Film Preview: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Page Revisions:

(July 2, 2017) Original
(September 24, 2017) New Trailer (#2) / New Posters (#2-#3)
(December 17, 2017) New Posters (#4-#18)

Release Date:

December 20, 2017

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “In a brand new Jumanji adventure, four high school kids discover an old video game console and are drawn into the game’s jungle setting, literally becoming the adult avatars they chose. What they discover is that you don’t just play Jumanji – you must survive it. To beat the game and return to the real world, they’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, discover what Alan Parrish left 20 years ago, and change the way they think about themselves – or they’ll be stuck in the game forever.”

Poster Rating: C+ / C+ / C- / B / C+ / B- (5) / F (5) / F / C- / C

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) Hapless characters falling into a fantasy world might be a compelling design did they not look like fake figures falling into the jungle.

(#2) Our protagonists look out on the jungle across which they must travel for their adventure. It’s big, bold and colorful without being cheap and cloying. Whether it can sell the film or not remains to be seen. (#3) On the other hand, you have the modestly familiar visages half-submerged and the cheap scare-joke of the alligator, but there’s nothing exceptionally compelling or inventive on display here.

(#4) A nice detailed, but not overbearing background creates a fitting setting for these characters. (#5) The same color scheme as design #4, but it somehow feels more vacant. (#6-#10) Nice individual backgrounds with differing poses from each character. These character posters are among the best I’ve seen even if they feel a bit too artificial. (#11-#15) And now for the worst character poster ever. A head shot with a black background. The utter lack of creativity is binding. (#16) This looks like it should be a continuance of the character posters, but the fact that this design is for a foreign territory separates it without improving it. (#17) Decently atmospheric, it’s reminiscent of design #4 while carrying its own uniqueness. (#18) If it weren’t for that awful blank black background, this might be an interesting poster design.

Trailer Rating: C+ / C+

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Review: (#1) Wholly different than many of us familiar with the Robin Williams original expected, there are some interesting moments, but it overall feels far too formulaic and cheaply predictable.

(#2) The first trailer created a decent amount of amusement and mystery about the film, setting the events up fairly well. Now, we get even more details, but a lot of the mystery is missing. That said, the humor is ratcheted up some, which is both interesting and worrisome. After all, are all the best jokes in the trailer like is too often the case?