Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Awkwafina

Directed By: Jake Kasdan

Jumanji: The Next Level is a fun-filled adventure film that has an amazing star cast especially the trio Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black. They not only make you laugh out loud but all so make you emotional scenes before you know it.

The story of the film starts where its predecessor Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle left, this adventure-comedy about making friends, hanging on to them through thick and thin and learning to stand up and be counted works with the same building blocks that co-writer and director Jake Kasdan employed in the 2017 precursor. The alignments of the real-world characters with their game avatars are, however, altered to lend the action a degree of novelty.

The good thing about this sequel is it doesn't rely on the scenes which got applause in the predecessor and doesn't try to encash by recreating those scenes that the majority of the sequel does.

The freshness in this film starts from the introduction of Danny DeVito (as Spencer Gilpin's grumpy grandfather Eddie), Danny Glover (as his estranged friend and former business partner Milo) and Awkwafina (as Ming Fleetfoot, a cat burglar). Imagine Dwayne Johnson (also one of the producers of the film) as the cocky, carefree explorer-archaeologist Dr. Smolder Bravestone doing an impersonation of Danny DeVito.

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DeVito's Eddie, in the midst of recovering from hip surgery and advising grandson Spencer (Alex Wolff) on the ways to negotiate his angst-ridden passage from teenage to adulthood, gets sucked into the life-threatening Jumanji game along with Milo before he can figure what on earth is going on. 

In the Jumanji jungle, where the players have three lives but have to contend with enough danger to keep them on their toes, the task of being Milo's avatar falls upon Kevin Hart (playing Franklin "Mouse" Finbar), who has to trade his trademark glibness for a more measured manner. Both Johnson and Hart revel in these acts that take them well away from their comfort zones. Do not expect absolute fidelity and unwavering consistency from the two actors and you will love their banter as they work their way through the obstacles and threats thrown at them towards a long overdue rapprochement. The misunderstanding between the septuagenarian friends, which is rooted in a Brantford, New Hampshire diner that they once co-owned, and the thoughts about aging and mortality that cross their minds more than once serve to up the film's emotional quotient.

The film's action sequences are wild and whacky and it will make you feel that you too are in the part of an adventure with these characters.

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Good as Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart are, one does wonder if Jumanji: The Next Level would have been a livelier, funnier ride had Danny DeVito and Danny Glover been inside rather than outside the game. Jack Black and Karen Gillan, acquainted with the territory, are totally in sync with the boundless energy of the film. Nick Jonas' cameo late in the film allows the actor enough scope not to end up as an also-ran. He makes the most of the opportunity.

Overall, Jumanji; The Next Level is a fun-filled entertainment due to its casting, silly comedy, and some kickass action sequence. You are always welcome to this Jungle.