Jumanji: The Next Level Review - 6 Ups & 4 Downs
An overly familiar but entertaining sequel.
Jumanji: The Next Level began its international rollout this past weekend, and it's safe to say that the action-adventure sequel is pretty much exactly what most people expected: a samey follow-up that nevertheless delivers the basic frothy blockbuster goods.
Few of us could've seen coming the previous film's astronomical success, scoring solid critical reviews and scooping close to $1 billion at the box office, and so this sequel was evidently fast-tracked into production to exploit that surprising popularity.
While some may be disappointed that The Next Level doesn't really do much to elevate the premise, it nevertheless benefits from the efforts of a remarkable returning cast, and also some fun scene-stealing performances from its new cast members.
It's not much of a spoiler to say that a third film will likely be with us within another two years, and in the very least, this movie does suggest an unexpectedly compelling hook for that inevitable threequel.
If you're craving some totally inoffensive cinematic fluff this time of year amid all the awards season releases, you could do a lot worse, even if the some of the charm is lacking from the first time around...