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davidahallnum5
Sep 2, 202210 min read

Jumanji: The Next Level 3D Blu-ray Review

Updated: Apr 8, 2023

Jumanji: The Next Level is a 2019 action adventure comedy that is the latest addition to the Jumanji franchise (as of 2022). It follows the same four teenagers from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Spencer, Martha, Bethany, and Fridge as they try to meet each other for Christmas break. But it isn't too long before Martha, Bethany, and Fridge realize that for an unexplained reason, Spencer has gone back into Jumanji. So now, it's up to the three friends to go back into the jungle and rescue him. And hilarity ensues when the game ends up sucking in Spencer's grumpy grandfather Grandpa Eddie and his former best friend Milo Walker.

It seems a little weird that I'm creating a review for The Next Level before I've reviewed Welcome to the Jungle. I assure you, that review will come out eventually. But before I move on, I think I ought to tell you what I thought of the other Jumanji movies for a bit of context. The Jumanji from 1995 was a creative dark fairy tale that I'm pretty sure most of you have seen at some point. Although I never really loved it as its story while intriguing, was dampened by its slow pace, it still delivered an interesting premise with some genuinely dark elements that I dug enough to give the film a thumbs up. But all that changed when Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle came out. And personally, I think that one is a situation where the sequel ends up being better than the original. Sure, it's a lot more comedic in tone and doesn't follow the continuing story of the characters from the first movie. But as its own thing, it's still a great deal of fun. It's wickedly funny, cast perfectly, and carries a genuinely interesting adventure story. I'm generally not a fan of films where the comedy comes from the actors reacting to the situation their in. But here, it's done right, and it results in plenty of laugh out loud moments. It's not a five out of five star film. But for what it is, I really enjoyed it.

And that's where Jumanji: The Next Level comes in. Does this film do much to deviate from the premise of the previous film? For the most part, not really. The main cast of friends are getting stuck inside the video game again and having to complete the adventure set out for them again in order to leave again. But honestly, I'm cool with that, and for two main reasons: Number one, the movie has just enough changes to make it separate from the first film. Besides the comedic addition of the Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito, in case you didn't know) character and his slow moving best friend Milo which I mentioned earlier, the story itself also progresses from the first film, somewhat. There is a story about why Spencer went back into the game in the first place and another about Grandpa Eddie having to put behind him something that his friend Milo did in the past that he didn't like. These stories aren't all that impactful, but they don't have to be. At the film's core, it's just a really fun romp with a few wholesome lessons to take away from it. Sure, it depends on a lot of the story beats from the first film. But as a play-it-safe type sequel, it's still different in all the right ways. And the new characters do add plenty of comedic variety which brings me to my number two point.

What it lacks in originality, it compensates with just as many, if not more, laughs. The main reason the first film was so funny was that we got to see a cast of stereotypical jungle story characters from the big strong guy Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), his short black sidekick Dr. Mouse Finbar (Kevin Hart), the sexy female Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan), and the genius who's also physically inept Dr. Shelly Overall (Jack Black) get controlled by a bunch of teens who were greatly unlike the characters they were playing. Bravestone is controlled by a weak nerd, Finbar by a tall high school football champ, Roundhouse by a shy, quirky teenage girl, and Overall by a attractive outgoing blonde. This time, we now have two old men in the group who have never even heard of a video game before. The strong, invincible Bravestone is now played a grumpy old Danny DeVito-esque grandpa who gets used to all his new strengths, and occasionally abuses them. And his chemistry with the well-meaning but slow-talking friend Milo who controls Finbar work well with often hilarious results. And even our four other main characters get switched into different bodies, allowing for more comedic mayhem. I'll leave it off right here as I want you to see for yourself all the ways the film pulls off some great laughs.

With all the sequels and remakes going on, it's no surprise that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, one of Sony's highest grossing movies, would get a sequel that would borrow quite a lot from its predecessor. There's nothing inherently wrong with making another fun romp similar to the previous one as long as you have enough laughs and deviation from the original story to make it a good film on its own terms. Otherwise, you get something like The Hangover II. Luckily, Jumanji: The Next Level understands that and doesn't spend its precious time reusing the jokes from the first film, but rather building off them. In the end, it creates a fun and entertaining experience that in some ways, ends up being funnier than Welcome to the Jungle. Is it a perfect movie? Obviously not. But for what it's trying to be, it, like its predecessor, does it's job surprisingly well. It might not be the most original film on the market. But if you thought Welcome to the Jungle was a delightful adventure comedy, chances are you'll like what The Next Level has to offer.


OVERALL FILM RATING: 4/5



Once again, this is where I probably should've created a review for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle first, as the 3D on display here isn't incredibly different from what was on the previous film. There are some notable exceptions, but let me try to at first try to talk about the film's 3D as it's own thing. So does The Next Level work well in 3D? The short answer is yes.

Jumanji: The Next Level, just like plenty of other films from the late 2010s, was post converted into 3D. But this isn't one of those 3D films where the post-conversion team skimmed out. In fact, it's quite the contrary. Every scene has ample amounts of depth, reaching back far into the screen in even the most modest of settings. From the inside of simple places such as shops, homes, buses, and restaurants, the things that should be going back into the screen are. When Spencer is on the bus, the many rows behind him have their own 3D space, even if it's just in the corner of the screen. The people and objects also retain proper 3D shape and size, making it mesmerizing to watch.

But after about five minutes, it tends to wear off a bit. And that brings us to an area about the film's 3D that I think turned plenty of people off about the first film and might turn plenty of people off about this one: the 3D composition and choreography feels at times to be a bit of an afterthought. Although I don't it as a huge problem, because of the amounts of depth displayed, I do agree that there are plenty of places the depth could've been used in much more interesting ways. This isn't exactly a pervasive issue, though, because there are many scenes that do greatly benefit from the added depth, even if it wasn't given too much thought in terms of composition.

When we do enter the jungle, just like the first movie, we get a 3D first person view through a video game character right before the person we're looking through falls from the sky and lands on the ground. It's a fun 3D view in the first movie and it's still a cool one here too, even if it's very brief. After landing, the jungle itself looks pretty good for the most part, but not quite as mesmerizing as something like Avatar (though that's a pretty high standard to hold this film up to). The thing about natural foliage is that it's pretty hard to convert to 3D because of all the little details about it that need to be brought to light. Part of the reason Avatar looked so good with the jungles of Pandora was because it was natively shot in 3D, so it never a problem. It's not a ginormous problem here either, as the surrounding elements of the jungle from the trees to the giant leaves all seem somewhat separate and lie in their own 3D space. But being as it's a post-conversion treatment to a film that's pretty comedy centered, it ends up being mostly satisfactory. On the flip side, the characters themselves still retain proper 3D shape. And the good news is it gets better from here.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle's 3D was at it's best when it was doing wide views of the jungle, around giant objects such as the jaguar statue, and during action sequences. This movie follows in most of that film's footsteps. And actually, because a good chunk of movie is in deserts and snowy mountains, this film has a bit more interesting usage of 3D depth than the first one. Once we get into the desert portions of the movie, the sandy ground seems to go on for infinity. The canyons actually look as far away and as deep as they would in real life. And the action sequence with the ostriches lend itself to a few good pop outs and lots of peril greatly made more immersive by the 3D. Probably my favorite part about the sequence, and one of the best 3D moments of the film, is when the main characters make a jump over a canyon with a dune buggy. They make it to the other side, but they vehicle crashes and falls. There is a shot looking up from the bottom of the canyon as the debris and rocks come at you followed by a shot looking down from the top watching everything fall to the bottom of the canyon. The 3D does seem like it was given less ahead planning than other 3D films. But at times like these, it can still really shine none the less.

This 3D tone also makes it's way into later portions of the film. The sequence with the rope bridges, while not as big of a standout as I hoped it would, was still an interesting watch with the 3D applied, allowing depth between bridges and the abyss below with the bonus of fierce monkeys coming at you. The scenes with the snowy mountain were also amazing as the mountains look genuinely far away. We also get snow coming out of the screen in a couple of shots. Once we get to our big baddy's fortress, it looks enormous. But the 3D greatly enhances that. The showdown with the blimp in the sky is also a fun sight to see, with the distance between the enormous surrounding objects and the distance to the ground made more interesting with the third dimension added in. The only real downside to these parts is that sometimes it can get pretty dark, which having the 3D glasses on doesn't really help with. It's nothing terrible, but I thought it was something worth noting in case you're a person who minds the darkness caused by 3D glasses.

This is a bit of a hard movie to rate with my current rating system. On one hand, a good chunk of the movie falls into the good category, but the great parts really are great. I've put some thought into it and I've decided this: the first movie gets a"good" rating, but there are parts of it that border on great. Because this movie is a step up from the first one in terms of 3D, even if not a large one, I'm going to give this one a modest "great" rating. Now, if you're looking for a film to use to show off your 3D display to your friends with, this might not be the film to show. But if you like to watch most of your films in 3D if they're available in that format, Jumanji: The Next Level will most likely satisfy you. I wouldn't probably say it's $30 worth. But if you can find it for good enough price for it (which isn't highly likely) and you like the film itself well enough, I say go for it. Just be sure to keep your expectation in check and you might find yourself having a fun ride.


3D RATING: GREAT


Other sources that review this movie's 3D (The opinions expressed in these reviews may not always match up with mine. But if you're looking for a second opinion on this movie's 3D, these are some people I recommend checking out):



3D Blu-ray Bunker's Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkM8zzi2YXc




FINAL THOUGHTS:


I personally had a fun time watching Jumanji: The Next Level. It had everything its predecessor did: memorable characters, an interesting adventure story, and a boatload of laughs. Although I don't think it'll be as remembered culturally as Welcome to the Jungle is, it's still just as funny and worth watching for anyone who liked the Jumanji reboot and wants to see more of it. Now the 3D is a slightly different story. True, the 3D won't please everybody. But for those who are willing to give it a chance, you'll probably find at least a few good things to like about it. There is plenty of depth, lots of great scenery, and good amounts of action. Now, these elements are more impressive in certain scenes than others. So this isn't by any means a must-buy. And the third dimension doesn't do a lot for the already funny lines. Personally, as a guy who likes to watch most things 3D as long as the effects are done right, I liked the 3D presentation of Jumanji: The Next Level and hope to watch it that way again someday. But ultimately, whether this film is worth buying in 3D is up to you. This isn't everyone's 3D cup of tea. And if you didn't like the 3D in Welcome to the Jungle, chances are you won't like what's presented here. But if you're willing to watch an hour of good but unimpressive 3D to get to 45 minutes of great 3D, this might be worth your time.





DID YOU LIKE "JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL" IN 3D

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