By Samiksha Mehta – Entertainment Editor

The sequel to the bestselling “Jumanji” movie is now here…and it’s a movie viewers don’t want to miss.

[WARNING: Review of this movie comes with spoilers. Read ahead at your own risk.]

“Jumanji: The Next Level” came to theaters on December 13 starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas (all returning) and a new cast member, Awkwafina.

The movie starts off with Spencer coming back home from college in New York. He’s made plans to have a sort of reunion with his friends from high school: Bethany, Martha, and Fridge at their favorite diner, now called “Nora’s”. When Spencer gets home, he finds out he’s sharing a room with his grandpa, and things get interesting from there on.

When Eddie’s (Spencer’s grandfather) old friend comes by his house for a visit, Eddie gets mad because Milo (old friend) abandoned their old restaurant to “retire” and relax. Milo gets mad back at Eddie for taking things to the extreme and says that he just wanted to relax with his wife and retire because he knew his “time” was up.

Spencer rediscovers the Jumanji game, after thinking that it was gone after the last time he went in. Curious, he goes in again, and goes missing. When he doesn’t show up to the diner with his friends, they get worried and go to his house to figure out where he’s gone. They snoop, and they find the game in the basement, shock taking over all their faces after they see it. Since Spencer’s grandfather is down in the basement with them, he gets sucked into the game with Milo when they start and Bethany is left back in the real world.

The roles are switched when the characters enter the game. Instead of Spencer becoming Dr. Bravestone, Eddie becomes Dr. Bravestone, and Fridge becomes Prof. Shelly Oberon. Martha is still Ruby Roundhouse, and Milo becomes Franklin Finbar. Milo and Eddie are confused when they find out what they are, and because of their short-term memory, Fridge and Martha have to keep telling them what’s going on. Meanwhile…Bethany, having been left behind from the game, goes to Alex to help get them back. When Bethany and Alex get into the game, she turns into a flying horse and Alex turns into the famous Nick Jonas, who is Alex in the game as well. 

The goal to get out of Jumanji is to recover a stone from Jurgen the Brutal, and to do this, they need to get Spencer, who turns into Awkwafina, whose character is someone skilled in lockpicking and stealth. Spencer, while in the character’s body, feels even worse about himself, because being in that specific body reminds him of who he is in real life, and he’s devastated because instead of becoming Dr. Bravestone, he’s basically another version of himself. 

The movie follows the main cast as they retrieve the stone and save Jumanji, once again. Once they get back home, the four friends decide never to go back in and they destroy the game console. Martha and Spencer are back together, and everything is just as it was in the first film. 

A strong point in “Jumanji: The Next Level” is when the characters switch avatars. This is a strong point because it shows how the different characters can make the avatars their own and it shows independence and that people don’t have to always be the same person; they could always use different personality traits to express themselves.

A weak point in “Jumanji: The Next Level” is when Spencer goes back into the game without notifying his friends. The whole foundation of their friendship is honesty, because when they first became friends, they had to depend on each other to survive. Him not telling his friends about going back into the game was a breach of that.

Overall, “Jumanji: The Next Level” is a really good action movie, and it’s not one moviegoers want to miss. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars