'Jumanji: The Next Level' Is a Step Down from Its Predecessor

Jumanji: The Next Level is the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.  In it, the group of friends from the first film (Alex Wolff, Ser’Darius Blain, Morgan Turner, and Madison Iseman), having gone to different colleges and now leading different lives, has decided to catch up over the Christmas holidays.  However, this reunion eventually catapults them back to Jumanji for a brand new adventure.  And this time around, Spencer’s grandfather (Danny DeVito) and his estranged friend and former business partner (Danny Glover) are brought along for the ride.  Moreover, upon entering the game, they discover that most of them no longer occupy their original avatars (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillian), as these got shuffled around and new ones (Awkwafina) were assigned.

In my review of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, I pointed out that, even though I enjoyed it as a popcorn flick, I hated its depiction of the Jumanji world.  For me, the animated series adaptation’s depiction of the Jumanji world is a more inspired, exciting, and consistent expounding of what the original 90’s film had hinted about the Jumanji world.  In comparison, the vision of the Jumanji world that was introduced by Welcome to the Jungle comes off as lackluster and stupid.  I strongly reiterate this same sentiment first and foremost in my appraisal of Jumanji: The Next Level.

Moreover, Jumanji: The Next Level is simply an inferior movie overall.  While its predecessor is dumb, it at least had the novelty of plot elements operating on video game logic going for it (e.g. NPC repeating lines, life counters, etc.).  On the other hand, this movie simply recycles the same ideas, which are now stale.  Truly, Jumanji: The Next Level is one of those movies that feel like they’ve been spat out by a Hollywood conveyor belt – simply produced for the sake of having a cost-effective, profit-generating product.

The script is bad.  There’s not much thought and effort put into it.  The storyline is so random.  Things happen in the narrative without any real purpose behind them.  Things happen just for the sake of them happening.  It’s as if the sole intent of the writers in writing each scene is solely to fill up the run time from A to B.  Again, it’s a “conveyor belt” product.

There are jokes that land, especially when Jack Black is involved.  Like in the first film, Black proves to be the best among the cast when it comes to channelling the personality of the character who’s inside the avatar he’s playing.  Jack Black is the only consistently amusing part of this movie, in my opinion.  Kevin Hart is also better here than he was in the first movie.  There’s this one scene with Black and Hart, wherein their characters are impersonating other people, that had me in stitches.

In the end, while there are some nuggets of enjoyment here and there, Jumanji: The Next Level is just bland and unimaginative as a whole.