Leveling Down

There’s a moment midway into the first act of Jumanji: The Next Level when athletic college student Anthony “Fridge” (Ser’Darius Blain) in the body of video game avatar Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black) complains about how the game he and his friends are playing through is different this time around. Their hope upon re-entering the adventure game they’d been trapped in in 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was to rescue their friend Spencer (Alex Wolff) by getting through it as they had done previously, only to find themselves in a new story. However as much as they may bemoan and fear the changed environmental aesthetic, it should not have taken them long to realize the layout is more or less the same as it was before, just with a different looking villain and a new McGuffin.

Such is the case with many video games, especially those of the era Jumanji is supposedly from.  However just because it makes sense, doesn’t mean it’s good, and this sequel, once again directed by Jake Kasdan, comments so little on this fact that there’s enough of a chance it isn’t an intentional joke; that the movie really is unironically treading the same water as before, just with a new look and without the same level of self-awareness. As pretty as some of the sights are, as interesting as a few of the new set-pieces can get (the best of which being an elaborate bridge puzzle guarded by hundreds of violent mandrills), as comfortably cliché as that Lawrence of Arabia motif is, there’s the overwhelming sense of having been through all this before as the plot feels trapped within familiar beats and safe predictability.

Of course Jumanji: The Next Level, like Deadpool 2 and The Lego Movie: The Second Part, has the misfortune of being a sequel to a movie where novelty was one of its’ main selling points, and like those the novelty is far less effective the second time around. Perhaps anticipating this, The Next Level downplays and often takes for granted the bizarreness of its premise, seemingly having exhausted all the best video game world jokes and devices in the earlier movie, and draws less attention to that aspect of the movies’ satire, except to revisit the same comedic bits of characters dying in unexpected ways or making fun of their respective strengths and weaknesses. The one new development pertaining to this context, the discovery of a means for the characters to switch avatars, is never used to its fullest or funniest potential. There is so much untapped comedic and narrative material in the realm of video games that is never brought up in either this film or the last, and I think it’s a great oversight of Kasdans’ not to take advantage of what’s open to him when the subject matter would resonate with mass audiences now more than ever.

Perhaps the greatest exception to this formulaic rule the movie seems to be operating under, and the reason for seeing it in the first place is the gimmick of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart playing Danny DeVito and Danny Glover respectively –a pair of elderly estranged friends and business partners who are accidentally sucked into the game with the kids. Johnson and Hart are having a lot of fun with the exaggerated personas, and it translates into many of the best comedic bits of the movie –Johnson in particular not only nails DeVito’s cadence and delivery but gets so much mileage out of the very simple joke. More than the humour though it gets to a key for this franchise’s sustenance in the opportunity for each of the main actors to play different characters from film to film. Black is having a good time too, playing up an aggravated annoyance and sarcasm. It’s only Karen Gillan who doesn’t get the chance to diversify, remaining the straight man of the group only with more of a leadership role this time –I wish they’d give her a chance though as Gillan is quite capable of playing funny over-the-top characters. The female representation in that department is instead supplied by Awkwafina as a new avatar for Spencer. Her presence alongside the new dynamic keeps the movie engaging and entertaining through its mediocre progression. Unfortunately, a third act return to the status quo dulls a chunk of that fun and is an unnecessary retreat into the former movies’ comfort zone. It also results in quite a noticeable inconsistency in the character of Bethany, played as significantly more grounded and authentic by Madison Iseman, but by Black as the same stereotype she was in the last movie.

Like a lot of comedies, the films’ aspirations to genuine emotionality are misplaced, though not intrusive (there is one nice scene between Johnson and Hart that is sincere). The conflict between the former partners and complications in the relationship between Spencer and Martha (Morgan Turner) are typical of the kind of unremarkable subplots characteristic of this kind of genre comedy and never really rise above conventionality. Similarly, the villain, played by Rory McCann as just an imitation of his Game of Thrones character, is entirely banal and non-threatening, though that’s possibly an intentional facet of him being a one-dimensional video game boss.

Jumanji: The Next Level is once again attempting to be outsider counter-programming to a holiday movie season once again dominated by Disney (like Welcome to the Jungle, it is technically set around Christmas). I would urge people if they are so inclined to avoid that brand to see Cats instead, which at the very least is a far more ambitious and extravagant option (or of course, Greta Gerwig’s much acclaimed Little Women if you’re lucky enough to have it). This movie, though not bad, is neither of those things –it could do to have a little more of the experimental and conceptually exploratory vibe of its precursor. That at least might have elevated it above a merely lukewarm bit of adventure cinema.

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