Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillen, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover
Director: Jake Kasdan
Release date: 11th December 2019
It’s Christmas and Spencer is struggling to cope with life… The group of friends haven’t seen each other in a while and are looking forward to meeting up again.
Spencer decides to return to the basement in his Grandpa’s house to find the Jumanji game. After not hearing from Spencer about reconnecting, the other three friends decide to go to his Grandpa’s to see if he’s there. Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) has a visitor who he hasn’t seen in a long time; Milo (Danny Glover). Eddie and Milo were once business partners in a famous local restaurant but retirement happened and the friends went their separate ways. The teens arrive at the house and it’s not long before they hear some mysterious drums.. they all follow the sound to the basement where they discover the Jumanji game has been repaired and is running… There’s a sudden flash and they’re back in the world of Jumanji. Thing is, this time, there are two newcomers; Eddie and Milo have somehow been drawn into the game and are now inhabiting the bodies of Dr. Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) and Franklin ‘Mouse’ Finbar (Kevin Hart) respectively. The group must once again work together to find a way out of Jumanji and back into the real world.
The first movie in the franchise, ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ came out back in 2017 and was a big hit, grossing an incredible $962m Worldwide. It started a whole new story after the release of the iconic original movie, Jumanji, back in 1995 which starred the much missed Robin Williams as a guy named Alan Parrish who had been trapped in a board game for 26 years.
The initial idea for the story came from an American author named Chris Van Allsburg who released a children’s story picture book in 1981 called ‘Jumanji’.
Many of us have very fond memories of the Robin Williams version of ‘Jumanji’ from back in the 90s. It was a time when video game playing was still relatively in its’ infancy, and it was unlike anything we had seen before.
This new installment in the Jumanji story continues where the last one ended and we are reintroduced and refamiliarised with this intrepid bunch of travellers/ explorers. If you loved the first film then it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll love this one too. It’s a great movie to go and see on a family night out or even with a group of your mates, there’s pretty much something for everyone.
Give it a watch on the big screen and prepare yourself for a rollercoaster ride!
Overall: 8/10
