My Movie Review on Jumanji: The Next Level (Plus, a Bonus) · 11:03pm Dec 11th, 2020
Aloha, my friends.
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for the third installment of my "Christmas Craze", I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Jumanji: The Next Level".
Here's the rundown of it:
Two years after the events of the first film, Spencer Gilpin, Martha Kaply, Bethany Walker, and Anthony "Fridge" Johnson, return from their colleges for Christmas break and plan a reunion.
However, when Spencer doesn't show up or respond to their calls and texts, his friends discover that he apparently kept the Jumanji game set and went back inside of it. After they go inside the game to look for him, though...to their horror, they find that the game's story changed entirely and that they're not in the avatars they chose before. Unwittingly, Spencer's grandfather, Eddie, and his old friend and business partner, Milo Walker, also get sucked in the game.
In order to get out of the game again, the team must face off against a new enemy called Jurgen the Brutal, who has in his hands the magical Sunstone.
Hard to believe, huh?
It's been over a year since I saw "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" and the film starring Robin Williams, and I hadn't come to making a review of this movie until just recently. Similar to "Hook", I decided to make the review part of my "Christmas Craze" since the movie takes place during the Christmas season.
The one thing I will admit is that, similar to "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle", I was annoyed by the amount of cussing this movie had. Even though there weren't cuss words all-the-time, Fridge, Eddie, and Milo in particular had quite the potty mouths.
Other than that, though, I found this movie to be as enjoyable as can be. It may not be as good as its predecessor, but it's still a rollicking fun ride.
For instance, the performances of the cast, casting, characters, and character development were brilliant.
Portraying the characters of Milo Walker and Grandpa Eddie in the real world, Danny Glover and Danny DeVito proved themselves to be amazing new additions to the cast, and the two characters themselves had great personality and development throughout the film. And I'm not gonna lie, Dwayne Johnson and Awkwafina's impressions of Danny DeVito were hysterical, and so was Kevin Hart's impression of Danny Glover. The character developments of Spencer and Martha were delightful as well.
The direction by Jake Kasdan, and the story by him, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg, were delightful as well.
One thing that I couldn't help but take note of was that despite the film containing a storyline and scenario similar to "Welcome to the Jungle", the filmmakers still managed to make the concept fresh and different, such as by changing the obstacles and giving a greater sense of unpredictability. Plus, the film still had tremendous humor that was hysterical to watch, and it had heart and emotion that helped it be far from lifeless.
Also, I know that Jurgen the Brutal didn't have much screen time, but in all honesty...I thought that the filmmakers made wiser use of him than they did with the previous film's villain, Russell Van Pelt. As a mere element of the game, he didn't need to be focused on too much since it was mainly about the heroes. The surprising details that the character had, most notably him being another avatar, made me interested in seeing him again in the sequel that Columbia's cooking up, which would more than make up for Jurgen's lack of screen time.
As for the special effects...I honestly don't have much to say about them other than that they were as awesome as the effects used in the previous movie. When it came to making the film's Jumanji settings seem like they really were part of a whole other world, and creating animals that look so lifelike, the effects team did not cease in doing so.
In conclusion, "Jumanji: The Next Level", isn't a flawless movie, but it's still entertaining to watch. It's funny, the cast gave terrific performances, everything!
So, I rate "Jumanji: The Next Level" 4½ out of 5 stars.
As a special bonus for you guys, I'd like to share with you all an art piece that I did:
This dragon picture was something that I printed off the internet, and it was completely uncolored. After I printed it out, I then decided to color over it using colored pencils.
So, what do you guys think? Of this review? And the picture?
Not the best movie out there, but it one of those movies that made me laugh a lot. So 4/5 for me
Good review and great coloring of the picture.
How did you color that picture so, uh, solidly? It's like you painted the thing.
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For the dragon, I colored within the lines. For the sky, I colored outside of the dragon.
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I think you're the first person I've witnessed color within lines that cleanly.
In regards to the movie, let's just say that I think the game might return to its roots and we'll be seeing the return of the first movie's cast. Maybe a bigger tribute to Robin Williams, as well.