JUMANJI THE NEXT LEVEL

There is no game like an old fun game "... getting old is a gift..." The Jumanji Realm is a reactivated and revisited and the slippery slope trap door fun escapade commences. Conventional and gameboard hijinx mix it up as the waterfall puns tumble downstairs like a slinky. Lots of paper airplane giggles and jokes hit the air one after another as they are tossed across the classroom and hit their mark. It's not miked stand-up comic humour, it's fresher. Like a cucumber. How is a cucumber funny?! Under the right setup, a cucumber can be really funny. They come out of left field unexpectedly -- this is probably one of the hardest techniques to execute it. ie I love Lucy, Mary Tyler Moore, Gilligan's Island episode high quality genre. The various locales these wly ones tramp through are for sure the standard Earth Wind and Fire initiational snowflakey sandy airy misty pitstops places...like Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Hobbit with even its own type of Star Wars token shady shanty watering hole bar/town of shifty characters. Great artisan values. The Cinematography is on epic scale with pearl like effervesence...I mean it's highly texturized, you feel cold or hot or creepy or dusty, like having to schlump through a crowed plant filled jungle with emerald floppy elephant sized leaves hanging all over you, And yet capture a very slick sophisticated comedy action packed trek with an adventure quest through it. The pacing is on point. The dialogue and the narrative, the writing mainly stays with a sensitive punchy hearty friendship themes, light and deep. In which...when and where "what am I doing with my life and what have I done with my life" intersect. This self discovery can't be mapped so therefore the laugh and tears cannot be expected. Exceptional comedy farce at its best. The genius of laugh-cry. It's not meant to be hilarious or ridiculous. It's about real ordinary people coping with themselves and others and happenstances cause laughter. It is an accomplished troupe of acteurs. The ensemble focus smartly shuffles around like 3 card monte . Everybody equally shines and gets the last laugh card. A dramatic moment. A shenangin. A breakfast cereal called Switcheroos. An "A" in timing for all. You are actually made to feel like you're a character too, that you were invited and are tagging along. I will diatribe and make a grist for the mill technical note. The scaling of trying to make 5'4" inch Jonas, Black, Hart look as big as 6'5" Dwayne stature, stifles some of the creative flow. They are constantly layered, stack, placed in positions to look the same size. Silly posturing. Jonas rides a 4 foot shetland pony, not a 6 foot horse. Whatever. If this was dropped, some natural interactions shots scenes wouldn't seem so stilted stiffled and cardboardy. You got Jonas/Dwayne having a tete-a-tete 20 feet from each other but they are suppose to be side by side. Yikes! Too conclude: Kudos to this fine production. An adventure film to be enjoyed. Everyone can go to, laugh with, get excited. Breezy Entertainment at its best. So say my name say my name say my name Jumanji... you heard if from me first.