Ever since the very first film where Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt starred in it with a very young Kirsten Dunst back in 1995, The word Jumanji has gone hand in hand with the jungle where the stories of the original film, the animated series and even the 2017 reboot all revolved in. But with the release of Jumanji: The Next Level‘s final trailer, it seems like the film’s title is very appropriate as the story will now take the audience in a much wider landscape beyond the jungle.
The new trailer dropped by Sony in their YouTube channel shows us a lot of familiar and new things, like having the characters start in the same spot as they did in Welcome to the Jungle. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart sinks their teeth in a different form of comedy this time, where they channel Danny DeVito and Danny Glover’s geriatric characters when they get sucked into the game, where it seems like they will have free reigns in having old people humor which at this point in all honesty is hilarious with the two having amazing comedic chemistry with each other.
The Next Level also seems to integrate some new concepts both geographically and technologically. The trailer shows the characters in a desert setting where they get chased by a horde of aggressive ostrich. Further on they present a frozen tundra that has a monastery or an ancient castle of sorts on top of an icy mountain akin to Ra’s al Ghul’s hideout in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins back in 2005 with Karen Gillan’s Ruby Roundhouse having a badass fight sequence in the trailer.
Nick Jonas also makes his return. though it is still unknown if he’s Alex from the previous movie or someone else. In the trailer he comes out riding a majestic black stallion which was revealed to be Bethany with Kevin Hart’s character hilariously interpreting her neighs as:
“Oh my god. Like, I’m a total horse.”
Other scenes reveal what seems to be a more advanced mechanical airship sequence, new bad guys, a horde of giant baboons chasing them through a huge valley and more. Taking the story out of the jungle might prove to be a good move for the franchise if they want to expand it with more movies in the future as just isolating the storyline within the jungles of Jumanji, while can be expounded on, is still not the right decision given that major studios like to do multiple films on franchises like this one, especially when Welcome to the Jungle earned just a little bit shy of a billion dollars in the global box office.
Jumanji: The Next Level will probably be a good if not great sequel to its 2017 predecessor and with Sony’s witty premiere in mid-December a week prior to Disney’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s premiere date, this sequel is probably set up for a good amount of success before the Mouse House eats up the box office once again.