By

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

I put off seeing this movie, vaguely remembering its 1995 predecessor as a lame SFX extravaganza elevated to the (barely) watchable level by Robin Williams. But I’m here to tell you I had a ball. Four stereotypical US teens are sucked into the title board game and assume adult avatars, none of which remotely resembles […]

I put off seeing this movie, vaguely remembering its 1995 predecessor as a lame SFX extravaganza elevated to the (barely) watchable level by Robin Williams. But I’m here to tell you I had a ball. Four stereotypical US teens are sucked into the title board game and assume adult avatars, none of which remotely resembles his or her high-school “status.” The nerd becomes Dwayne Johnson, the jock becomes Kevin Hart, the mousy girl becomes Karen Gillan, and, in the funniest morph, the popular blonde girl becomes … Jack Black. And it’s this sly Freaky Friday vibe that makes it so much fun. Go see it. (119 min)