Jumanji: The Next Level remains fairly monochrome, but takes us out of the jungle and into the desert and then the mountains with a dark village in between. It’s usually all one color on the screen, but it’s not just green the whole time, which is a nice change. Images courtesy Sony Pictures Releasing.
7/10 There’s a great deal of potential in these new Jumanji films, but Jumanji: The Next Level doesn’t quite live up to it.
A year and change later, the four heroes of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, who remained close friends, have gone their separate ways to college. Most are successful and happy, but Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff) is suffering at NYU. After inhabiting the body of Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), and experiencing the confidence that came with it, his intelligence, technical skills and being an extremely handsome guy in his own right just don’t compare. Home for winter break, instead of reuniting with his comrades, Gilpin rebuilds the enchanted video game and enters Jumanji to experience that confidence again.
His worried teammates, Anthony “Fridge” Johnson (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman) and girlfriend Martha Kaply (Morgan Turner) discover what Gilpin’s done and go after him, but inadvertently suck in his grandfather Eddie (Danny DeVito) and Eddie’s old business partner Milo Walker (Danny Glover). The character selection is wonky, which becomes a huge problem when Eddie Gilpin, who has no idea where he is or what’s going on, is assigned the vital Bravestone character.
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