Rent Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Disappointing and blatantly made for the money sequal! - Jumanji: The Next Level review by CS

Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle, was such a brilliant remake of the original, so well done and a great film to watch. Inevitably you knew there would be a sequel made given just how successful and popular the first film was. Sadly this follow up is so bland, unoriginal, messy and all over the place, that it's a real bore to watch! The plot and storyline are paper thin and so unoriginal, it's like they've simply pinched it from so many other fantasy action movies of the past. I'm unclear as to why they felt the need to add the characters played by Danny Glover and  Danny DeVito, because they just complicate the story and as for the character played by Awkwafina, why? There are so many new characters thrown in here, that it really messes things up and the whole affair just becomes busy and overcrowded. Many of the new actors are simply miscast and whatever Awkwafina was doing, belongs anywhere but not here! There has been a move in modern cinema to fill films full with sexual & racial politics, which completely ruins most films and here both the sexual and racial politics are glaringly obvious, that I'm really surprised they didn't have a 10ft tall transvestite black binary character as well, as they seem to have included everyone else! There are also some major plot holes in here, like a horse which is just a big horse, suddenly (spoiler alert) sprouts wings from nowhere, at least if you're going to have a flying horse make it look like a flying horse from the start! Watching the extras, they make the most lame excuses for these plot holes, just swiping them away with a grin. And even as Jack Black himself says in the extras, he wasn't surprised to get the call, given that the first film made over £900million, so even he (in a roundabout way) admits that it's all about the money! I would not be surprised if a third in the movie is in the making, especially as the ending, as seems to be the norm nowadays, has been blatantly set up for a follow on!

Usual follow up problem - Jumanji: The Next Level review by HM

The first movie (in this remake series) had the advantage of explaining what the Jumanji game is all about and so hooked the audience straight away. The way the story unfolded as a video game was interesting plus comedy and action. This follow up has the comedy and action but has to keep that up from minute one with some repetition of movie one, after all we know how the game works; players having three lives etc. Because of this it isn't as impactful. Having said that, it is funny and the action sequences are exciting, although the cliff hanging CGI stuff is straight from the land of S. Spielburg.

So, entertaining, funny with decent action and lovable characters. It won't disappoint.

Jumanji: Same film with a few extras - Jumanji: The Next Level review by Strovey

As Jack Black says in the Blu-Ray extras due to the amount of money Jumanji In the Jungle made he knew he was ‘going to get a call’ and that in nutshell is why this sequel exists, making money. This in itself does not make the film bad or poor but purely from a lover of films point of view it is disappointing.

All the same cast return with added Danny DeVito, playing the same role Danny DeVito plays now, frankly it is good and he can do it with his eyes closed and Danny Glover more or less in his comfort zone playing a role he can do with his eyes closed also. The writers had to find a reason for the game to still exist, it was scrapped in the first film, and why anyone would go back into it. Spencer is the character chosen to start it all off again but by a sad sack, again. So far, all good.

The story zips along with the fun and exciting pace of the first film, Rory McCann being the standout as a fine baddie, and everyone has fun doing impressions of their actor colleagues with varying degrees of success, some inhabit the character and seem to be that person in a different avatar whereas others just do a good Mike Yarwood impression, I’m looking at you Awkwafina.

I laughed at the run time and had fun but overall, the feeling I was getting was ‘I’ve seen this before, and only recently’. The actors, particularly the youngsters who transform into the ‘star-actors’ give the impression of being good friends and lively happy young adults, a weird way to put it but this aspect of the film made me smile.

The effects and cinematography are good, the fun parts are fun and the peril in general is perilous even if you know the outcome before the film even starts. I felt that the makers were trying to shoe-horn too many people in with SeaPlane (Colin Hanks/Nick Jones) returning, one thinks would he really go back into something he’d been in for 20 years, and as mentioned the veteran actors and Awkwafina added to the mix. I am not sure it was needed and I am not convinced it worked. Having said that I did not think a sequel was needed.

Jumanji: The Next Level is a fun romp but all too familiar and not different or interesting enough from the original. It tries to make some vague points about keeping friends, reconciliation and so forth but nothing that you have not seen before albeit worse and better.

From the ending sequence the makers clearly want to make Jumanji: Not Again and it will probably happen. Therein lies the problem with film making for major studios today.

Oh, and Lilith turns up at the end without her hair in a tight bun. I do not watch a lot of US TV, so I have not seen Bebe Neuwirth for a long time and it was nice to see her in a little cameo.

The Next Level, watch it, enjoy it, do not remember it a day later.

Grrrrreat Movie - Jumanji: The Next Level review by AM

Really makes my day, absolutely love everyone especially Kevin Hart! The whole cast is perfect, looking forward to next instalment of Jumanji! 

Entertaining Sequel - Jumanji: The Next Level review by GI

The surprising success and good fun of 2017s Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle was inevitably going to lead to a quick sequel. The Next Level brings a lot more of the same and adds two old curmudgeonly codgers into the mix (Danny DeVito & Danny Glover) as the gang of four friends venture back into the fantastical game. There's plenty of comedy, action and rips from everything from Tomb Raider to Game of Thrones. The characters here get to do a lot of body swapping which ups the laughs although some of the jokes fall a bit flat. Overall this is a piece of family entertainment that will delight those of a young age and a short scene in the middle of the end credits hints at perhaps another sequel on the way.

A very good sequel to an excellent family movie - Jumanji: The Next Level review by BG

'Jumanji - The Next Level' brings back the main cast from 'Welcome to the Jungle' and reunites them in a manner that's almost as clever and inventive as before. This time, the big shake-up is that the teens don't end up in the same characters, and two of their avatars (played by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart) end up 'inhabited' by Spencer's elderly grandfather (Danny Devito) and his old friend/business partner (Danny Glover). This provides a whole new angle of absurdity and comedy, as Johnson and Hart have to mimic the accents, body language and behaviours of these two very distinctive older characters, while helping their fellow gamers trying to survive challenges that are just as extreme and entertaining as in the first film.

This time we get killer ostriches, water that does some interesting things to the characters, 'Game of Thrones' Rory McCann as 'Jurgen the Brutal', and a host of other interesting characters, including a return from Nick Jonas and a brilliant performance from Awkwafina.

The animal effects remain just a fun and dramatic as before, the jokes are regular and very often amusing, and the character dialogue is a lot of fun. In between all of this, we get peril, emotion, danger, and in-jokes about computer gaming.

If you're a fan of the recent 'Jumanji - Welcome to The Jungle', the good news is that this is very close to the level of that film, and while maybe not being quite as surprising and exciting, it's certainly not far off. It also plays some brilliant and very knowing jokes based on the characters that inhabit the avatars.

Flashy, funny and constantly inventive fun that's enjoyable for the family.

Good fun - Jumanji: The Next Level review by CP Customer

A great film for watching during lockdown. Not quite as good as the original, but very entertaining, with the original cast still doing a good job in this sequel. We now have more characters than in the first film though, which doesn't seem necessary as it complicates matters. I'm not usually a great fan of Jack Black, as to me he's a bit too manic in a lot of roles, but he seems to have dialled it down a notch in this film, and The Rock is always good value. Definitely recommended.