Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was such a huge hit, making over $960 million at the worldwide box office, that it guaranted we wouldn’t have to wait another 20 years for a sequel. But the first image from the film looked exactly like a still from the last one, and that had some fans worried. Was Sony going to make a retread of Welcome to the Jungle? Was this going to be a Hangover 2 disaster? Based on the first trailer for the film, titled Jumanji: The Next Level, the answer is a firm “no,” because even though the movie is bringing back its biggest stars they are playing very different versions of their characters: ones based on Danny DeVito and Danny Glover.
This first look at the movie finds Spencer (Alex Wolff) feeling cut off from the three friends he survived Jumanji with the last time. That leads him to dig out the dangerous game, and from there Jumanji takes over, sucking the kids back in, along with two unprepared old men played by two Hollywood favorites. That leads to a mixing up of the avatars played by Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black, none of whom are occupied by the same human players. Only Martha has returned to the same in-game character, played by Karen Gillan.
“Did I die and turn into some kind of a small, muscular boy scout?”
The word “inspired” sometimes gets bandied about haphazardly, but that’s the only word we can think of to describe The Rock playing a confused Danny DeVito and Kevin Hart playing Danny Glover who thinks he’s dead and in Hell.
As for what they will need to accomplish in the game, or which avatars are being played by Spencer and Bethany, this trailer doesn’t make clear, though we do see all new environments, including an arctic part of Jumanji. So even though its biggest stars look the same, there’s very little else about this sequel that resembles the last one.
Talk about taking it the next level. Just make sure you speak up when you do so Danny DeVito and Danny Glover can hear you.
Jumanji: The Next Level comes to theaters this Christmas.
Featured Image: Sony