Jumanji: The Next Level – 2019 – PG13
Let’s get right to it. The best parts of this movie are the marauding,snarling baboons and stampeding attack ostriches. The scenery, from desert to mountains, is gorgeous. I came right home and starting researching affordable forest homes. Danny DeVito (Eddie) and Danny Glover (Milo) are the next best thing since Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon and that’s saying something since it’s been 51 years since the Odd Couple. The whole trading around avatars was disconcerting. DeVito’s voice coming through a young woman’s body was creepy. Glover as a black horse with retractable wings and speaking horse language was far-fetched even for a fantasy. At least it was a cut above Mr. Ed because Mouse (Kevin Hart), bilingual in English/Equine, capably translated. A horse is a horse of course of course. Not always. It might be Danny Glover.
It would have helped if I’d queued up and reviewed the second film, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) so I could have oriented myself faster to the video game parallel universe. I felt exactly like clueless geezers Milo and Eddie trying to make sense of being sucked into a broken game console and dropped as avatars into Jumanji, “Huh?” Well, since I’m spouting off about 1968’s Odd Couple and 1961’s Mr. Ed, I guess I am a geezer. “Huh?” Reality check. Sigh. The film mixes and matches genders, races, and ages. Instant Fountain of Youth for some and surprise, surprise, overnight Golden Years for others. All together now, trade! I always dreamed of being a flying horse.
If you’re a Jumanji fan, definitely see it. If you’re not versed in supernatural board games, but still want a dose of fantasy you might want to see Frozen 2 instead. Or, maybe just stay home and play a video game.
