Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

I’d like to think I’ve been pretty lucky with sequels in recent years.  Many have been good.  It really hasn’t been since Home Alone that a sequel basically repeated itself so blatantly.

I’m not really sure what I was expecting with Jumanji:  The Next Level.  When Welcome to the Jungle was made, it made the leap from board game to video game and even had new characters.  The Next Level has Fridge, Bethany, Martha and Spencer back that same video game.  The only new additions are Grandpa Eddie and his former business partner, Milo.

Even if you haven’t seen Welcome to the Jungle, you can see many of the jokes coming, at least from the coming attractions.  Eddie and Milo get to play to the elderly stereotypes.  They don’t really understand how a video game works.  They are happy that they can move without stiffness.  Other than that, they mostly serve to rehash the rules for new viewers.

Here’s my issue, though.  Even with Zathura, it was a new board game and a new setting with new characters.  From Jumanji to Welcome to the Jungle was the same thing.  Newness all around.  This seems like what Home Alone 2 was to Home Alone, in that it’s a thinly veiled rehash of the previous movie.  The Next Level didn’t really do much to contribute to the franchise.

Granted, I’m not sure where you can go with it.  Virtual Reality might seem too literal.  Even the Internet might not be different enough.  At best, one might hope for some hints as to where the games came from, but it’s hard to do so without giving away too much.

I think people that have seen the previous installment will be disappointed with this one.  I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be a Jumanji: Welcome to the Next Sequel.  I’m just suggesting that, if there is, the writers might want to take a hard look at what the script is doing with the material.  It’s an interesting premise, but it’s getting difficult to really work with it from here on out.

IMDb page

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Sequels tend to be a mixed bag.  Jumanji is more so.  It had this other movie named Zathura: A Space Adventure, which wasn’t really a sequel and not quite a knockoff.  (Both Zathura and Jumanji were based on books with Zathura’s book being more of a true sequel, apparently.)  Apparently, someone decided to make a sequel to Jumanji which is only marginally more of a sequel in that it uses a few names from the original film.

The story centers around four high-school students:  Spencer, Fridge, Bethany and Martha.  One day, they all find themselves in detention where they discover a video-game console.  This is no ordinary console.  It’s a special no-name console that has a cartridge which was actually the Jumanji board game that remade itself.  It was actually found by another kid, Alex Vreeke.  He’s trapped in the game much like Alan Parrish was in the original movie.

When the four kids find the console, they each chose a character.  Fridge takes “Moose” Finbar.  Bethany takes Professor Shelly Oberon.  Spencer gets Smolder Bravestone.  Martha becomes Ruby Roundstone.  This mainly serves as a way for each kid to see what life’s like the other way around.  The muscular Fridge is now played by Kevin Hart whereas the nerdy Spencer is now played by Dwayne Johnson.  The shy, less-than-attractive Martha is now played by Karen Gillan whereas the attractive, self-absorbed Bethany is now played by Jack Black.

Each character also has certain attributes.  Smolder is known for his smoldering good looks and strength.  Ruby is good at dance fighting.  Each player has three lives, which is usually used to comic effect.  The game itself has all sorts of dangerous obstacles to overcome. Along the way, the characters eventually meet up with Alex, who has been stuck on one area for a while.  And when I say a while, I mean 20 years.  (He’s living in a tree house that Alan Parish built.)

The movie, like the video game, seems like an update for a more modern audience.  There are in-jokes, like the character selection and attributes.  It’s almost as if it’s a remake rather than a sequel.  (There’s only a tenuous connection to the original.)

I will say that this installment seems to be more levelheaded.  The first Jumanji was a wild ride and seemed to exist just for the thrills.  This movie has a little more character development, although most of that is cliché.  Everyone comes to understand the others a little better.  As with the original movie, everything is set straight again.  The major difference is that this time, everyone in the game remembers what happened.

It’s rare that I admit that a sequel is an actual improvement over the original, but in this case, it’s not saying much.  The first movie didn’t really set the bar too high in many regards.  To say that cliché is an improvement should tell you something.

I’m kind of wondering if the next installment will explain how the game came to be.  I’m not sure if I really want that, though.  I don’t think it would really be necessary.  It doesn’t matter who or what created the game.  Knowing that such a sadistic thing exists is enough.

IMDb page

Crossworlds (1996)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Some movies are good to the point of being memorable.  Some are bad to the point of being forgettable.  Then, there are the mediocre ones.  The ones that aren’t memorable and they aren’t completely forgettable.  They have the potential, but lack the script and production values to be worth recommending to someone.  Crossworlds is just such a movie.

Joseph “Joseph” Talbot is your ordinary guy.  His friends call him Joe, but he prefers Joseph.  He has two drunken party-animal neighbors.  (One is played by Jack Black, if that tells you anything.)  They invite him over for a hump-day party, which Joseph would really rather not do.  So, he goes anyway and gets prodded into talking to a woman that flat out rejects him.  There is another attractive woman named Laura that seems interested enough to actually talk to Joseph.  She just disappears on him, much to his disappointment.

That’s ok, though.  She appears in his bedroom that night…with a knife.  It’s not what you’re thinking, though.  She’s after a pendant with a mystical gem.  He wakes up and is so distracted by the fact that she’s in his room that he doesn’t seem to care about the knife.  It’s just as well; his house gets shot up, so they have to get away in his car.  They go to meet A.T., who is reluctant to help them until he finds out that it’s Joseph that Laura brought with her.

Laura and A.T. are part of a resistance.  Laura claims she was sent to retrieve the pendant and a staff.  The pendant is the one Joseph has, which was his father’s.  The staff is in a museum.  Amazingly, they know which museum, so they’re off to get it.  The problem is that Ferris is there waiting for them.  (I may accidentally call this guy Rusty.  If I do, bear with me.)  Ferris is a really evil guy.  He’s taken over many dimensions and now it’s our turn.  He needs the staff and the pendant to lead an army through.  (Apparently, all of the other dimensions were conquered without the aid of these artifacts.)

As you might imagine, Joseph is able to save the day with some quick thinking from A.T. and Laura.  Yes, Ferris has several evil minions working for him, but can’t seem to find someone capable of beating some kid who barely even knows what’s going on.  Why can’t an evil overlord find good help?  For that matter, why couldn’t he do it himself? He’s a very powerful guy and has most of the answers, except when it doesn’t serve the plot.

A.T. does know what’s going on, but is very blunt about not explaining anything.  (He won’t even say how many dimensions there are.)  Joseph has a right to know something about why he’s being shot at and chased.  It’s never explained how interdimensional travel works or why people pop in and out of the exact place they need to be.  I’ve always found it odd that when traveling between planes of existence, they always manage to land on solid ground.  They’re never left hanging in a tree or floating above the ground.  For that matter, how is it that we have two planets that are the same size?  The other planet is always around the same size as Earth (or at least similar gravity) and has a similar atmosphere.

This is definitely on the low end of the made-for-TV-movie spectrum.  I could forgive the production values if there was a little more story to the story.  You don’t have to explain everything, but at least take a few minutes to explain something.  You don’t get anything more deep than, “believe in the floor.”

It’s not so bad that I’d recommend it for the laugh value, but it’s bad enough that I’d feel bad if you had to spend money on it or waste a trip to the store. Yes, this is another one of Netflix’s streaming gems.  It’s just good enough that it’s not a waste, but just bad enough that you should get a few laughs out of it.  If you’re tired of watching the big-budget movies, this one might be worth a try.  

IMDb page

Crossworlds (1996) Official Trailer #1 - Sci-Fi Movie HD