Today, Sony has issued its first trailers for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. A late sequel to Joe Johnston’s delightfully fun Jumanji, this update of the property sees a group of troubled children entering the jungle adventure game itself, as opposed to bringing elements of the game into our world. Pulp action and hilarity are sure to ensue…
Wow, there’s a lot to unpack here. First things first, there’s the game itself. In this film, the kids stumble onto a video game adaptation of the original board game. Tasked with choosing their characters before hitting “play”, they end up in the bodies of avatars wildly different from their own real-life appearances. That sets things up for loads of entertainment based on the actors alone.
On top of all of that, we have a much more bombastic tale unfolding before our eyes. Sure, there’s the usual jungle terrors and animal hijinks (such as stampedes), but this time with so much more. Motocross-riding antagonists! Rhys Darby! A helicopter chase! An very evil-looking Bobby Cannavale. That’s a very 1980s assortment of crazy. I really like what I’m seeing here. There’s a chance that too much is packed into the film and we end up with a hollow slice of entertainment, but between the two trailers, it looks like we’re in for an old school adventure movie extravaganza here.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is the sequel to the 1995 hit, both of which are based on the novel by Chris Van Allsburg. It is directed by Jake Kasdan, from a screenplay by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, and Jeff Pinker. The picture is produced by Ted Field, Dwayne Johnson, William Teitler, Matthew Tolmach, and Mike Weber. The film stars Dwayne Johnson as ‘Dr. Smolder Bravestone’, Karen Gillan as ‘Ruby Roundhouse’, Jack Black as ‘Professor Shelly Oberon’, Kevin Hart as ‘Franklin “Moose” Finbar’, Nick Jonas as ‘Jefferson “Seaplane” McDonough’, Alex Wolff as ‘Spencer’, Madison Iseman as ‘Bethany’, Morgan Turner as ‘Martha’, Ser’Darious Blain as ‘Anthony “Fridge” Johnson’, Purab Kohli as ‘Sanju’, and Rhys Darby as ‘Nigel’. Bobby Cannavale, Tim Matheson, Missi Pyle, Maribeth Monroe, and Marc Evan Jackson also appear.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle arrives in theaters on December 22nd, 2017.
