Saw Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. It was an enjoyable reboot of the beloved mid-90s film Jumanji. This time instead of a board game, we have a video game which adds another layer of comedy and interest in the form of high school teenagers suddenly thrust into the bodies of archetypal femmes fatale and adventure heroes. The film is enjoyable fluff, but had a little too much going on for my taste.
The film plays out as an action comedy. Dwayne Rocky Johnson gets in some good clowning being a gawky teen suddenly in the body of a wrestler. Jack Black completely steals the show however as an instagram-obsessed teenage girl suddenly trapped in the body of fat bready man. Jack Black is the delightfully gay bear that I did not know I need in my life. He's great.
On top of this Freaky Friday business, there's lingering relationships between the various characters. One is bullying the other into letting him cheat off of his work. Another is infatuated with another one. I thought the cheating subplot was a bit heavier and more fraught than the film did - it just sort of flits by in the film - but it's not really given room to breathe. On top of the relationship dynamics and the body-swaps, there's a jungle-themed game to explore and video-game mechanics to play with. It's a lot to cover and we only have a child's attention-span to do it in.
I feel like the film is sort of over-stuffed. The comedy is good and the action scenes were fun, but I was really more interested in how these teens were going to repair their relationship than I was in returning the jade eye to the jaguar statue.
The film had it moments, but I wish it had like one layer removed. Cut out the body-swapping, or just embrace the breakfast club stereotypes of the teenagers and don't give them drama, or something. It was okay, but fluffy and a bit overstuffed.
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