Four teenagers who have all ended up in detention at school find an old video game that they decide to play. That video game is Jumanji and after they have picked a character they are sucked into the game and must live it as the avatars they chose.
The four teenagers are mismatched (as usual) we get the geek/nerd in Spencer, the Jock in Fridge, the smart girl with Martha and the self-absorbed girl with Bethany. But when they then become someone else, well in a different body the dynamics of the group will change.
I will admit that I wasn't really looking forward to seeing this film and therefore wasn't expecting anything from it, that is exactly what I ended up getting as well nothing. I mean I do have soft spots for both The Rock and Jack Black but the fact they are pretending to be teenagers trapped in a different body just didn't cut it for me and I didn't really find it very funny either.
Anyway a little bit about the film it starts in 1996 when someone finds the game on a beach, but because no-one plays board games anymore it is left by Alex on his shelf. Something incredible happens though as it changes to a computer game, ok I did quite like that as from seeing the trailer I was wondering how it became a computer game. But then we fast forward again to the present day and that is when the four decide to play and are sucked into the game. Mentions of the freak house with something that happened previous, sound familiar?
It had small things which made you fondly remember the original, but I couldn't help but think that this might have been something that could have been really good as a closer to follow up back in the 90s? As surely video games have improved since then? Good job nerdy Spencer was with them though as they must make sure they don't lose all three lives and navigate throughout the game with the special skills each character has. But watch up Van Pelt is back and can control all of the animals on the island. We were supposed to then be reminded that they are in a game with the characters who come over to talk to them but just repeat the same line unless the correct question is asked, which I will admit was pretty good. Got you to thinking about those old games that were annoying getting stuck on different parts.
I do think I would have liked the film better if it wasn't for the whole pretending to be teenagers part as while I have seen a lot of people liked this approach I really was not into watching Jack Black pretend to be a 16-year-old girl, it was just too creepy and well down right strange. So I wasn't expecting anything from this and it didn't do anything to change that, as sometimes you can be surprised. Just not for me at all, which I do find such a shame with my love for The Rock and Jack Black!