he said his daughter was called Bethany.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. From its quick introduction of the characters to the humour and the suspense and the heartwarming ending, it gave me that feeling of being a kid again watching an exciting action adventure movie in the cinema. This is definitely one movie I will watch again.

What did you think of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding