Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Dir. Jake Kasdan, 1h 59m)

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is, surprisingly enough, an enjoyable action adventure romp that builds ably on the foundations of the Robin Williams-starring original, with the child-entrapping boardgame evolving for a generation that now regards boardgames as uncool, into a videogame. With our hapless, mismatched, (and quasi-Breakfast Club) gang of geek, football player, swot and social media junkie), now trapped inside the video game, Jumanji, where the usual videogame rules of levels and three lives rule supreme, so our transformed heroes must work together to save Jumanji and escape the game.

This thus is a Jumanji for the 21st Century, of videogames, social media-a little more knowing, a little more adult without being puerile-a couple of scenes take advantage of the Freaky Friday-cum-Avatar, uh...avatars that each of our quartet take control of, with phone-using, and self-obsessed Bethany transposed into the body of "overweight white man", Jack Black, playing the team's brains, Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon, who promptly has to get to grips with a male body. This concept runs through the entire film to great effect-shy and cowardly Spencer is transposed into the body of Dr. Smolder Bravestone (another excellent performance from the ever-likable Dwayne Johnson, who very much plays up to his comedic and musclebound action hero strengths) whilst athlete "Fridge", an unwilling friend to Spencer, is reduced to Bravestone's sidekick and bagman.

Moreover, the relationship between the four, from simply getting used to their bodies in some of the funniest scenes in the film, (complete with Bravestone checking out his own muscles, and Oberon/Bethany's freak-out at their new-and rather unwelcome- appearance), to their bickering as they attempt to make sense of their new powers and the world around them, to their teamwork towards the finale. Moreover, the way that the film develops the chemistry between Spencer and Martha, whose kickass heroine, much like Dr Bravestone, seems a form of escapism from their social isolation, is extremely well-paced and developed, their budding romance developing from a mutual respect, then a mutual interest in each other's avatars, then finally in each other. Equally, there's a tender relationship between Bethany, and Alex, whose avatar, a cocky roguish pilot who inhabits the tree house of previous Jumanji protagonist, Alan Parrish (in the film's sole, and surprisingly reverential reference to Robin Williams), has been unable to escape the game for 20 years.

Yet, the fact remains that, at its heart, Jumanji is both an excellent videogame movie, and an enjoyably rollicking thrillride of an action movie-the film's miscellaneous set pieces, from our heroes being chased through a jungle by bikers, to a helicopter escape from charging rhinos, to the film's skillful and well-paced denouement, where the quintet come together to save the day. All of this is shot through with a great deal of humour, enjoyable pathos, and a witty banter between the group. The video game concept of the film is also well-handled-there are levels, bottomless inventory bags, lives-indeed, the film's usage of respawn becomes critically important in the denouement, whilst even NPC characters and levels are utilised to great dramatic and comedic effect.

Jumanji, in short, is an enjoyable romp, an enjoyable sequel to a much-loved film, and one that treats itself both as a perfect encapsulation of everything fun that most video games movies miss out, and an enjoyable action movie. We thus end 2017 with a film that's maybe light on brains, but big, bold, and fun.

Rating: Recommended.