Mario has been apart of my life for 30 years. This first trailer looks just magical.
I’m not saying it’s about time they made a proper animated Nintendo movie but it’s about damn time. And who better to lead the charge of what will probably be the Nintendo Animated Universe than the best plumber the world has ever known, Mario. Voiced by Chris Pratt, because why not, the movie has plenty of star power (no pun intended). CharlieDay will voice is loveable brother Luigi, while Keegan Michael-Key will voice Toad. Princess Peach will be voiced by Anna Taylor Joy and none other than Jack Black will be voicing the films big baddie Bowser.
Smart of them to show off more of Bowser than Mario and the rest of the gang in the trailer, because he is one of video games greatest villains and I’m super excited to see this great cast go to work. Pratt does drag the trailer down a little bit, I think they could have gone with someone different but he puts butts in seats and this is primed to make the big bucks. This could honestly be one of the most successful animated movies ever if this turns out to be good. Mario one of the most recognizable faces in the world, he is known everywhere.
Such a fantastic kick off trailer and I’m so excited to see more from this going forward. WHO DOESNT LOVE MARIO?!
Jack Black plays the best 16 year old girl since Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles
(SONY)
I will watch anything with Dwayne Johnson in it – true story. So when news broke that he was going to appear in a remake/reboot of the beloved Jumanji, I was a little hesitant. Well I have now seen the newest Jumanji movie, and it honestly was pretty good. Let me be perfectly clear when I say, you cannot compare this new Jumanji to the old. They are completely different movies, and rightfully so, they should be. They are both enjoyable in their own ways, but after seeing both, the 90’s film will always remain King of the jungle.
Unlike the original, which was a board game, we are now living in 2018; video games are what are hot in the sheets. So they changed it up a bit. For me the concept of the movie is what sold me on it. So when a bunch of troubled teens find themselves in detention, they come across the game. We have Spencer (Alex Wolf/Dwayne Johnson) a nerdy kid who loves video games and is afraid of everything, including squirrels. Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain/Kevin Hart) Spencer’s former best friend, now incredible athlete, football star of their high school. Martha (Morgan Turner/Karen Gillan) bookworm, a little bit of a loner. She really doesn’t have many friends and refuses to get close to anyone. Finally we have Bethany (Madison Iseman/Jack Black) the most popular girl in school, who spends more time on her phone than anything else. She’s what’s known as a ‘”like whore.” So when they all get sucked into the game, they become the avatars they picked at the start of the game. Pretty much all-polar opposite of who they are in the real world. I LOVED this idea, seriously. Whoever came up with the idea of Jack Black playing a 16-year girl, give that person a ton of money, because without that concept in the movie, I don’t think Jumanji is very successful. Jack Black carries this film. It’s one of his best comedic performances in a long time. Watching Dwayne Johnson run around being terrified of everything in sight was also a treat to see. Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan are fine, I went in expecting the classic Kevin Hart treatment, you get it, and either you like Kevin Hart at this point or you don’t. I’m used to Karen Gillan being a blue robot (Guardians of The Galaxy), so actually watching her really act was cool. She played the hot girl who doesn’t quite know it yet really well. So obviously they all must come together, put aside their differences so they can escape the game. They are tasked with returning a stolen jewel to a statues eye and calling out JUMANJI!
Remember they are in a video game, and if you have ever played a video game you know what that entails. They have “cut scenes,” which was pretty hilarious. Being taken away from the movie, to explain the plot, was pretty genius and an easy way to explain what was going on. They also run into NPC’s, which are Non-Player Character, and they are there to simply help out our characters. They are programmed to only say a few key phrases, and when they are trying to ask them all sorts of different questions, it’s pretty funny to watch them get the same answer over and over again. Like I said, I really enjoyed the concept of this movie, it’s unique and something pretty refreshing. Now every video game needs a bad guy. Mario has Bowser, Link has Ganon, and Pac-Man has those pesky Ghosts. Enter Van Pelt (Bobby Cannavale) who is pretty useless, okay I said it. He serves little to no purpose, but every movie like this needs a villain. But my god, he was so under utilized and just so forgettable. I would have rather seen our heroes battling the elements of the game and the elements of Jumanji, kind of like the original and not had a bad guy. But he helps push the plot ahead, but that’s what I wanted to see. There wasn’t enough stuff going on in the game, like animals and creatures, I wanted to see more of the world and the environment they were in. Nick Jonas is also in this he plays Alex. He has been stuck in the game for twenty long years, he doesn’t know that until he starts dropping a bunch of 90s references and the rest of the gang catches on. He is rattled to say the least, but he actually does a really great job in this. So he wants out of Jumanji more than anyone.
Listen, this is just a really fun time at the movies. It’s a great popcorn flick, something that was fun to see over the holidays. It’s got a ton of laughs, a great cast, really good chemistry between that cast, and a unique and interesting story. This movie isn’t going to blow you away and you won’t be leaving thinking this is the best movie of 2017, but you’ll enjoy yourself. Sometimes that’s all the reason you need to go the movies, at least that’s usually the case for me. I took my Mom. I thought she was going to hate every second of this movie she absolutely loved it. They are already prepping a sequel, it’s made a ton of money and got pretty good reviews, go see this movie, it’s a ton of fun.
Check ya later,
Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle = 80/100
I honestly can’t believe that this movie is growing on me, I have an extreme weakness for Dwayne Johnson.
It feels like just yesterday that they released the first trailer for this, and I was completely and utterly disgusted by what I watched. Then I saw the trailer again, and again and again. They play it in front of a ton of movies, and this thing has grown on me. So when Rock teased the second trailer earlier this week, I was kind of excited to see what else this movie could bring to the table.
I actually don’t mind this trailer, I’ll take it for what it is. This won’t be a very good movie, and it probably won’t do very well at the box-office, but it just looks like the cast is having a ton of fun. There are plenty of laughs to be had throughout, my favourite being Kevin Hart asking if he was “still black,” then exploding due to eating a piece of cake, which I guess is his weakness? Tons of hijinxs are occurring, and yes, this is nothing like the original, but I’m almost glad it isn’t. They really needed to make it more “modern” and by having Jumanji now be a video game, they did just that.
Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson have incredible on screen chemistry together, it showed in Central Intelligence, and it appears to in Jumanji we can expect more of the same. They are great together, and I’m hoping they aren’t putting all the laughs in the trailer. This has potential to be a decent movie, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if it ends up less than 20% on Rotten Tomatoes and it some what bombs at the box-office, they just really need a good marketing campaign behind this thing to get some excitement for it. All in all it was a good trailer, and I’m more excited for this movie than I was 48 hours ago, so I guess the trailer did its job. Also Nick Jonas is either going to be okay in this, or just completely ruin the movie, so theres that.
Jumanji more like Juman-jeeze, are we serious with this?
Okay guys, am I the only one who is getting a little worried about our dear old friend Dwayne Johnson? Am I the only one who thought this was a piece of crap trailer, for a movie that shouldn’t have been made in the first place? Since when is Jumanji a video game and not the classic board game we all fell in love with in the 90s. In all seriousness, Baywatch just came out and my god that was torture to sit through and this looks even worse. Dwayne Johnson is one of my favourite people in the world, but this is getting a little out of hand. Jumanji looks like utter trash, I’m sorry.
I think I already know the whole movie from just watching this trailer. Four kids are stuck in detention, who don’t like each other and who are polar opposites, cough cough, The Breakfast Club. Where they stumble onto the video game of Jumanji, and next thing they know, they are sucked into the jungle and the world of Jumanji. Here’s the kicker all their stereotypes are reversed in the game, the big jock becomes little old Kevin Hart, the nerd becomes Dwayne Johnson, the outcast becomes the smoke show that is Karen Gillian (🚀🚀), and the pretty girl in school becomes Jack Black…..
So I’m sure they will all hate each other at the beginning but learn how to become a team and trust each other. And learn that it’s what’s on the inside the counts and find inner strength that they didn’t know they had. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there will be tons of laughs in this movie, but it just feels so different from the original. One of Robin Williams best movies and performances, and now we are getting this CGI filled mess.
Hey I could be wrong, Dwayne and Hart had great chemistry in Central Intelligence, I enjoy Karen Gillan in Guardians of The Galaxy, and Jack Black is just a saint. But this is not a good trailer. This simply is not Jumanji, like at all. I hope I’m wrong on this one I really do, because this has potential to be a great remake/reboot, I’m not really sure how this is working. It just feels unnecessary because nothing will ever top the original. Quick fix, call it Welcome To The Jungle, drop the Jumanji, it’s cleaner.