Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) - Jake Kasdan

By Maria Sofia Bassit Gomez.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a 2017 American fantasy adventure and comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan, co-written by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner. The budget of between 90-150 million USD rolled the heavy sum of 962 million USD in the box office.

The main cast consist of Dwayne Johnson as Spencer, Kevin Hart as Fridge, Jack Black as Bethany, Karen Gillan as Martha, Rhys Darby as Nigel, Bobby Cannavale as Van Pelt.

Warning: This review contains spoilers of the movie. Proceed at your own risk.

The almost 2 hour long movie is about 4 high school teenagers of polar opposite social statuses finding an old video game console which magically draws them in. The video game is called Jumanji, which sets them to the adult avatars they chose. Each given 3 lives, the players overcome obstacles to escape the digital world. In the game, they meet Alan Parrish, the player who was caught in the game for 20 years ago. Together, they try to escape without losing their lives, as it equates to digital and real-life death.

The movie launched the Jumanji saga through the roof. Most of the reviews were positive about the movie: 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, 6,9/10 on IMDb and 3/5 on common sense media.

The visuals are immaculate, and the green screen seems almost unused. Props to the group who are behind the green screen and the background. The camera angles are stable and immaculate, almost crystal clear.  The sound effects are very distinct and similar to the original movie, and the animal sounds are very distinct and naturalistic. Even the animal CGI was very natural and unique.

My favorite part is the lighting in the movies. The shadows and lights are well thought out, especially since 90 percent of the movie was made in green screen.

The acting was also immaculate. All the respective actors brought their character to life, especially when the A-lister Dwayne Johnson acted as his wimpy teenage self. The situation of the teenagers has the opposite personality of what their avatars portrays. Spencer, assigned the brave leader Bravestone as a character, who is a loner kid in reality. Fridge, the main popular sporty guy, as the assistant of Bravestone. Bethany, the IT girl, as the quite repulsive but smart researcher and Martha, the quiet alt girl, as the seductive siren dancing killer queen.

The moral of this story is to be who you want to be as we only live once, and this is easier said than done, especially when it comes to adolescence. This is known to be a hard time for the individuals, yet this is usually when we start to discover our own identity through life’s experiences.

Another point I enjoy about this movie is the accurate representation of teenagers, not the 30 years old 6 feet tall bulky muscular actor. The actors playing the adolescents made an outstanding acting performance. The ending is very heartwarming; while the teenagers learned a life lesson of accepting who you are, they didn’t have a full 180 degree switch. The popular Fridge and Bethany remained in their social lead, yet they became more considerate of their friends and their priorities in life while Martha and Spencer remained borderline the same except more sociable.

Personally, I wished there were more moral values as “being who you want to be”. The film had the golden opportunity to preach self-esteem and self-worth or how social privileges does not define one’s worth and capabilities, or even the classic ‘union is stronger than singularity’.

Yet, modern movies don’t exist to give morals, rather than just inspire and entertain the viewers, which is something this movie excelled at.

The film has very lighthearted moments mixed with serious toned moments. The new Jumanji has a mix of everything of comedy, adventure, fantasy, romance, and drama.

I personally enjoyed watching the movie as it is extremely balanced in all aspects of its cinematography.