Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle | Review - Motley stars romp and scream

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Kevin Hart Karen Gillan Jack Black Dwayne Johnson. — (Image credit: Frank Masi)

The game has evolved.

Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and former Doctor Who assistant Karen Gillan are the brawny and brainy avatars of four high-school kids magically stranded inside a jungle video game in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a very belated sequel to the terrific 1995 fantasy comedy starring Robin Williams.

Amid the rampaging CGI animals and galloping fun, Johnson is a scream as the teenage nerd trapped inside the body of a strapping adventure hero. And Gillan captures the writhing discomfort of the wallflower transformed into a midriff-baring, Lara Croft-style badass, while Kevin Hart is similarly put out as the hulking alpha jock turned into a shrimp-sized zoologist.

Black predictably lets rip as the prissy teen princess, mortified to have been converted into an overweight middle-aged male palaeontologist. But you may find his mincing, over-the-top turn too much of a good thing.

Certificate 12. Runtime 119 mins. Director Jake Kasdan

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Sony Pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKs-8ULhmbU

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.