‘Jumanji: Welcome To the Jungle’ Is the Surprise Hit I Wasn’t Expecting

So last December Jumanji: Welcome To the Jungle came out I think a week after The Last Jedi and even though it had some pretty stiff competition against the Star Wars it did a very decent job at the box-office, officially making roughly $900 million in its box-office run (*jaw dropped*) which is very impressive indeed. But even though it had such a great run at the movie theaters I wasn’t totally convinced that this movie would be good or not. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a menial score of 76% and the commercials I saw made this film look like something I wouldn’t want to watch. And then in the past week I kept seeing commercials boasting that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was still in theaters and coming out on digital at the same time. That was the moment when I thought to myself, “Maybe this movie is actually good?”

So, yesterday I rented the movie and low and behold it was FANTASTIC! There’s not a lot of times when I watch a comedy and it’s actually really good but this was one of those rare surprises that reminds me why I love movies so much. The story was refreshingly simple; a group of high school students stuck in detention ended up sucked into a game called Jumanji and they had to, of course, finish the game in order to escape and return to their regular lives. In Jumanji, however, they were transformed into the game characters they chose which was absolutely hilarious and led to some very great character interaction that had me laughing non-stop.

Spencer, the nerd boy, was Dr. Bravestone, a.k.a Dwayne Johnson. The football player, Fridge, was Kevin Hart, a zoologist. The nerd girl was Karen Gillan’s character, the Killer of Men (ha-ha!) And the pretty, popular girl, Bethany, was Jack Black (which was even funnier.) This combo of actors was perfect for the film and they made the movie so enjoyable from beginning to end.

If you’re a gamer (which I am) this movie is even funnier because it really does strike the imagination of what it would be like if you were stuck in a game. And it conveyed to me how much I wouldn’t want to be trapped in a game. Jeez.

To my great surprise there was nothing in the movie that I didn’t enjoy.  I mean this film was laugh-out-loud funny throughout the entire film and the story never let up or got corny. And, I have to admit, I did get a little emotional from this movie as well. I held back the tears because I didn’t want to embarrass myself by crying at Jumanji but it definitely touched my heartstrings at a certain point in the movie.

My Conclusion of the Film

I’m glad to say this movie got a grip on me on early on into the film and it didn’t let go. It was impeccably written, perfectly cast, the action was exciting, the situations were riveting, the movie was funny, and like I said before, the film definitely plucked at my heartstrings I’d say a couple of times.

I will give this film a 95 out of a 100 and 4.5 out of 5 stars. While it is one of the better comedies I’ve seen in a long while it definitely isn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen and that’s the only reason why I didn’t give it a 100 or 5 stars. But, if you haven’t seen this movie or you’re a little curious about it like I was I highly recommend that you watch it. It’s the perfect film to watch if you’re bored and you need a light movie to brighten your day.

I thank you for reading my review and I hope you have a wonderful day.