Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 2 ratings
Four teenagers in detention discover an old video game console with a game they’ve never heard of. When they decide to play, they are immediately sucked into the jungle world of Jumanji in the bodies of their avatars. They’ll have to complete the adventure of their lives filled with fun, thrills and danger or be stuck in the game forever!
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle smartly updates the original concept by transplanting the action into a video game world, allowing for enjoyable body-swap comedy as the teenage characters inhabit mismatched adult avatars. The premise generates consistent laughs and the cast — Johnson, Hart, Black, and Gillan — have genuine chemistry. However, the plot is fairly formulaic quest-structure stuff, hitting predictable beats with little surprise, and the cinematography is serviceable blockbuster fare without distinctive visual flair. The ending resolves things competently but without particular emotional resonance. The film's greatest strength is its self-aware comedic tone and the clever fish-out-of-water avatar conceit, which elevates it modestly above a by-the-numbers action-comedy sequel.