Three years after their first adventure in the magical world of Jumanji, Bethany (Madison Iseman), Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain) and Martha (Morgan Turner) have all reunited in their hometown of Brantford.Conspicuous by his absence is Spencer (Alex Wolff) who came home to spend the holidays with his mom and grandfather Eddie (Danny Devito). Eddie's former friend and business partner Milo (Danny Glover) comes by to reconcile but it rekindles a bitter disagreement. As Bethany, Fridge and Martha try to find Spencer, they realize that he has somehow returned to the world of Jumanji and go in after him. But, unbeknownst to them, Eddie and Milo have been brought along for the ride.
I rewatched Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle in preparation for this and to keep things fresh in my mind. It's a pretty fun, if basic, adventure/character piece that gets good performances out of its star-studded cast. (I could watch Karen Gillan kick-ass to "Baby I Love Your Way" all day everyday but that's beside the point).Jumanji: The Next Level is more of the same, which if you liked the first movie, will be a welcome treat.
This time around, Dwayne Johnson gets to try out his impressionism skills as he spends the majority of the movie playing Danny Devito's character Eddie in the body of Dr. Smoulder Bravestone. He affects a stereotypical Brooklyn stereotype accent and complains a bit, acting completely oblivious to the game world around him except for when it's time for him to jump into action. Kevin Hart returns to play Danny Glover's Milo, giving him a slower but deliberate cadence. After a while, it does become a bit grating, but it's likely by design since they do have an in-story method of switching the previous players to the original bodies and putting the newer players into new playable characters. After a while, it basically just becomes a game of "guess which character is playing which other character."
That all being said, the film's humor is heavily reliant on the interactions between the characters as well as the elderly Eddie and Milo trying and failing to adjust to their new surroundings; So, much like most elderly people thrust into playing a video game. It helped to endear the characters and provide them with growth beyond their usual roles in reality. While the same is hinted at for a good portion of the running time, it's interesting that they chose to have the characters switch avatars into things supposedly more suited to them.
Also, I know that characters tend to have arcs in these kinds of stories, but with Jumanji, both "Welcome To The Jungle" and "The Next Level" have an almost be an extreme form of therapy for many of the characters. Though in the case of both Alan Parrish and Alex Vreek (played here once again by Colin Hanks and Nick Jonas in reality and game respectively), it sets about it in the most traumatizing and psychologically brutal ways possible. But, and this occurred to me in the writing of this article, that the entire plot hinges on one of the main characters not being willing to talk to his friends. In fact, both Spencer and Eddie apparently have the familial trait of insecurity and grumpiness when it comes to their friends having grand life adventures or doing well in college.
Much like the movie, aside from some fun interactions, as well as a brief backstory bit on Bravestone's parents stereotypical tragic origins (with Dwayne Johnson playing Bravestone's father), there isn't a whole lot to talk about with this movie. The themes are nakedly apparent as well as easily resolved once people actually stop to have an honest conversation. There's still fun to be had, but hopefully in the next installment (because there is sequel bait at the mid-credits point) will have something a little more substantial than just magical therapist with extremely loose ethics on boundaries.
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