Review of DVD "Jumanji The Next Level"


Review of the DVD Jumanji: The Next Level starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan
To follow up a hit movie with a satisfying sequel is quite the challenge, but it has been done.  Godfather II was as good and perhaps even better than the original Godfather.  In my estimation the Harry Potter series, books and movies, gets better as it moves from the Sorcerer’s Stone to Deathly Hallows.  And so it is possible.  Though not always successful.  Think of City Slickers and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold.  The key is whether the sequel adds something worthwhile to the narrative of the first. 
I didn’t think much of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.  For me it was very sophomoric and lacked a good storyline.  It had action.  Yes.  It had sexual inuendo and crude humor.  Of course.  But if all the characters had died by the end of the movie that would have been fine.  I really hadn’t grown to care for any of them.  So why the need for a sequel?  The narrative of this movie was nothing special.  What worthwhile could possibly be added?   Perhaps another billion dollars!  That’s what!  Nearly one billion dollars is what Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle grossed worldwide at the box office, which makes a sequel to even a not-so-good movie inevitable?  And so we have Jumanji: The Next Level.
Here is the surprise.  Like Mikey in the cereal commercial, I liked it.  This sequel far surpasses the first.  It is more entertaining.  It has a better storyline which I attribute to the addition of the grandpa character and his buddy, both retired and dealing with the aging process, as well as some unresolved conflict between them.  Maybe it is because I fit into both of those categories, retired and dealing with the aging process, that I was drawn to them, but their relationship brought some sentimentality to the story.  There is also the nice touch when an actress from the very first Jumanji shows up in a cameo role at the end.
Again, the good news is that Jumanji: The Next Level is much better than the first and worth the watch.  The bad news is that you probably need to watch Welcome to the Jungle to appreciate all that happens in The Next Level.  Like the first The Next Level warrants the PG-13 rating for the same reasons. 
Reviewed by Richard Dick, Library Assistant, O’Kelly Memorial Library



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