Jumanji:
Welcome to
the Jungle
IMDb Rating
410K
IMDb Votes
76%
Rotten Tomatoes
$962M
Box Office
Synopsis & Review
Directed by Jake Kasdan, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) is a sequel in name but a reinvention in spirit — and one of the most unexpectedly entertaining blockbusters of its decade. Four very different high-school students wind up in detention together: the popular jock Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain), the nerdy Spencer (Alex Wolff), the self-absorbed beauty Bethany (Madison Iseman), and the bookish Martha (Morgan Turner). Cleaning out a storage room, they discover an old video game console running a game called Jumanji. When they each select an avatar, they are literally sucked into the jungle world of the game — reborn as the characters they chose. Spencer becomes the brawny, rock-jawed Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson). Fridge becomes the diminutive weapons valet Franklin "Mouse" Finbar (Kevin Hart). Martha becomes the fierce commando Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan). And Bethany — to her horror — becomes the portly male cartographer Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon (Jack Black). To escape the game and return to the real world, they must complete the quest: return a stolen jewel to its rightful place before the villain Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale) uses it to control the jungle's animals and destroy everything.
What makes Welcome to the Jungle work so brilliantly is its central comedic conceit: each actor must play a teenager trapped in a wildly inappropriate body, and the cast commits with total, fearless enthusiasm. Dwayne Johnson plays the film's biggest joke — a nerdy, anxious boy who can't believe he now exists in the body of the world's most jacked man — and he executes it with a physical comedy precision that reveals just how underutilised his comedic instincts have often been in action films. His pratfalls, his deer-in-headlights panic, his whispering awe at his own reflection — it's a genuinely funny performance. Kevin Hart, meanwhile, plays tall-boy bravado trapped in a short frame with his trademark manic energy. Jack Black delivers the film's most committed piece of character work, playing a teenage girl with an earnestness and sensitivity that consistently steals scenes. And Karen Gillan is a revelation as a fighter who has to learn confidence in real-time. The film grossed a staggering $962 million worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing films of 2017 and one of the most successful comedies in Hollywood history.
Why Watch This Movie?
Dwayne Johnson's Funniest Performance
Playing a nervous, geeky teenager who is baffled and terrified by his own absurdly muscled body, Johnson demonstrates a comedic range that his action roles rarely demand. The joke — that Dr. Bravestone's stats say "no weaknesses" but the boy inside him is pure weakness — gives Johnson scene after scene of brilliant physical comedy. He plays the confusion and awe with total sincerity, never winking at the audience, and the result is the most purely funny he has ever been on screen.
Four Stars, One Joke, Infinite Variations
The genius of the screenplay is that it gives every member of the ensemble their own version of the same fish-out-of-water comedy — and each actor finds a completely different emotional register to play it from. Hart's indignant fury at being short is different from Gillan's dawning confidence, which is different from Jack Black's completely uncynical immersion into girlhood. The four-way chemistry is the engine that drives the entire film, and it never runs out of fuel across two hours.
A Sequel That Earns Its Existence
The original 1995 Robin Williams Jumanji is a beloved family film, and the prospect of a sequel — let alone one that replaced the board game with a video game — was met with considerable scepticism. But Jake Kasdan's film earns every comparison by finding a genuinely new idea within the same sandbox. Rather than imitating the original, it builds a completely different comic architecture on the same mythological foundation, honouring the spirit of Jumanji while delivering something fresh. The result is arguably more consistently entertaining than the original.
Cast & Crew
Director
Jake Kasdan
Screenplay
Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers
Producer
Matt Tolmach / William Teitler
Dr. Bravestone
Dwayne Johnson
Franklin Finbar
Kevin Hart
Ruby Roundhouse
Karen Gillan
Prof. Oberon
Jack Black
Van Pelt
Bobby Cannavale
Jefferson McDonough
Nick Jonas
Official Trailer
© Sony Pictures. Trailer embedded via YouTube.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to watch the original 1995 Jumanji first?
Not at all — Welcome to the Jungle is entirely self-contained. There is a brief opening scene set in 1996 that establishes the Jumanji game transforming from a board game into a video game cartridge (a nod to the original film's time period), but no prior knowledge of the 1995 movie is needed to enjoy this one. The rules of the game are explained clearly within the film itself. That said, watching the Robin Williams original is always recommended as a piece of 1990s adventure cinema — it simply isn't a prerequisite for appreciating this sequel.
How much did Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle make at the box office?
The film grossed approximately $962 million worldwide against a production budget of around $90 million — making it one of the most profitable films of 2017 and one of the highest-grossing comedies ever made. It opened in late December 2017 and had extraordinary legs at the box office, earning much of its total across a six-week run through January 2018. The film outperformed Star Wars: The Last Jedi in several international markets during its run — a remarkable achievement for a mid-budget comedy adventure. A sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level, followed in 2019 and grossed over $800 million.
What are "weaknesses" in the film and how do they work?
Each avatar in the Jumanji game has a set of strengths and weaknesses listed on their character profile — a direct parody of video game RPG mechanics. Dr. Bravestone (Johnson) has no listed weaknesses, which becomes an ongoing joke since the timid teenager inside him has nothing but weaknesses. Franklin Finbar (Hart) has "strength" listed as a weakness — meaning he is physically weak despite his macho persona. Ruby Roundhouse's weakness is "venom." Professor Oberon's weaknesses include "speed, strength, and cold." These weaknesses are played for comedy and plot, with the characters having to navigate obstacles that specifically exploit what their avatars can't handle.
More The Rock Movies
More films starring Dwayne Johnson you should watch next.