Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a surprise hit that held its own against Star Wars when it came out a couple of years ago. Now, the two powerhouses will be doing box office battle once again. We have our first look at just what Jumanji will be bringing to us, and it looks hilarious. Check out the first trailer for Jumanji: The Next Level.
Our trailer opens by introducing the new character played by Danny DeVito as the uncle of the teenager Spencer. It's Spencer who has apparently decided to go back and try to repair the Jumanji video game that he and his friends destroyed at the end of the previous film. Fearing that Spencer has gone into the game, his friends go in after him, but this time around, things get a little messed up.
The avatars go through a little bit of a switch, as the character previously played by Spencer, who looks like The Rock, is now Danny DeVito, who seems to have been accidentally sucked into the game with the kids. Danny Glover, who also lives with DeVito, is now Kevin Hart. The kids aren't safe either, as Mouse has gone from playing the Kevin Hart avatar, to becoming Jack Black.
Needless to say, watching Dwayne Johnson do his best Danny DeVito impression is looking like it will be comedy gold. Although, Kevin Hart doing Danny Glover might actually be even funnier based on this trailer.
This is a great way to change up the "game" and keep the movie from getting stale. If we just saw the video game avatars acting the same way that we did in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, then there's less that makes the sequel feel fresh or to have any reason to exist. By shifting the characters around a bit there's an opportunity for new comedy.
Karen Gillan had hinted at some sort of change happening in the main cast, now, we know exactly what she was talking about.
Of course, this trailer does raise a couple of questions. The characters of Spencer and Bethany are missing in action. The search for Spencer appears to be the main plot of the film, but how he entered the game is unclear. Bethany entered the game with everybody else but doesn't appear to be part of this group. Where did she go?
There is one more avatar character introduced in the previous film, Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough played by Nick Jonas. As in the previous film, it seems he won't be part of the initial group. There's a good chance that one of the two missing characters is playing that role, but we still have one extra human who has entered the game than we have avatars, assuming Spencer is actually in the game at all of course. Does the game create a new character? Is one of the kids just in Jumanji as themselves? We'll have to wait and see.
Jumanji: The Next Level is set to open December 13.
