For those who’ve been clamoring to get back into the ‘jungle’ after the side-splitting yet adventurous sojourn that Dwayne Johnson’s 2017 comic caper embarked on, the official trailer of Jumanji: The Next Level would have tickled them pink.
A sequel to the smasher Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the next chapter in the riveting video game brings all our protagonists back into the mix, except there are a few changes this time around.
Not everyone gets back into their original avatars – Johnson, previously embodied by Spencer, is now Spencer’s grandfather instead, played by Danny DeVito, whereas Fridge is the gaming avatar of DeVito’s friend played by Danny Glover.
So the rest of the group, Martha (Karen Gillan), Fridge (Kevin Hart) and Bethany (Jack Black), have a task of finding their friend in the madcap world of Jumanji, all the while having to get through the game too.
As Jumanji’s in-game guide Nigel Billingly promises, this new adventure is “even more challenging” and the action-packed first look of the sequel certainly posits the same: ginormous ostriches chasing our heroes in a sprawling dessert, giant anaconda biting Black’s head off, a monstrous hippo waiting to devour them in a lake, furious macaques coming after them and what not – it’s a wild goose chase!
Also returning to the film are Nick Jonas, Madison Iseman, and Morgan Turner, along with a new character essayed by Awkwafina.
Directed by Jake Kasdan, Jumanji: The Next Level opens the gates on 13 December 2019.