Jumanji: The Next Level is the third installment of the Jumanji franchise— the fourth if you include Zathura— two years after the highly successful sequel Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Like Jungle, it was a runaway box-office success and received positive reviews for continuing the predecessor’s charms, even though the plot is basically the same.
That said, moviegoers tend to have a pretty high tolerance for sequels having similar plots to their previous iterations so long as the new movie is still good. But there are elements throughout The Next Level that do not make sense, even by Jumanji standards, as logical fallacies, plot holes, and missed opportunities abound.
That RPG Gag
Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) had a side quest inside the village in order to acquire information from the seductress named Flame. But as a consequence, he has to escape from her lover, Switchblade. Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) slightly botches this up by beating up all of Switchblade’s men to show off.
As a result, Switchblade launches an RPG that splits into five towards the gang, hitting them all. While that is a gag on its own, it is kind of convenient for a villain to wipe them off so cleanly like that.
The Jumanji Berry
In a side quest for Jumanji, Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) and Shelly Oberon (Jack Black) obtained an item called the Jumanji Berry from a tree. Later, the berry was used by Spencer’s Smolder Bravestone to weaken Jurgen the Brutal and defeat him, ultimately gaining victory for the group.
Kind of convenient for Spencer’s Bravestone to scan Jurgen’s profile at a timely moment. But it is even more overly convenient for the Jumanji Berry to be Jurgen’s ultimate weakness without knowing what it contains or what the riddle may refer to.
Milo Walker Left Behind
At the end of the film, before the group returns to their real-world counterparts, Milo Walker, who assumed the avatar of the horse-turned-Pegasus Cyclone, volunteered to stay behind Jumanji and protect it. It was a noble sacrifice since Milo’s health is deteriorating, and he enjoyed his stay in that dimension.
However, that raises a question of Jumanji’s logistics about a soul lasting in the Jumanji universe. If Milo passes on, will Cyclone as well? And if Milo’s Cyclone is charged with protecting the land, how would he do it alone?
The Arrival Of Seaplane And Bethany’s Cyclone
Rather than joining with the group at first, Bethany (Madison Iseman) was left behind and enlisted the help of Alex Vreeke (Colin Hanks) once again, since he still has knowledge of Jumanji’s geography and methods to enter the game. Once they return to Jumanji, Alex returned as Seaplane while Bethany becomes new horse avatar Cyclone.
Setting aside that Alex and Bethany had little involvement throughout, it feels too forced that both of their avatars would happen to come across the whole gang at a deus ex machina moment.
The Horse As An Avatar
It is kind of a hilarious element to have Cyclone the horse as an avatar to stay consistent with the game’s glitched setting. Like the others, it has its own strengths and weaknesses that became useful for Bethany and Milo. But it still raised several points about the horse’s existence.
One, this is the only time that a horse was prominently featured in the Jumanji universe. So, how come a horse is the option for an avatar? And two, why is “neighing” its single weakness? Really ironic and nonsensical.
The Presence Of The Body-Swapping Water
One of the new game mechanics that The Next Level incorporated is the body-swapping dynamic, incorporated as an additional skirmish for Martha’s Roundhouse and Fridge’s Oberon and is featured as a river before their last level in Jurgen’s lair. That became an opportunity for the cast to stretch their performances.
Even with that incorporated, it was still a missed opportunity to use them sparingly. And on the last moment the gang uses it, the guys with their irregular avatars switch back at an instant. Could it afford a few more redoes?
Spencer’s Arc
Out of all the teens from the previous movie, Spencer (Alex Wolff) was the least improved of them. At the start of The Next Level, he is shown to be struggling with college life and is still insecure. That immediately presents a contrast on his character arc from the previous movie.
Since this is what led to the events of The Next Level, it goes to show that Spencer has not learned his lesson. And it only presents him as reckless and self-doubting as he is forced to learn the same lesson yet again here.
The New, Rebooted Setting
Jumanji: The Next Level presents a larger and harder quest from the previous one with a fresh setting, thanks in part to the broken-down game console. But it really seems a stretch for a wrecked yet functional game to add a brand-new quest for Dr. Smolder Bravestone and his team.
It really does not make sense that a nearly twenty-year-old game console that was smashed would automatically reboot itself with a geographically diverse Jumanji and a new quest. If that is possible, then Spencer must be a shaman or something.
The Absence Of Glitches
Speaking of twenty-year-old game console, it is a no-brainer that the gameplay would include several glitches in the system. Any videogame that has been shelved, let alone wrecked, would have at least faced some glitches in the coding, design, speeches and run-through. Otherwise, that would be a total missed opportunity.
Furthermore, since the existence of the avatar Ming Fleetfoot and Cyclone are the result of a wrecked game, could they at least face flaws on their videogame design? It seems that the glitched game is just an excuse for a new quest for the characters.
Bethany Not Drawn To The Game (At First)
Since it established that there are two additional avatars in Jumanji once it was “fixed” by Spencer, why was Bethany left behind? And instead, up for the adventure are Grandpa Eddie as Smolder Bravestone and Milo Walker (Danny Glover) as "Mouse" Finbarr (Kevin Hart).
That is convenient for Bethany to be left in the real world and ask Alex for assistance. And it unintentionally made her character less relevant until the climax. But it paved way the way for the movie to become a new take on the Grumpy Old Men dynamic.