As in years past, I spent much of my winter break in a darkened movie theater and I loved it! Now that I am back to school I will review the movies that I saw over the break beginning with Jumanji: The Next Level. During winter break two years ago I asked Sean and Tashena to pick a movie that I could take them to and they picked Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. I didn't particularly want to see this movie but I ended up really enjoying it! When we found out about the sequel, Sean and I waited until Tashena came home for winter break so that we could see it together. We all liked it. Spencer (Alex Wolff), Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain), Martha (Morgan Turner), and Bethany (Madison Iseman) have returned home from college and plan a reunion. Spencer, who is struggling in college, feels apprehensive about meeting everyone and decides to repair the Jumanji game so that he can be the hero Dr. Xander "Smolder" Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) again to gain some confidence. When Spencer doesn't show up to the reunion, the others go to his house and meet his Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito) and Eddie's former friend and business partner Milo (Danny Glover). They find the repaired Jumanji game and decide to play in order to bring Spencer back. Martha is once again Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) but Fridge becomes Dr. Sheldon "Shelly" Osborn (Jack Black), Eddie becomes Dr. Bravestone, and Milo becomes Franklin "Mouse" Finbar (Kevin Hart). Bethany is left behind and must find former player Alex (Colin Hanks) to help her get back into the game. Alex once again becomes Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough (Nick Jonas) and Bethany becomes a horse named Cyclone. They eventually find Spencer, who has become Ming Fleetfoot (Awkwafina), and learn that they must return the Falcon's Heart, a magical necklace stolen by Jurgen the Brutal (Rory McCann), to the sunlight in order to end the drought in Jumanji and win the game. There are some fun action sequences in the desert while the avatars are chased by ostriches, over suspension bridges while they are chased by Mandrill monkeys, and in a fortress on a snow-covered mountain. However, once again, what makes this movie so much fun is that the characters have the physical characteristics of their avatars but keep their own personalities. This creates a lot of physical comedy because Grandpa Eddie is now physically strong and goes looking for fights and Fridge is not used to being so physically challenged. All of the actors do a great job but I especially enjoyed Kevin Hart because he does a perfect imitation of Danny Glover. In my opinion, it is not quite as funny as the first movie but I laughed out loud multiple times and we had a lot of fun watching it. I recommend it to fans of the original.
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