By Rylie Harrison | Contributor
A movie starring Dwayne Johnson as a wimpy nerd, Kevin Hart as a football star, Karen Gillan as a brainiac and Jack Black as an Instagram queen? Was there any doubt this movie would be good?
For some fans of the original "Jumanji" starring Robin Williams, yes, there was some doubt. Unfortunately, I have not seen the first movie, so I cannot speak to how this new film compares to it.
As a stand-alone film, "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" exceeded my expectations. The action sequences leapt off the screen and engaged the audience.
Of course, the humor was fantastic. I appreciated that every character got their own moments to be funny. We all knew Hart and Black would be hysterical, and they fully deliver. Personally, I was surprised by how funny Johnson and Gillan were. The whole cast performed their roles perfectly.
One unexpected element of the movie was how much heart was put into it. These are high school kids dealing with high school issues. They are all very different people who have to figure out how to work together in order to escape this virtual world. I was invested in each character's arc and stuck with them to the very end.
I do have thoughts about the end, but I will keep those to myself as not to spoil it for anyone else.
In the end, I highly recommend checking this movie out. 4.5 out of 5 stars!
This film's rating is PG-13.
