Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

This updated reboot does for video games what the original Jumanji did for board games, as this reboot embraces the story of the original for nostalgia without making a cardboard cut-out with plagiarism out of the original like Zathura (2005). It also has an ideal concept on using the elements of any video game, like the backstory of the wicked Van Pelt, three tattoos for lives, and using the cameos for the rest of the cast in the game and make them non player characters. It has some clever script-writing for the movie's narrative, well...most of the time. Pretty much almost everything else is retarded as I expected it to be, because, the filmmakers decided to make this reboot a comedy and just like Land of the Lost (2009), this film has the tradition of Saturday night Live, except that land of the lost is funnier than this reboot. As a comedy, it is mostly a ridiculous filler with ridiculous dialogue alongside disposable jokes, especially about the male anatomy. And not to mention the weakness for character Mouse Finbar and the concept of making a "pretty" girl into an "overweight middle-age man" is just made for comedy, but it wasn't funny at all, it's just too ridiculous. However, I did laugh at a nicely handled pratfall, and I laughed with amusement when Dr. Smolder Bravestone, Rudy Roundhouse, and Shelly Oberon kicks some butt and fights the bad guys with witty writing and slick direction (Jake Kasdan). The action is especially entertaining. The visual effects are top-notch with all of it's convincing glossiness and great editing. The special effects for the creatures are not so top-notch because they are barely realistic, but I do think that they are just very good with not much to say. The dynamic and sprightly score is composed by the productive British film composer "Henry Jackman" and the score is so engaging. The Characters are fleshed out, selfless, and fun as they use teamwork, communication, courage, and determination to save the world of Jumanji. But here's my big problem, Shelly Oberon may be a map reader and is a paleontologist, but she has a low IQ of intelligence on animals, leading me into talking about another flaw that I have with this film: Zoology; Mouse Finbar is a zoologist, but most of his dialogue on animal information is inaccurate, mostly superficial, and it's not the true example of zoology. Hippos are not omnivores, they are not as fast as a horse, and Rhinos are not man-eaters. Okay, except for the danger of the Black Mamba's venom, I'll give them that. Zoology is more than just knowing something about animals: Zoology is the scientific study of the behavior, structure, physiology, classification, and distribution on all creatures. Even the sounds for the crocodiles and jaguars are not accurate; the sound designers used monster sounds for the crocs, and they used the sounds of lions and tigers for the jaguars. The main antagonist "Van Pelt" (Bobby Cannavale) is a generally terrifying villain with a menacing appearance, a vicious personality, and a frightening army with a creepy vulture, insects and arachnids in and on his body, deadly human sidekicks, and eventually, fierce jaguars. It's surprising to me that a PG-13 rated movie delivers simple yet realistic messages about teamwork, communication, generosity, and friendship. This specific moral works through subtext and turns this movie into a lesson, now that is something I appreciate for teens ages 13 and up would find pleasing. In conclusion: I liked this movie even with it's flaws; It's a decent movie to watch and it's all preposterous fun. An updated reboot that embraces the old-fashioned themes of the original and it's pretty much in the same tradition of Land of the Lost (2009). Recommendation: Not recommended; Watch the original Jumanji and watch Nat Geo Wild, instead.

Better than I expected. Especially since my expectations were very low. When I saw the trailer for this movie, I was worried. I like Dwayne Johnson, but him being in the lead role in any movie is usually a sign that the studio is really trying to get it to sell. That doesn't mean the movie is bad, but The Rock has been in way too many bad movies for it to be a good thing. And the concept I wasn't on board with, either. While they were explaining this, I realized this is just falling into the boring old "stuck in a video game" trope. War-like flashbacks of Sword Art Online (which is absolutely terrible, btw) came to mind. And I know this is just me nitpicking, but I refuse to watch anything with Nat Wolff in it. Yes, I know he's only in like 15 minutes of the whole movie, but I saw him play the lead in Death Note (and that movie was a dumpster fire, to put it lightly), so I no longer trust him with anything and have since resorted to greeting him with double middle fingers whenever I see his face plastered on anything. I wasn't even going to watch it, but my family rented the movie anyway and I figured why not. And I was pleasantly surprised. The actors did an amazing job playing their roles, the story was pretty decent, and the game mechanic actually worked well. I love how the movie parodies video game tropes such as NPCs and cutscenes. Very well executed. And even Nat Wolff, the person who I dreaded seeing again, was pretty good in this film. Nothing terrible, at least. An average performance for his major yet minor role. So that's basically all I have to say about this movie. 4/5 stars, will purchase (on physical media) and watch again.

"Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" is a decent remake of the original (1995) "Jumanji". I'm officially rating it at an OK 3 stars out of 5, but I'd really like to up that half a star to 3-1/2 stars out of 5. Probably my biggest issue with the updated version is that it's not as wholesome as the original version. That's probably because they've increased the age of the youths in the movie from 12 or 13 years old to something around 17 years old. And, of course, they've updated the YA personal issues to be more modern and "edgy." I also have issues with some of the changes to the Jumanji game and its implementation. But, they're fairly minor for this kind of movie. Given the fact that they DID update the movie to be more relevant to today's youths, I admit that the trade-offs they made are reasonable ones. I'll also add that the acting in the Jumanji game is well done. Dwayne Johnson (all 6' 4" and 260 pounds of solid muscle) especially does a really good job of playing scrawny, shy, young nerd. So, 4 stars is too much, 3 stars is too little, and 3-1/2 stars is just right.