The original was spot on, so we were naturally skeptical about the arrival of the new Jumanji movie..
The unlikely remake, however, shaped up to be a pleasant surprise. The modern day version of the board game is a video console and the high-school kids who discover it literally become their Avatars. The real treat is when the typical popular girl Bethany (Madison Iseman) is transformed into a middle-aged professor played by Jack Black. Seeing Jack Black’s character freak out when she realizes she is no longer a high-school hottie is one of the hilarious highlights of the movie, even if the joke is at the expense of today’s millennials.
All in all, the movie was charming and funny and was a lot more than we were expecting from a 20+ year sequel. There really is no need to compare it to the original, no matter how protective we are over it, as they both belong in their separate times. We can’t guarantee you will have your socks blown off and there isn’t much in the way of character development, but we can guarantee that the new Jumanji movie is a laugh-out-loud fun for the whole family.
4/5
