Amph Jumanji (The Next Level)

They will probably update David Alan Grier with Kevin Hart, unfortunately.

 

The original scarred 4 year old me when the one kid slowly turned into a monkey. Nightmares for weeks.

 

This thread is scarring me because apparently ****ing Jumanji is a sacred cow to some people.

I don't get it. I mean, the tie-in board game was pretty okay, I guess?

 

Still a pretty good movie that doesn't need a remake. Especially when Goosebumps looks exactly like it.

 

Sure be flippant. First Ghostbusters, now Jumanji. Let's see how you feel when they come after Dude, Where's My Car?

 

I think part of it is probably nostalgia. I know there are some things, while, maybe not that great in hindsight, I'd be angry about being remade because it's apart of my childhood.

 

Sad thing is kids will probably say "Jumanji is totally ripping off Goosebumps.".

Personally speaking, I'm all for a remake. The last time I watched Jumanji I thought "You know what this movies needs? iPhones and contemporary pop culture references."

 

It's a good movie. It doesn't need a remake (though a sequel would be nice). It's yet another remake. And it's a beloved kids movie, one with Robin Williams too. It seems in poor taste, so soon after Robin Williams' death.

 

But this is precisely why you shouldn't care - everything is getting a remake these days. If you keep sweating over every little one you're going to have a bad time. Jumanji is a twenty year old, largely forgettable special effects film that coasted on Robin Williams' talents and contemporary box office draw. Are you all going to just literally explode when they inevitably remake something of actual cinematic note? Should I prep for the spontaneous combustions that will occur when they greenlight Citizen Kane for a 2020 release?

 

I think it's because Robin Williams died so recently and it seems that they're doing it while the corpse is still fresh.

 

Now that point I have less issue with but with the exception of Ghost's post it's not really getting mentioned.

 

I usually don't mind remakes. This is the first one I've really minded (aside from me thinking all the Spider-Man reboots is a little ridiculous). Probably for the reason Vivec said, Robin Williams.

EDIT: I think people are feeling it, look at the people joking if Mrs. Doubtfire is next.

 

Well I guess I have work to do.

 

No one would complain about a Popeye remake.

 

It's funny that I was kind of right. But anyway, why has Tony resurrected this old thread?

Well 1) why create a new thread when one exists? Sure, the thread title is a year off, as the movie was released in December 2017, but no point in changing it now unless mods want to update it for the new news:

Jumanji 2 coming December 2019 and will compete against Star Wars Episode IX.

Also 2) I finally got to watch it for the first time last night and it wasn't completely horrible. I did find myself laughing at Jack Black mostly and Kevin Hart a little. They both did a good job of embodying the real life people they represented. The Rock and Nebula did a good job as well, except their real life characters had little to no personality so it would have been nice to see them embrace their avatar more than they actually did. Most of the time it felt like they embraced their avatar when the script said to. It didn't feel real or organic, mostly haphazard.

The story was on the weak side and the CGI makes Black Panther's CGI look like a masterpiece. The movie is slow to start as it has to set up the young characters and how Jumanji is now a video game and not a board game.

I did like the concept of the NPC characters in the video game that repeat themselves over and over again just like they would in a real video game, unfortunately that left all the heavy lifting concerning acting to a weak underdeveloped villain. The whole time it felt like there weren't any stakes save for the stupid way they lost their lives - they each have three lives established by three hash marks on their arm - and we never got to see what happens when you game over.

Spoiler alert - they get out of the video game and small the console with a bowling ball. I was hoping for a little stinger at the end of the credits, but all you hear is the ominous drum beat when something bad is about to happen so if the board game can magically transform into a video game, I'm sure a smashed one can transform into something else.

Lastly, I did like that the characters were staying in the same hut that Alan Parrish stayed in when he was trapped in the jungle in the original Jumanji. It was a nice little touch, but since the characters didn't and wouldn't know who that was, it would be a throw away line for anyone not familiar with the original.

So is it worth a watch? If you're curious, you've probably seen it by now, but if you haven't, I wouldn't spend more than a Redbox rental amount on it.

 

Loved the 1995 original, very surprised by how good Jumanji 2 Welcome to the Jungle was and look forward to the sequel. I even thought Zathura was rather good

 

No surprise they're making another after Welcome to the Jungle became a license to print money (nearly a billion worldwide). I suppose the real question is why did WTTJ, a perfectly acceptable but unspectacular time-waster, blow up so huge? Sure, you've got a "name" cast, a holiday release and it's a kinda sequel to a reasonably well liked film that was itself a hit (though not of this magnitude). But a billion? It's not even a Marvel movie for crying out loud! And it wasn't one of those instances where it opened big and fell off, it had legs, actually increasing its take in week #2 and then leapfrogging The Last Jedi and taking the top spot 3 out of the next 4 weekends. That speaks to word of mouth and repeat business.

Again, not a bad movie, and I fully expected it to be a success, but not to the degree it was.

 

To me, Welcome to the Jungle has that Fast and Furious/Jurassic Park elements going for it, in that, it has universal appeal, wonderful cast, simple plot and fun. And yes, because The Last Jedi wasn't received all that well, most people went and saw Welcome to the Jungle multiple times.

I would assume the next Jumanji flick would involve an new cast considering how this last one ended. Unless, the Rock and others remain as the game avatars, but the "real" players would be new.

 

I think not having The Rock and/or Kevin Hart would probably turn a lot of people off from the sequel. It will probably be the same avatars if I had to guess, but I assume the kids would be different / not dumb enough to play again, especially since they think they destroyed it.

 

Probably add a few new avatars too. Perhaps a Chris Hemsworth and Tiffany Haddish, or even some type of weird creature avatar, as it's a video game after all.

Seems like Jumanji is going the Star Wars anthology route; Tomb raiding; A Jumanji Story or An Uncharted Land: A Jumanji Story. Might as well steal the game names since the Lara Croft reboot failed, and Uncharted can get off the ground.

 

I was very pleasantly surprised by Welcome to the Jungle. Espcially appreciated all the smart video game references (e.g. defogging the map).

 

finally added to the The Movie Network in Canada sometime next week so I can finally be a part of the cultural phenomenon that is Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. And it has Karen Gillan in it! Which to be honest is the only reason I'm interested in watching this.

 

The majority of the cast are back for the next one I read