The last time Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson starred in a movie based on a popular ’90s property, it did not go well. But unlike Baywatch, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a not-remake of 1995’s Robin Williams- and kitchen-destroying monkeys-starring Jumanji, actually looks pretty funny.
It helps that there’s a decent premise (four teenagers playing an old video game get sucked into Jumanji and become their avatars) and a solid cast. There’s the lead foursome in The Rock, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan, but also Marc Evan Jackson, Bobby Cannavale, and Rhys Darby, who gets to deliver the applause line, “Welcome to Jumanji.” Murray from Flight of the Conchords should welcome people in every movie. “Welcome to the Lost City of Z.” “Welcome to Gotham.” “Welcome to… wherever Minions live.”
Also, Welcome to the Jungle was co-written by Chris McKenna, the guy behind arguably the two best episodes of Community, “Paradigms of Human Memory” and “Remedial Chaos Theory.” Do evil trolls live in Jumanji?
Here’s the official synposis.
When they discover an old video game console with a game they’ve never heard of, they are immediately thrust into the game’s jungle setting, into the bodies of their avatars, played by Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan. What they discover is that you don’t just play Jumanji –Jumanji plays you. They’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, or they’ll be stuck in the game forever…
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle — which The Rock really wants you to know is a “continuation” — opens on December 20, 2017.
