Ah, December 2017. A month-long awaited by many, in search of the glorious movies it has promised. Among the number of action-packed films December has brought us, is the stand-alone sequel Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which is packed with stars such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Nick Jonas, Bobby Cannavale, Karen Gillan, and many more. Anyway, this movie was very well thought out. I particularly enjoyed the connections it had to the former Jumanji movies in the franchise, such as at the end of the first two movies, strangers would end up finding the board game Jumanji and taking it home. Another such connection, albeit more central than the previously mentioned, was when the four main characters enter Jumanji and find a man who had been trapped in the game for over 20 years.
This man was the son of the man who found the Jumanji board game in the last book. On a side note, the specific scene was incredibly heartbreaking where Nick Jonas’s character gets extremely emotional is VERY sad. Anyway, the connections of this movie to its predecessors isn’t the only thing I find interesting. Another interesting thing is how the teenage actors at the beginning of the movie only have a little screen time in the beginning, and a little in the end. Though I do understand that the format has to be like that in order for the stars of the film (Kevin Hart, The Rock, Bobby Cannavale, Nick Jonas, etc.) to carry most of the content, I just wanted to point out that the format has been this way for all of the Jumanji films, sequels, and remakes. And because of all the connections to the previous movies, and interesting things about this franchise, I’d give this movie an 8.5/10. So now that you’ve finished reading this, what are you waiting for? Go out there and watch that movie!
JUMANJI
HOM 59
By: Nahom Tesfaye