Jumanji: The Next Level is never able to reach the level of the success of its 2017 predecessor, wasting a talented and enthusiastic cast by essentially repeating the previous film, with only a few tweaks.
A few years after the events of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the friends introduced in that film have gone their separate ways. But while Bethany (Madison Iseman), Martha (Morgan Turner) and Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain) are enjoying post-high school life, Spencer (Alex Wolff) is feeling down: He and Martha have hit a romantic rough patch, and he's ostracized himself from his friends.
Determining he needs to bring a jolt into his life, he returns to the world of Jumanji so he can at least briefly become Doctor Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) once more. Martha and Fridge follow after him, accidentally accompanied by Spencer's grandfather Eddie (Danny DeVito) and Eddie's estranged friend Milo (Danny Glover). Martha is Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) again, but this time Fridge becomes Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black), while Eddie ends up as Bravestone, and Milo becomes Mouse (Kevin Hart). Meanwhile, Spencer is in the body of the new character, Ming Fleetfoot (Awkwafina), and tries to use her thieving skills to steal the McGuffin of the story from Jurgen the Brutal (Rory McCann).
From this point forward, the film essentially becomes a purposeful retread of the previous chapter. Directed by Jake Kasdan (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), it doesn't even attempt to reinvent the premise, and instead sends the group on essentially the same mission (save the McGuffin), only in slightly different locations. As a result, the sequel doesn't do much to distinguish itself from the far more charming Welcome to the Jungle. There are chase scenes, over-the-top brawls and giant fight sequences, but almost none of them ever really stands out from those seen in the 2017 film.
The humor and emotional arcs of the script (credited to Kasdan, Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg) also fall prey to that, essentially repeating the beats from the previous film. The only real change is the presence of Eddie and Milo, who are primarily used for a series of old man jokes, and little else. Their bitter-old-man antagonism becomes tired after the fifth time, especially following what felt like the 10th "old people don't understand video games" gag. Even the sudden deaths of the cast (permitted by the video-game mechanics of the world) feels less surprising this time around.
There's nothing particularly original in the film, save for a late-minute addition to the cast that's bizarre enough to stand out. But even that aspect is largely glossed over in favor of repeating another moment of character growth from the previous movie. Spencer has to learn to accept himself again, French needs to learn humility again, Martha has to step up and be a leader again, and Bethany really doesn't get any character arc at all, spending large swaths of the film off-screen before finally making it into the game as a horse -- which is somehow worse.
Credit where credit is due, however: The cast is almost solid enough to make the film work. The younger stars are still strong in their brief scenes, and the Jumanji actors have a genuine blast in their roles. Johnson and Hart especially relish in getting to play DeVito and Glover against one another. A sudden and unexplained mechanic introduced halfway through the film also permits the players to swap bodies while within the game, allowing for most of the cast to play multiple characters.
Black and Gillan do well in these swaps, although Black's take on Fridge's mannerisms gets close to uncomfortable at times. But the most impressive member of the cast may actually be Awkwafina, who's not only funny as Spencer but completely throws herself into becoming the old man Eddie. Awkwafina doing a pretty spot-on DeVito impression for 20 minutes is probably the best part of the film, so at least there's that.
Ultimately, there's only so much the cast can do. The story and world don't change enough to justify returning to it. The premise of a living video game version of Jumanji is a solid idea, and could allow for filmmakers to create absurd landscapes and scenarios that you've never imagined before. But outside a visually sprawling and inventive sequence where the group has to cross a series of spinning bridges to escape a horde of bloodthirsty Mandrills, there's nothing that feels original to this movie. Jumanji: The Next Level can't find it's own rhyme or even really it's own reason for existing outside propagating the franchise. It's a retread in the worst way, outright repeating gags, situations and development in an attempt to capture the highlights from the previous (much more entertaining) film.
Opening Friday nationwide, director Jake Kasdan's Jumanji: The Next Level stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Nick Jonas, Awkwafina, Rory McCann, Alex Wolff, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman and Morgan Turner.