So, it’s been a while since I have done a trailer reaction. And quite frankly, I wasn’t sure I would do another trailer reaction after my last one on Avengers Endgame. I don’t think I have ever or will ever be as hyped for a film as I was for Endgame (check out my review). But, considering it’s been a while and I have just watched the new Jumanji trailer I thought I should give my reaction to it.
The Jumanji reboot in 2017 is a film I have a lot of history with – being one of the very few predictions I made that have been completely wrong. Many people expected the reboot of Jumanji to fail and be a all-in-all bad film, but much to everyone’s surprise it never failed, and managed to compete against Star Wars successfully. I really enjoyed it and gave it a 7/10 or a B in my review. I was most hopeful for the future of the franchise, because for the first time I saw how they could continue this story. Which is funny, because, there were many (including myself) who didn’t understand why the film was being made to begin with because they didn’t see how it could continue the story of the beloved original.
As I started to see some more casting announcements; and it was confirmed they were bringing back the four teens. I wasn’t quite sure how it would work, even though I said I was optimistic about the future of the franchise. I was worried that the sequel had so many options to take, it wouldn’t pick the right one or even worse; it would try to do too much which so many other franchises have done, rushing so many storylines and plot lines into one film, which, to be fair, could still happen!
But, boy does this trailer look great! I really enjoyed it and am 100% sold on it. I love how they introduce the two grandfathers; with two legends – Danny DeVito and Danny Glover being the two new characters in the game. They show that Jumanji has evolved and introduces a new game – which looks like it has some amazing set-pieces. It let’s the cast play with new dynamics as we see Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart kill it as Danny DeVito and Danny Glover – two characters who are friends and experiencing Jumanji for the first time. It is also refreshing because instead of having the two leads be rivals, for the first time they are in it together, and are friends from the offset which hasn’t really been seen in a typical DJ/Kevin Hart movie. The trailer also tries to sets up a mystery – one that I think will be one of the weaker parts of the movie as its outcome won’t come as much of a surprise. When they enter the game to try and find Spencer – I think he will either Nick Jonas’ character or the newly introduced Awkwafina’s character who we finally get our first glimpse of in the trailer, and I hope she’ll have a large role to play. Then of course; I think the twist will be once they find the first character it won’t be Spencer but also Brittany who was also missing (assuming she went into the game as well). After they find one of either Nick Jonas or Awkwafina; it will turn out that someone is still out there and they will still have to look for them. And that’s how I see the mystery playing out but of course that could be wildly wrong, and I also hope that the film dives a little bit more into what Jumanji is and how it manages to evolve (which is hinted at in the trailer)
All in all I actually really enjoyed the trailer and am looking forward to this sequel. The story might still not be there or it this film could try and do too much but at the very least I’m looking forward to the characters and the dynamics between them that the first film did so well.
AthemovieZ 