Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Whenever a sleeper film or a film that studios are not sure how will be received does very well at the box office then you can bet your bottom dollar that a sequel will be in the works. That was definitely the case with 2017's Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle which made their money back almost ten fold. So now we fast forward to 2019 and everyone is back for the sequel in Juamnji: The Next Level. For Spencer (Alex Wolff) he thought that things were going to be different for him after what happened in the game in the first film, but that isn't the case he struggles with life in New York City. Home of the winter break, Spencer returns home and things don't seem right especially now that his grandfather (Danny DeVito)is living with him. The only problem is that Spencer has gone back into the game and now it's up to Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain), Martha (Morgan Turner), Bethany (Madison Iseman), Alex (Colin Hanks), his grandfather, and his friend Milo (Danny Glover) to save the day. The film also stars Dwayne Johnson (Central Intelligence) as Bravestone, Kevin Hart (Night School) as Mouse, Jack Black (Orange County) as Oberon, Karen Gillan (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Ruby,  Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) as Ming, Nick Jonas (Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle) as Seaplane, and the film was directed by Jake Kasdan.

I went into this wondering if they could pull off the sequel because the first film was magic and I have to honestly say that I enjoyed it a lot. I don't believe that the film was better than the first, but I really liked what they did when they added new levels and characters to the game because it made it interesting. The other dynamic that made the film work is that not everyone had the same avatar which made it hilarious especially when you have Kevin Hart and The Rock acting like Danny Glover and Danny DeVito. That also made the pairing of The Rock and Hart even better as both of these guys obviously work well together with all that chemistry. The action sequences in the film are just as cool as the first film, but one of the craziest scenes ever has to be the one with the Mandrills and the bridge. That was such an awesome and chaotic action sequence that it kept me glued to my seat. Other than that, there were a lot of decent moments in the film that gave you a lot of laughs especially when Kevin Hart was portraying Danny Glover, but it didn't wow me completely like the first film. One thing they did was at the end of the film, there is an extra scene that leaves the film up for a third film to make it a trilogy, but to be honest I am not quite sure if I would be down with a third film. By the looks of it, they have almost totaled the box office of the first film so I would not be surprised if they did. I am going to give the film an B for a final grade.