Jumanji trailer reaction

by Viki

Another childhood favorite ruined? I am looking at you, The Mummy.

Whether we like it or not – this movie is happening and just a few days ago, the first trailer for the 2017 Jumanji remake has dropped. Being a huge fan of the 1995 version, I had to write a reaction for it. Let’s get into it:

It starts off with the most stereotypical teens you can imagine: the jock, the nerd, the barbie, the invisible girl. For a second I thought I had clicked on the wrong trailer. How did these very different (but in the end we’ll probably learn that they are actually very much alike) individuals come together? Detention. Or some sort of personality building? The guy in the suit is not really specific about their task to “clean-out a basement”. Doesn’t really matter anyway. They’re stuck together down there and we see some snippets of their “personalities”. I do appreciate the Uncharted 4 poster easter egg on one of the kids’ walls.

uncharted4poster — Yes, the other posters are neat too.

Staying with video games: Jumanji has been digitalized. Let that sink in. The creepy boardgame with its iconic black eye in the middle and self-moving figurines has been replaced with a retro console game.

This is where it became 100% clear to me that we are getting nothing even remotely close to the ’95 version. And yes, it was a shocker. Even more so when the kids get sucked into the game – wow, haven’t seen anything like it before. However, I will argue that the initial shock and somewhat disgust was necessary to cleanse my expectation which was tainted with Robin Williams goodness.

Once inside the game, the four teenagers aquire the looks of the avatars they’ve previously chosen. So now, the nerd is Mr. Muscle, the wallflower is Mrs. Sexy, the sports guy is Mr. Littlefoot and the beauty is Mr. Kung Fu Panda. This is followed by a couple of funny remarks, the best one coming from Mrs. Sexy: “Why am I wearing half a shirt and short shorts in the jungle?!” Honestly, I am glad they addressed the elephant in the room straight away and made fun of video game conventions where women are often barely dressed.

What else is new? Well, how about explosions, action packed chasing sequences and “special skills” video game characters obviously need to possess. Man, they are blockbustering hard.

Blockbustering is not my favorite thing but I can enjoy non-sensical action paired with good jokes. Speaking of silly action-adventure movies: Am I the only one who finds it amusing that Dwayne Johnson has already been in a movie called Welcome to the Jungle (at least that was its “German” title) feat. Seann William Scott. Pretty entertaining movie and the paralisis scene is still histerically funny.

Well, this time The Rock’s back in the green maze to play a video game character. Ain’t that ironic. Yet I have to say, the jokes are hitting and the four protagonists seem to have great chemistry. Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan – they are all beloved artists and it looks like they work really well together.

Yes, I noticed the Jonas brother cameo. It was Nick Jonas, right? I can’t tell them apart and I don’t really care about him being in this movie. Let’s hope the 2 seconds we get of him in the trailer are at least half of his actual screen time. This and pretty much everything mentioned above shows that they are undoubtedly catering to a younger audience. And who can blame them? 95’s Jumanji was not a huge success and only found bigger groups of appreciative fans over time and those don’t want this movie to exist anyways. So, all the millenials! They want you!

Did we need a Jumanji remake? The answer is the most confident NO I could give. But what is worse than an unessecary remake? A bad one. Judging by this trailer, Jake Kasdan might have dodged that bullet by creating a lovely, cheesy, funny, up-beat and exciting blockbuster flick. Which just happens to have Jumanji in its title but at the same time doesn’t spit its fans in their faces with some atrocious bs. It’s definitely different. But in a fun way.

I am actually excited for this? Who would’ve thought! What do you think about the trailer and are you excited? Tell us below!

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by Leonie & Viki