Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Four teenagers are sucked into a magical video game, and the only way they can escape is to work together to finish the game.

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Director:

 Jake Kasdan

Writers:

 Chris McKenna (screenplay by), Erik Sommers (screenplay by) 

Stars:

 Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, Black Jack

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a 2017 American adventure comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, and Jeff Pinkner, from a story by McKenna. It is a part of the Jumanji franchise, serving as a sequel to Jumanji (1995), which is based on the 1981 children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. The film also pays tribute to Robin Williams, star of the first film, through a mention of his character's name. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas, and Bobby Cannavale. Set twenty-one years after the first film, the plot follows four teenagers who are transported into the video game world of Jumanji, playing as the characters they chose. Uniting with another player, they must overcome the game's magical power in order to win and return home.

Principal photography began in Honolulu, Hawaii in September 2016 and ended in Atlanta, Georgia in December 2016. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle premiered at the Grand Rex in Paris on December 5, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 20, 2017, in RealD 3D and select IMAX. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who called it a "pleasant surprise" and praised the cast. The film has grossed $946 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2017 and the 42nd-highest-grossing film of all time.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Dwayne Johnson	...	Spencer
	Kevin Hart	...	Fridge
	Jack Black	...	Bethany
	Karen Gillan	...	Martha
	Rhys Darby	...	Nigel
	Bobby Cannavale	...	Van Pelt
	Nick Jonas	...	Alex
	Alex Wolff	...	Young Spencer
	Ser'Darius Blain	...	Young Fridge
	Madison Iseman	...	Young Bethany
	Morgan Turner	...	Young Martha
	Sean Buxton	...	Jogger
	Mason Guccione	...	Gamer
	Marin Hinkle	...	Spencer's Mom
	Tracey Bonner	...	Fridge's Mom

Plot

In 1996, in Brantford, New Hampshire, picking up from the previous film's ending, teenager Alex Vreeke receives the Jumanji board game, found by his father on a beach after it was thrown over a bridge by Alan Parrish and Sarah Whittle 27 years previously. Alex sets the game aside, asking himself, "Who plays board games anymore?" That night, the game, taking advantage of Alex's interest in video games, magically transforms into a video game cartridge which catches Alex's attention when he is awakened by the Jumanji drums. As he plays it, he is transported into the game.

Twenty years later in 2016, four students in Brantford High School are placed in detention together: Spencer Gilpin, who was caught writing an essay for his former friend, Anthony "Fridge" Johnson, who is there for the same reason and has been kicked off the football team; Bethany Walker, who made a video call during an English class quiz and barely missed talking her way out of it; and Martha Kaply, who refused to participate in P.E. class and accidentally insulted her instructor. Their principal punishes them by sending them to the school basement to prepare magazines for recycling, as an opportunity for them to think about their future. Upon exploring the basement, Fridge discovers Alex's discarded video game system with the Jumanji cartridge; Spencer and Fridge set up the game out of curiosity. The game presents five possible playable characters, but the first one is unable to be selected. Spencer and Fridge end up selecting two of the remaining characters, and the girls are also persuaded to choose their own characters. When Spencer hits "Start", the four are transported into the game.

They find themselves in a jungle, each now in the forms of their game avatars. Spencer is a tough, muscular explorer and archaeologist named Dr. Smolder Bravestone; Fridge is a diminutive zoologist named Franklin "Mouse" Finbar, whom he had selected upon misreading the name as "Moose" (it later causes tension as Fridge's character is designed as a valet for Spencer's); Bethany is an overweight male cartographer and intellectual named Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon, whose nickname she mistook for a woman's; and Martha is a gorgeous commando and martial arts expert named Ruby Roundhouse. They soon realize that they each have three lives, and Spencer speculates that if they lose all three, they die for real. Each of them also has special skills and weaknesses.

They learn the game's story from Nigel, an NPC guide: power-corrupted Professor Russel Van Pelt stole the "Jaguar's Eye", a magical jewel, cursing the land of Jumanji. Nigel escaped from Van Pelt with the jewel, and the players must now return it to its proper place in the eye socket of an enormous jaguar statue and call out "Jumanji" (possibly the only remnant of Jumanji's board game origins) to lift the curse. Before departing, Nigel warns them that Van Pelt will stop at nothing to retrieve the jewel, which gives him control over Jumanji's animals. The group begins to tackle the game's increasingly difficult "levels", losing lives periodically as they do so. When the group is cornered by Van Pelt's men at a bazaar, they are rescued by Alex, the missing fifth player, whose avatar is a pilot named Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough. Having taken shelter in a jungle house built by Alan Parrish, Alex believes that he has only been gone for three months, and is distressed to learn of his twenty years of absence. The newcomers vow to help him return home. Working together, the group breaks into a transportation shed, commandeering a helicopter to fly to the jaguar statue and return the jewel, but Fridge accidentally drops the jewel into a herd of white rhinoceros. Spencer sacrifices one of Fridge's lives by pushing him out of the helicopter as a distraction, and manages to secure the jewel. Upon landing, Alex loses his last life when a mosquito bites him, but Bethany performs CPR and saves him by transferring one of her lives to him.

Arriving at the statue, the players find themselves facing a pack of jaguars on one side and Van Pelt's forces on the other. Using their resources and teamwork, the players outmaneuver their opposition while Spencer and Martha race to the statue. Van Pelt confronts Martha, trapped in a pit of venomous snakes, and demands the jewel, but she sacrifices one of her lives to respawn strategically and get the jewel to Spencer. With all players on their last lives, they manage to end the game and return to the real world, though Alex does not appear with them. On their way to the formerly dilapidated Vreeke home, they discover it to be restored and decorated for a Christmas family gathering. An adult Alex arrives, having returned to where he left off in 1996 and changing the course of history. He is now married with children, and named his eldest daughter after Bethany out of gratitude for saving his life.

Spencer and Fridge reconcile, Bethany evolves to care for others than herself and makes plans for a summer backpacking adventure, Martha and Spencer become romantically involved (the end of the film sees them sharing a kiss), and the teens are now friends after their experiences in the game. The four hear Jumanji's drumbeats and take the game behind the school where Fridge destroys it with a bowling ball they found in detention to prevent anyone from playing it again.

Budget	$90–110 million
Box office	$946.2 million

Sources : IMDb , Wikipedia