After the surprise blockbuster reception of the Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: the Next Level sees another adventure on the growing Jumanji universe. The four main characters, Spencer (Alex Wolff), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), Martha (Morgan Turner) and Bethany (Madison Iseman), are now in college but have to return to the game they thought they got rid of, only to bring stowaways: Spencer’s grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) and his adversary Milo (Danny Glover), and to confront a new quest in Jumanji.
With an adventure this action-packed, director Jake Kasdan subtly sneaks in some hidden details to supplement the fun.
Spoilers ahead.
New additions to the cast
Jumanji: The Next Level brings back the gang from Welcome to the Jungle, yet adds new faces to the mix. The most notable newbie is Crazy Rich Asians breakout star Awkwafina, who became a critical darling with the universally acclaimed The Farewell. This is the comedienne’s first foray into blockbuster franchises, not including Ocean’s Eight.
In addition to her, there is a new villain in the form of Jurgen the Brutal, played by Rory McCann, who famously played The Hound himself, Sandor Clegane, in Game of Thrones. And he is also a bruiting presence here Other new cast members include Dania Ramirez from Entourage, Lamorne Morris from New Girl and Danny DeVito’s daughter Lucy, who played his daughter in The Comedian and in this movie.
Zathura Connections
Some viewers may not know that there are already four films set in the Jumanji universe. This movie is Zathura: A Space Adventure, which received a modest reception. The family space adventure is marketed as a spiritual sequel to Jumanji, set in the same world and mechanics, though director Jon Favreau disputed this. But Jack Black in a February 2019 video claimed that The Next Level is the fourth film in the series, and that Zathura is canon to the Jumanji series.
If that is not proof of the Jumanji/Zathura connections, the 2005 space adventure unintentionally foreshadowed Black’s involvement in the franchise when a Tenacious D poster appeared on Kristen Stewart’s room and both movies feature an older and younger version of the main hero.
Dr. Smolder Bravestone’s backstory
The Next Level expands the characterization of the Jumanji videogame’s main adventurer Dr. Smolder Bravestone by giving him a backstory and aligning it to the main dilemma of the film. In the movie’s cut-scene, it is revealed that Jurgen the Brutal murder’s Dr. Bravestone’s parents, who were trying to ask assistance to protect another life-dependent jewel that controls Jumanji.
While the movie’s motivation is clearly a retread from the previous movie, Dr. Bravestone’s backstory is eerily similar to Peter Parker’s, shown in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which is also co-written by the movie’s co-writer Jeff Pinkner.
But in a blink-it-or-miss-it moment, Dr. Bravestone’s father is portrayed by Dwayne Johnson himself in a ’70s fro and a thick mustache. That alone is an unexpected laugh-out-loud moment.
Danny Glover’s Casting
Danny Glover’s career has been straying away from his Lethal Weapon glory days. But gladly, he became one of the movie’s brightest highlights as Milo Walker, an estranged friend to Spencer’s grandfather Eddie. Glover’s casting marks the second time he works with a Kasdan filmmaker; the first of which is Silverado, directed by Lawrence Kasdan. And coincidentally enough with the aforementioned Western movie, Silverado centers on four misfits on a quest to save a town.
Danny Glover’s character is almost a blast for Kevin Hart to portray (from voice to mannerism) as his banter with Johnson is too reminiscent of Riggs and Murtaugh in the first Lethal Weapon that they even pay homage to the “I’ll drive” bit from the first and second Lethal Weapon.
Animals featured
The Next Level continues the exotic adventure world-building, and that extends to its wildlife. While Welcome to the Jungle contained an elephant, a snake, a pack of albino rhinoceros and a pack of jaguars, this movie grows its number of animals with a herd of ostriches, a pack of hyenas, a caravan of camels, a horde of mandrills and a dark-colored horse.
Breaking down some prominent animals featured, this is the second time an ostrich is featured in the Jumanji franchise; the first instances are on the Klasky-Csupo animated series. The horde of mandrills is a jab to the poorly-designed computer-generated swarm of monkeys from the first Jumanji. And finally, the horse is designated as an additional avatar to the game with a ludicrous twist.
Ming Lightfoot
Awkwafina plays the new avatar to the next level of Jumanji, seemingly as a result of Spencer tampering on the nearly damaged game. With the aim to inhabit the Dr. Smolder Bravestone avatar, Spencer instead becomes Ming, a Chinese safecracker, who is an exact counterpart to Spencer since her weakness includes pollen. Though, her strengths includes cat burglary, pickpocketing and lock-picking, which pays off later in the climax on when Grandpa Eddie occupies her avatar.
Her character is a mash-up of Yuffie Kisaragi of the Final Fantasy games and Kasumi Goto of Mass Effect, pointing out the trope of videogame thieves. And her busting in to retrieve the movie’s jewel is easily a sendup of the iconic rope wire scene in the first Mission: Impossible.
New strengths and weaknesses
The four main avatars have new features in their strengths and weaknesses. Martha’s avatar Ruby Roundhouse has added nunchucks as one of her strengths. Fridge’s avatar Dr. Shelley Oberon comically has heat, sun, and sand as his weaknesses, yet has geometry as a strength. (Cue School of Rock reference.) Milo’s avatar Franklin Finbar has linguistics added to his strengths, which he used to communicate with the camels and the horse, Bethany’s first avatar. And Dr. Bravestone finally has a weakness in the form of “switchblade”. That weakness is actually a secondary archenemy who is married to a former flame of his, played by Dania Ramirez. In classic villain fashion, he takes out one lifepoint from Dr. Bravestone, Finbar, Oberon, Roundhouse and Ming using a rocket launcher.
New videogame features
Continuing with the videogame mechanics of the previous movie, this entry adds more to the mix. One utilizes Dr. Bravestone’s superhuman-like strength to overcome an overwhelming horde of faceless goons, which is a general trope for every videogame. Another is retrieving a secret item that aids the heroes in defeating the villain. Not much of the clue-chasing element is used this time, but what replaces it is two instances of magic water that switches bodies with another avatar. This body-switching element in the movie is another videogame trope featured in the games like Batman: Arkham Knight and perhaps a wink to personal gameplay (in that individual personalities are applied even to videogame avatars). That simply allows broader, funnier material for the cast to play against type.
Bebe Neuwirth
Broadway veteran Bebe Neuwirth appeared in the first Jumanji movie as Nora Shepherd, the aunt of Judy (played by Kristen Dunst) and Peter (played by Bradley Pierce) who took them in after their parents died. Her fate is unknown when she was tricked into a closet, since Alan (played by Robin Williams) and Sarah (played by Bonnie Hunt) reverse the events of the entire movie and prevent the deaths of Judy and Peter’s parents.
That hanging mystery is resolved when Nora is revealed to be an old friend to Grandpa Eddie, to whom she took ownership of his and Milo Walker’s breakfast café and renamed it Nora’s. Her appearance is two of the most prominent elements from the first Jumanji that returned in this movie.
The mid-credits scene
And the last element appears in the movie’s mid-credits scene. And yes, there is a mid-credits stinger that teases another Jumanji movie.
On that bit, a police officer (played by Lamorne Morris) investigates a disturbance in Spencer’s basement when he comes across the ruined Jumanji console. Nothing is hinted as to what he did to the console, but it immediately cuts to the final scene set in Nora’s. That is when one of the ostriches from the game run freely under the snowy landscape, followed by its wild herd that stampeded to the streets, shocking Spencer and the gang.
This obviously hints a switch to the old format of the game, with the players bringing Jumanji to the real world, instead of them entering Jumanji.