The Reel Rejects - JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL (2019) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

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Starting point is 00:01:42 I'm ready for some rock muscles. I'm ready for some Kevin Hart, humor. Let's freaking get it, my man. Here we got Jumanji, the next level. Commence. I don't want them to make it other. one. I mean, is there any, I mean, we're getting, I don't know, we'll talk about it in a second, but what a tease. Yeah, we just watched Jumanji the next level. If you are listening to us on Apple or

Starting point is 00:02:09 Spotify, make sure you roll the dice and give us a high rating. We would appreciate it. Also, to Rejectnationshop.com, get cool teas like these. Also, the Sheejects have amazing new sweatshirts that they have out. Please go support them and get some. They're so cool. Wow. What an incredible ride. This whole journey of the three again, I still want to do Sathura, too. So I really hope you guys let Greg and John know that. Eron, what do you think of Jumanji, the next level? The next level.

Starting point is 00:02:43 It was a lot of fun. Honestly, I think that, you know, they captured all the charm and fun of that other one that we saw, Welcome to the Jungle, and just up the ante from all the stuff that we got to explore. I loved the reprisal of the actors in the roles, even though. we got to see them have some fun playing like the different ones where Danny DeVito was now the rock and then Danny Glover was Kevin Hart and that bit was fun I was worried he's going to get old fast but I was surprised that they were able to make it sustain I was happy they were able to make that bit really funny and

Starting point is 00:03:17 consistently up in the ante on that and yeah I like the ways we got to explore the new terrain of Toronto of Jamanji and yeah I just thought this one was a lot of fun this one weirdly felt I don't want to say like because the last one felt semi-kitty to me but with like these adult flourishes in there but I think this one

Starting point is 00:03:39 definitely up the heart as well like this one felt more adventure than than family film which I really appreciated even though I like family films but I want to say yeah this movie really up the heart when it came to the interpersonal relationships of the characters

Starting point is 00:03:55 I would like yeah i think i would have liked some more arc for fridge and then you know with um with martha but i thought their inclusion in the movie was also a lot of fun and the comedy i think this movie was funnier than the first movie as well yeah um by the way it said rory mccan for yurgan so was not bobby i mean we we kind of identified once we got about three quarters uh through the way through the film that it wasn't bobby i agree with you um but i i think they developed those characters pretty well in the last film. And I think the focus character development-wise

Starting point is 00:04:30 was on Grandpa Eddie and on Milo, which I really loved. I mean, it got me tearing because I genuinely loved the development between the relationship. And I love you made a fantastic point that it's, again, there was terrific development, but when it came to the friendship,

Starting point is 00:04:47 at least, you know, of the two main friends, it's always the Rock and Kevin Hart that they put those two characters in. I think that's an interesting touch. Just really quick before, because I really only have some minor negatives here. And if I'm going to go into a ranking, and I know I'm on recency bias here, I would still put this one just a tad below the first two. I still really enjoyed this one.

Starting point is 00:05:11 It was fun. It was entertaining. But I would put it just a tad below, but I still, again, enjoyed it. I would say the pacing there were times it was just dragging a bit here and there. And also, too, some of the CGI and visuals were a bit spotty. There were still some great shots overall, but a couple times I was like, like this is extremely obvious of the, the CGI. But again, you know, they're in a video game. It is what it is. And again, when you're playing video games, that's how it is, too. So I guess,

Starting point is 00:05:38 like, you take for what it is. Having said the point you made about, like, you know, Fridge and was it Bethany or Martha, you said that we're a little bit underdeveloped? I'm not, I'm not disagreeing with you. But again, I think because the focus of the film was on Grandpa Eddie, was on Milo, and was on Spencer again, just because, again, he just, he couldn't identify anymore with who is. He felt so lost in his own space. And he felt just, you know, amongst his friends. And, like, he didn't feel like he had a sense of purpose anymore. And also he felt lost not being the rock anymore. And, you know, I thought that that personally just resonated with me. And I actually thought that was a good storyline to get back into the game. But it's interesting because, like,

Starting point is 00:06:24 they presented that being like a theme and arc of him wanting to find a sense of self again or a sense of purpose and strength. Yeah. But they never allowed him the chance to embrace the fact that he didn't need that to be himself because when he was Aquafina, he was just Aquafina until he transformed back into the rock. And then when he was good at being the rock. And when. I agree with that actually.

Starting point is 00:06:53 Yeah. He's good at being the rock. when he was the rock but they never allowed him the oh you need to be okay being yourself and him his anxiety was the fact that he felt like he wasn't good enough and he experienced the that uh relinquishment of that anxiety until his girlfriend uh martha told him like no like when we're feeling insecure when we're feeling down that's who need our people the most rather than retreat yeah and and i wish he would have been able to learn that without being in the rock's body Though I think that watching them kind of be in full force and being able to embrace the fact that they are good as these characters was fun, it was a fun thing for them to do in the third act.

Starting point is 00:07:36 But I think that thematically it would have been stronger if they had left it in the body he wasn't comfortable with to just amplify the fact that it's not the body that matters. It's his heart. Also the fact that it was weird because they like hinted arcs. now that I'm thinking about in processing it, they hinted at arcs. Like, for example, when Fridge, when Bethany got back in Jack Block's body and it was like the ankle thing,

Starting point is 00:08:03 she's like, oh, it's not that bad. I think it was him kind of complaining a lot about the fact that he was in a body he wasn't comfortable with or used to. And then they were like, oh, they hinted the thing like, oh, this is not as bad as you think it would be or that you felt it was, but without having Fridge himself,

Starting point is 00:08:23 coming to that conclusion accepting himself in whatever form that he's in or whatever state that he's in yeah but that being said you know these these flaws aside i think the journey overall i think what really makes the experience of the movie um is the character uh interplay the humor and the action scenes i think the action scenes really excelled in this one with the one with the ostrich and them being in the car and the stuff with them on the bridges with the mandrills. I thought that stuff was a lot of fun. I do fully agree with you. I would have loved that conversation that they, because I thought that was great.

Starting point is 00:09:00 It was a good emotional beat, which again, we're going to talk about, I want to get to Grandpa Eddie and Milo again with some of the emotional beats as well. I'm going to transfer over to that in a second. I do think that it was a good conversation and just about communication and like, hey, when we're feeling down, that's a good time to turn to, you know. your core friends and the people we need the most. I think that was a good message in there, and I do agree with that because I've been there myself

Starting point is 00:09:25 where, you know, when I'm feeling depressed or just feeling sad and not sure of myself, I turn to my friends or my family or my loved ones and they're there to help me through it. So I think that is a good message. But I would have preferred him, again, this is just a me thing, and I think it sounds like it's a you thing too.

Starting point is 00:09:42 I would have preferred him being in Aquafina's body when that conversation happened rather than being in the rock's body. Yeah. I just think that would have hit home a little bit more because, and again, I understand the whole purpose was he wanted to be in the rocks by, but I think again, it's not about what body you're in. Like that was, that's not the whole thing. That's not the point that they were trying to get across in the film. So I think it would have just been a little more, again, it would have hit home if he would have been in Aquafina's body.

Starting point is 00:10:08 Yeah, I feel like it felt cheap. And I think that it's interesting because the characters were following are not literally, The Rock, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillen. These are just the avatars of the people that were following. But in that, they're essentially the stars because they're getting the most screen time. So when we go back into the game and who we're following is Grandpa Eddie and Milo, we're not, that takes, even though we're following the same actors from the first movie, our characters in their hearts are really taking a backseat to these newer characters,

Starting point is 00:10:46 but within these familiar bodies that we become accustomed to in the first movie, which I feel like doesn't allow the characters that we have come to know the chance to really shine, even though they're still present in the movie. And I would have liked all of their arcs to have kind of gone further. Also the fact that, you know, we established that the whole reason Milo and Fridge were fighting in the first movie or not on good terms is because, you know, they had this riff and they were like, relationship Fridge was kind of going his football direction and then Milo kind of felt like he was abandoning him and only was really there to do his homework and stuff and then kind of got a reprisal

Starting point is 00:11:27 of that in the fact that you know he's like oh I haven't really talked to him at all I'm like but that's how your relationship was before the last movie and then you guys all get together and now you guys just aren't talking again so I feel like if they would have continued on with the fact that oh no their relationship has become stronger since this Jermanji experience And I understand the fact that, you know, people grow apart in life. Yeah. But I feel as though if you guys were to establish that to be the arc, you should continue that. Maybe everyone else isn't as close, but those two should have been like thick as thieves.

Starting point is 00:11:59 I would have preferred that. I mean, I did appreciate that in the beginning, I guess because they were all coming back and in town. They were doing that whole group text. But they did establish in a scene later that, yeah, I haven't been messaging them as much as possible. I guess because they're in college. And like you said, life gets in the way. But after that experience in Jumanji and like, you would think that like nothing. Yeah, but especially after what their arc was in the last.

Starting point is 00:12:22 Right, right. No, no, no. I'm not making an excuse for them. I'm agreeing with you. I'm saying like you would have thought like after that experience and they are and again, the development that they had from the previous film that even with life and going through college and everything, of course, there's a lot of stuff that goes on with that. You still think that wouldn't have gotten in the way with getting too busy to to still make sure and check on Spencer like a lot.

Starting point is 00:12:42 but they did, I remember there was a line, too, from Fridge saying, yeah, I've messaged, and Bethany as well, I've messaged Spencer a lot, but he doesn't get back to me. So I'd have to re-watch that part and such, but, yeah, but either way, also to some of the action sequences, I really loved, like you said, with the, was it the ostriches, right? Yeah. Yeah, so they put some cool new, and that's one of my favorite parts of these films is seeing, like, what are the new animal, the scale? animal is going to be because in the first film you know you had lions you had van

Starting point is 00:13:15 pelt of course you had uh what the alley or the crocodiles rather um and then the second movie you had the hippopotamus you had uh i can't even remember all the other ones and then this you had ostriches you had the snakes um that one snake would look like an an anaccon or whatever the hell it was but um and then the what are the what are those monkeys called that get confused with baboons man mandrels mandrels man i'm gonna have to remember that one movie came out in 2019. It's been about five years. I wonder.

Starting point is 00:13:45 I'm sure COVID probably, if they were planning to do another one, I'm sure COVID stopped whatever development, but then and again, now it's been a few years. I would like them. And since they're now seemingly teasing the fact that they're in the real world, let's bring back some of those OG characters, have that franchise crossover. And again, the kids. Yeah. And I know we, the wife.

Starting point is 00:14:04 Yeah. And I love again that we mentioned the character of Alan Parrish in the last movie. again they weren't like you know so like hung up on the first movie but also like being its own thing but i love that there is references to the original um which they did again they said oh alan parish lived here and then also we were in the jungle that allen lived in and all that and then this film too you get the aunt norah thing i thought that was great i was not expecting that although like i said a couple times there at the end when it kept saying nora's i just figured a random woman named nora i was not putting two and two together but i'm glad i actually didn't put it

Starting point is 00:14:39 put that together because again like that was such a joyous like reaction from me when I saw that and I'm glad they got the uh the actress I can't remember her name I'm going to look it up in the second on I'm DB but I love that that inclusion of her too and I obviously like her and grandpa Eddie have a history just because she bought the place um from Eddie and uh Milo but um I didn't know that they seemed like there was a romantic history between them as well um so yeah I was not expecting that either. I thought there was going to be a line that she was going to say, like he was going to say, Howard Peter and Judy, but maybe that

Starting point is 00:15:15 would have been just a little too much over the head, but I thought that would have been fun. Like, oh, they're married good. I don't know. But yeah, no, overall, I had a lot of fun with this aside from some of the little gripes that we're talking about pacing and some of the underdevelopment. And then also, too, I would have liked, again, I would have

Starting point is 00:15:31 preferred Spencer being an aqua finis body when he has that thing because once he got into the rocks body, like, ultra confident again. And again, I understand that. I get what they were going for. I just would have preferred that. I think that would have just gone a longer way for me personally and the development in Spencer. Also, too, I would say this is one of my favorite performances from Aquafina. Now, there's times where she can be funny and then there's other times where it's like, again, she's a very talented actress, but there's

Starting point is 00:15:57 times where the schick is just too much and she's just playing a character, like you said, of herself. She's just doing the same damn thing over and over. And again, do what works for you, you know? I mean, she's gotten a lot of roles and, you know, more power to her. Awesome. Congrats on her success. But again, a lot of times she's playing the same damn roll over and over and over again. And I liked seeing her like when she was playing Spencer because Spencer is more laid back. He's very nervous. He's anxious.

Starting point is 00:16:21 I'm not used to seeing Aquafina in that role. And I really liked it. And then it was funny seeing the, the grandpa Eddie, you see a little more, again, of the traits of Aquafina. But again, still a little bit dialed back and more of the Danny DeVito impersonation. I really enjoyed her performance in this film. I'll be a little more the first half where she was playing

Starting point is 00:16:41 as Spencer but I don't know did you like Aquafanos performance in this film because I liked it Yeah I thought she was cool I thought she was fun

Starting point is 00:16:47 you know we get to see her play two different versions of two different people and watching her do the second one I was like okay it makes sense

Starting point is 00:16:56 why they cast her as like the Danny DeVito one because she's notorious for doing her like either her black sense or like her New York accent the type of you know thing that she does

Starting point is 00:17:04 so is Dumongji Dumas you know So, but yeah, seeing her do the more subdued stuff, kind of like how she was in the farewell. Yeah, I like seeing Aquafina's more subtle side. I think that's part of her strength. Granted, she's, you know, she's obviously a very talented voice actor, and she does the caricature or, like, or heightened character stuff very well.

Starting point is 00:17:27 But, yeah, I think, you know, when you're so accustomed to seeing that, seeing someone, seeing her do something that is a little bit more kind of subdued is refreshing. And it, like, shows to her strengths as an actor and her versatility. Yeah, and I'd really, again, I'd go to your strengths, of course, but I'd love to see her do more stuff like that, more subdued personally. I think she's great at it. She's capable of it. Yeah, she's awesome. Okay. Should we get into anything else before we get into some of the trivia?

Starting point is 00:17:54 I wish Martha would have had more of an arc too. And yeah, I think they tease it an arc of a fridge kind of struggling with self-acceptance. And I would have liked to see more of that. But yeah, anyway, that is a... I'm just going to look up to before I get into the trivia. I just want to see. Oh, the mom. She was on two and a half men.

Starting point is 00:18:12 Spencer's mom. I knew she looked familiar. She was in the first one too, right? Let me look. I want to say she was. She was the first one was 2017. She was Spencer's mom in the 2017 version as well. You are correct.

Starting point is 00:18:28 Okay, so let's get into some trivia. Trivia. Saw one of the fastest turnarounds from filming to theatrical release. for a major film studio. Filming did not begin until February 2019 and wrapped four months later in May for a December release only seven months later. Wow. Most films complete filming nearly a year before their release.

Starting point is 00:18:52 Damn. That's crazy. That is insane. That's a really fast turnaround. Good on you guys, Jermonti. You're like, got to capitalize on that money, baby. Okay. Jack Black referred to this movie as Jumanji 4.

Starting point is 00:19:05 Citing Jumanji. Zathura and Jumanji, welcome to the jungle as the other films in the series. Guys, this is what we're talking about. Aaron and I need to do Zathura. Tell Greg and John, please, we're going to keep telling them to, but you got to make it happen. We've got to make sure these videos are liked and all that. That's right. That's right.

Starting point is 00:19:25 During filming Jack Black was running a behind-the-scenes vlog for his Jablinsky Games YouTube channel. Okay. Interesting. Okay. A brief musical light motif sounding strikingly similar to the main theme from Lawrence of Arabia plays during the desert sequence. This is likely a fitting homage to the similar landscapes and the adventurous spirit, both films here. I made a reference to the mummy with the music member. I said that theme sounds a little like the mummy.

Starting point is 00:19:53 Yeah. It was Lawrence of Arabia and I'm assuming when the mummy must have taken from Lawrence of Arabia. So that's why I probably hearkened it off of the mummy. Totally. I've never seen that one. I have not seen Lawrence Arabia. It's one big triangle. The first time we see Bethany in the previous film,

Starting point is 00:20:10 she's taking a selfie. In this film, the first time we see her, she's taking a photo, but not of herself. That's beautiful. That's good. She's developed. She's not self-absorbed anymore.

Starting point is 00:20:22 Look at the world around you. Yes. Yeah, because if this was the last film, she would have definitely taken a selfie for sure. Right. There is a very brief musical nod to the Mission Impossible theme, just as Karen Gillian starts the obstacle course to get the Jumanji Berry.

Starting point is 00:20:39 I don't even notice. It's funny because I did the Mission Impossible theme when they were doing the rope. Yeah, yeah. That's funny. I didn't notice either. Yeah, Wilhelm scream when seaplane rides the horse through the mandrill. Yeah, I called out the Wilhelm scream. You heard that.

Starting point is 00:20:54 In Kevin Hart's 2009 comedy stand-up special entitled, I'm a grown little man. He tells a story of he and his friends getting chased. by an ostrich. In this movie, Kevin and some of his co-stars get chased by numerous ostriches. That's a funny callback. I like that.

Starting point is 00:21:11 This is the fifth time Jack Black and Colin Hanks have worked together. The first being Orange County. Second being King Kong. Third being Tenacious D. And the fourth being, Welcome to the Jungle.

Starting point is 00:21:24 Jamanji Welcome to the Jungle. Damn. That's a lot. That's cool. Yeah. Marks the fourth collaboration between the Rock and Kevin Hart, having worked together in central intelligence, I have not seen that.

Starting point is 00:21:36 Jumanji, welcome to the jungle, and Fast and Furious presents Hobbs and Shaw, in which Hart had a cameo appearance. I didn't know that, because I never seen this. Danny DeVito and Danny Glover also appeared together in The Rainmaker. Okay. Huh. I did not know that. I don't think I've seen that, so that would make sense.

Starting point is 00:21:55 Danny Glover has worked with Jake Kasden's father, Lawrence Kasden, in the film's Silverado and Grand Canyon. Okay, so let's get into the spoilers. We just got a couple. We already called this at the end, obviously. The film connects to Jumanji as Babe Newworth reprises her role as Nora Shepard, the aunt of Peter and Judy, who played the Jumangi board game in the first film 24 years earlier. I wonder if there was a big uproar in theaters when people saw I'm sure, obviously,

Starting point is 00:22:24 there were people who noticed, or if there's some uproar when people saw that. I want a ape shit when that's all that was awesome. Several sources, including the writers and producers, have confirmed that Juergen, the Brutal, was not just an NPC, but an avatar for another yet to be revealed player. Oh. Whoa. Fascinating. Okay. But he's dead now.

Starting point is 00:22:48 Right. Right. Let's see. He has more lines we don't know about. But, yeah, when he pushed the thing, his thing came up, but it was different. It was, like, more fancy. Oh, that's true. Interesting.

Starting point is 00:22:57 Yeah, because it's, oh, that's right. it did come. I wasn't even thinking about that. But you said he's dead. Everyone gets three lives, right? This is true. This is true. Oh, my God.

Starting point is 00:23:07 I wasn't even putting that together. Damn. I'm like, who? Well, no, it couldn't be the guy who fixes the heater because he came in way after the fact. So it can't be him. Well, hopefully in the next, if they make another movie, which I'm hoping they do. There is a mid-credit scene in which animals from Jumangi manifest in the real world. In the original 1995 film, the game brought the dangers of the jungle out of the game.

Starting point is 00:23:30 Rather than sucking real people into the game, Alan Parrish being the obvious exception. The reason Nora does not recall the events of the original movie is because those events were erased when the game reset the timeline back to the moment when Alan got sucked into the game. The only characters who would remember those events are Alan and his wife, Sarah.

Starting point is 00:23:48 This is similar to how Spencer, Martha Fridge, and Bethany are the only ones who remember the timeline where Alex was missing for the 20 years. That's right. Yeah. I'll just do like two more. Okay. We'll call it, Aaron. at the end of this movie spencer is teaching his grandfather eddie to play the same

Starting point is 00:24:05 video game he is playing at the beginning of the previous film the video game is street fighter five okay that's right uh let's see just trying to pick a cool one near the ending when everyone is on the landing of jurgans fortress one of the exterior gargoyles is similar in appearance to the original game pieces I think I did notice that. Cool. Okay. I think that's it.

Starting point is 00:24:37 Yeah. Like I said, I've had a lot of fun with this series. I'm really hoping we can do Zathura. Again, I saw that so damn long ago. I don't even remember other than it's a space adventure. That's all I remember. But anyways, any final thoughts? No, these movies have been a lot of fun.

Starting point is 00:24:56 And let's watch The Thorough. yeah and also too before i agree with that and also i would love if they make another one too i think this one especially with the teas you get with the guy repairing the heating at the end there and then obviously with the ostriches now in the real world i would love to continue on the journey with this i think these films are a lot of fun and also too i love the a lot of the messages that they throw out as well so i'm all for if they really crack down on another storyline but uh anyways guys of I guess the four Jumanji films technically Zithyra, right?

Starting point is 00:25:30 Of the four Jumangi films Counting Zathura, which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments and what did you think of Jumangy the next level. We'd love to hear your comments and your thoughts down below

Starting point is 00:25:43 and yeah. Love you guys. Take care. Brian, Perry. If anybody, would be a great companion to get sucked into a video game with. It's got to be you, Brian Perry. I think of what kind of character Brian would be in the video game.

Starting point is 00:26:07 Like, are you, you know, like the general character who's just like all around well-rounded? Are you like the really big character with all the weapons? Are you the girl? I think he's like that stranger in the nature side who's just like an NPC kind of just doing. its own thing that you like want to harass yes you just keep like bumping into pushing over and he just goes watch where you're going look out and you want to start something and then he just keeps walking away yeah no matter how many times you shoot them just nothing happens because the game isn't programmed for anything to happen when you shoot them 100 times you can't you know that

Starting point is 00:26:45 violent that's for 13 video yeah when we hit you in the nuts a hundred times with some kind of found object it just doesn't do anything because you're an npcc Unfortunately. Yeah. So Brian Pair is like that character that, you know, you push him into a wall. He just keeps, like, phasing in and out of that same position. And if you push him hard enough, then the camera will just go inside of the mask of his head. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:27:09 It's good. We think really highly of you. The developers did great with you, all right? Yeah, they put a lot of thought into you. Good job, Brian. We think about you a lot.

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The Reel Rejects - JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL (2019) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

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