Back in 2017, when Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle came out, I assumed it would be yet another pale imitation of a movie I loved from my youth. The idea of Jumanji being a video game instead of a board game just seemed wrong. How could a video game ever give off the ancient, haunted vibes the original board game had? Plus, I’m not really a huge fan of either Dwayne Johnson or Kevin Hart. They’re fine, but they’ve got nothing on Robin Williams, the biggest comedic voice of my childhood and someone whose movies still make me laugh today.
But, the response to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was so overwhelmingly positive that I decided to give it a shot. That’s when I realized that the reboot isn’t just great, it’s a heck of a lot better and funnier than the original (and so is the reboot’s sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level).
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is about four teenagers who discover an Atari 2600-like video game console along with a game labeled Jumanji. They insert the cartridge and select their characters, but they’re suddenly sucked into the virtual world. The teens reappear in a jungle in the bodies of their characters, all of which are a mismatch for their own personalities. (For example, the self-absorbed teen played by Madison Iseman enters into the body of Jack Black.) From there, the group must defeat the adventure game to return to their own lives and bodies.
By contrast, the original 1995 film Jumanji was about a pair of kids in 1969 who discover an ancient, jungle-themed board game called Jumanji. They start playing it, but one of the kids gets sucked into the game while the other remains. Twenty-six years later, a different pair of kids begin playing the game and suddenly, things from the jungle start appearing in their home, like a lion, monkeys, a stampede, and the now-adult version of Alan Parrish (Williams), who disappeared years earlier. Parrish and the new kids must complete the game so all the animals can return to the magic jungle contained within this magical board game.
When comparing the premise of each, the original probably gets the edge. Based on a 1981 children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg, the idea of an ancient board game with mysterious powers is just more intriguing and magical-seeming than a video game. That said, the reboot deserves credit for a clever reinvention, rather than just repeating the beats of the original. However, it’s in the execution of its premise where Welcome to the Jungle really shines and the original shows some difficult-to-overlook shortcomings.
For one thing, in the original movie, the idea of jungle animals suddenly raising hell in suburban America is great, but it’s quickly undercut by some truly horrendous CGI. I’m not usually one to complain about dated computer effects, but the ones in Jumanji are distractingly bad. While the CG stampede works well, the lion switches back and forth between a convincing animatronic lion and a very unconvincing CG creature. Even worse are the monkeys, which are so fake-looking you cannot buy into the idea that they’re causing any trouble at all.
While it may seem harsh to blame a 1995 movie for bad CGI, everything in Jumanji could have been achieved by animatronics and/or trained animals, both of which were commonly used back then. Computer graphics just weren’t ready yet for all of the things the director Joe Johnston was trying to do, whereas the reboot’s computer effects, while not amazing, never distract from the story.
Then there’s Robin Williams, a man whose movies I still love, whose comedy I still revere, and whose death I still kind of have a hard time with. While I have a lot more love for Williams than I do for anyone in the reboot, the original Jumanji doesn’t really make full use of him. It’s just not silly and funny enough to utilize the depths of his comedic talents the way Mrs. Doubtfire and Aladdin do. Nor does the movie have the dramatic weight to make use of his more serious side the way Good Will Hunting and Good Morning, Vietnam do. Alan Parrish could have been played by anyone, which means he shouldn’t have been played by Williams.
Meanwhile, the four inside-the-video-game leads in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle all have a lot of fun with the Freaky Friday-like body-switching premise. The 2019 sequel Jumanji: The Next Level has even more fun with this element. In that movie, two curmudgeons, played by Danny DeVito and Danny Glover, get sucked into the video game along with the teens from the first movie. The result puts DeVito into Johnson’s body and Glover into Hart’s body. Both actors do a hilarious job imitating their respective old guys and the movie — unlike the original — makes full use of their comedic talents.
The only thing I’ll concede here is that Jumanji, with its PG rating, is clearly meant to be a movie for kids, whereas the PG-13 reboots are meant for an older crowd. Both are probably equally good for their respective demographics, but for any adult not clouded by nostalgia or their love for Robin Williams, it’s pretty clear that the Jumanji reboot movies are just way better than the original.
