Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Ready Players One-4K.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 18, 2018

It's always a joy when a movie truly surprises. What might have been a superfluous remake or re-imagining of the original fan favorite Jumanji is instead a spirited follow-up that reverses the flow -- characters are pulled into the game rather than the game pulled into the real world -- and follows four agreeably constructed characters as they battle their way through its perils, pitfalls, creatures, and villains. As the characters maneuver through a world built around video game rules while inhabiting new bodies and coming to understand the skillsets they now possess, individually and as a team, they face various trials along the way to saving the day while trying to find a way back home. More a sequel and less a revamp, Director Jake Kasdan's (Bad Teacher) film is actually a welcome new addition to the Jumanji family that pretty much gets it all right.

Four high school students -- the smart video game nerd Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff), the star football player "Fridge" Johnson (Ser'Darius Blain), the self-absorbed and phone-obsessed beauty Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman), and the introverted Martha Kaply (Morgan Turner) -- find themselves in detention. Their punishment: clean up the school's basement. They are left unsupervised and quickly find an old video game console that even Spencer cannot identify. Inside is a game cartridge titled "Jumanji." There's also an old CRT TV on which to play it. The four of them gather around, take a controller, and as soon as the game boots up, they're pulled into it. They find themselves in a dangerous jungle environment but, perhaps more shocking, inhabiting new bodies. Spencer is the brawny leader named Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson). Fridge is a wisecracking sidekick named "Mouse" Finbar (Kevin Hart). Martha is a butt-kicking beauty named Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan). And Bethany is a cartographer...and a man named "Shelly" Oberon (Jack Black). They quickly learn that their mission is to return a stolen gem to a large statue, and each only has three lives with which to do it. It won't be easy; perils and pitfalls, a few surprises, and a strict video game structure that Spencer may be able to predict await them.

This iteration of Jumanji is, first and foremost, a character film. Whereas the older film was more an event movie, about the special effects and the novelty of it all, this film's success or failure falls squarely on the characters and the cast that portrays them. The script is witty and packed with humor, but never obnoxiously so; it's a Comedy, and the cast hams it up and has fun with the character moments which are many and equally dispersed between the four primaries. Jack Black, probably the most reliable comedian working in movies today, is hilarious. He commits to the part -- a self-absorbed high school beauty queen dropped into the body of a middle aged, pudgy man -- with glee and no boundaries. Scenes of self-deprecation are a joy, and he nails the cadence of the overstressed teenage girl who is not simply out of her body and (more importantly) out of touch with her phone but also out of her league, at least until she realizes she has a gift for reading a map, ironic since she’d otherwise probably have an app dictate directions to her and likely wind up as one of those people who drives off a cliff because she too trusting of her device and too distracted to watch where she's actually going. Dwayne Johnson is awesome portraying an allergy-riddled weakling teenager who, amongst the four, is the most familiar with video games. Karen Gillan rocks as a shy girl who is suddenly Lara Croft, and Kevin Hart does classic Kevin Hart as the support character who totes a magic bag full of whatever the others need and who will explode if he eats cake (it sound ridiculous but provides one of the movie's funniest scenes and, hey, what a way to stay on that diet!).

Structurally, the movie is very firm in maneuvering from one set piece to the next, but in this case a rigid, by-the-book approach is the only working option. The characters are forced to follow a prescribed set of rules. They are not in control, of course, in terms of how the story plays out; it's a video game, and one predetermined level invariably follows another. All they can control is how they respond to any given situation, how they "play the game," which is why it’s so vital that the film get its characters right. The fun comes not so much in what new danger awaits but rather how each character, individually and collectively, will combat every new trouble, struggle, enemy, and obstacle the game places before them. Welcome to the Jungle has fun with video game cliché. It knows the rhythm, it knows the verbiage, and that not all of the unwitting players know their way around a game makes it all the more fun as they sort out not only “game play” mechanics but also the probability of success and the very real consequences of failure.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle's 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD presentation offers a moderate-to-meaty uptick in detail and color saturation over the Blu-ray, but neither make for a comparatively striking upgrade, the sort of far-and-away improvements where the UHD just blows the Blu-ray out of the water. To be sure, textural qualities see a fair boost upwards. Facial definition is more complex. Pores are sharper, deeper, more detailed and visible. The increase in complexity is obvious both watching the film straight through and when conducting direct comparisons between the two images. The film was reportedly captured at a resolution of 3.4K and finished at 2K. The source resolution certainly allows for added tightness and efficiency of clarity, and the added sharpness at 2160p resolution means a cleaner, more expertly defined presentation. Improved clarity over the Blu-ray ensures that environments are crisper, clothes are more complex, and that hair is better defined at the single-strand level.

Meanwhile, the Dolby Vision color palette doesn't make any radical changes to the film's coloring when compared to the Blu-ray, but there's a clear uptick in brilliance and color clarity. Natural greens pop with increased depth and punch. Skin tones are fuller. Support hues are firmer and showier. Generally, there's a perceptible increase in color density and nuance, allowing for improved accuracy as well as subtle transitions and minute color details. Black levels remain superbly deep and true. Light source noise remains an interferer but never raises to alarming, never mind distracting, levels. The UHD doesn't improve on a reference Blu-ray by leaps and bounds, but it is a solid enough upgrade that UHD and Dolby Vision-capable fans will want to splurge on this superior version.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack that offers a nice little boost over the standard Blu-ray's 5.1 DTS track. Music is notably larger, not just in terms of speaker engagement but in terms of robustness. It's more aggressive, a little more clearly defined, a bit more of a joy to hear and sort out the score's finest little instrumental nuances and, yes, it certainly helps that there are more speakers to throw sound into the theater. The Atmos configuration allows for a larger, more tangible sonic surface area, and the track makes several good uses of fairly discrete overhead details, including a scene in chapter eight when Bravestone tosses bad guys through a roof and as missiles shoot up from the ground towards a helicopter in chapter 12, followed by a pleasing bit of sonic mayhem as the chopper spins out of control. Action scenes deliver quality detail and sometimes tremendous power, including a rhino stampede that produces some seriously intense low end push. Essential action details are clear and nicely engaged with the entirety of the stage at its disposal, which with Atmos is darn near every inch. Dialogue is clear and well prioritized. Like the movie, this track is just flat-out fun.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Beyond a cast and crew still photos tab, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle's UHD disc contains no extras. However, the bundled Blu-ray houses the following supplements. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Journey Through The Jungle: The Making of Jumanji (1080p, 14:54): Rhys Darby in character as Nigel Billingsley hosts a broad look over the film, including the work of Director Jake Kasdan and the qualities he brought to the film and life on the set, shooting in Hawaii and Atlanta, how this film's story parallels and differers from the original 1995 film, sets and props (and how some hearken back to the original film), costume design, and creature effects.
• Meet the Players: A Heroic Cast (1080p, 7:08): As the title suggests, this supplement briefly explores the key characters and the actors who portray them, with emphasis on the challenges of portraying the "avatars" of the "real" people they play in the film.
• Attack of the Rhinos! (1080p, 3:56): A closer look at making one of the film's most visually intensive and action-packed scenes that involves "flesh-eating albino rhinos" chasing a helicopter. Visual effects progression clips are included.
• Surviving the Jungle: Spectacular Stunts! (1080p, 5:47): Crafting big and spectacular action scenes, including the motorcycle scene made with professional drivers, Ruby Roundhouse's fighting skill sets, and making the film's climactic scene.
• Book to Board Game to Big Screen & Beyond! Celebrating The Legacy of Jumanji (1080p, 4:44): Cast and crew reflect on the original film and discuss the process of honoring it while forging a new identity for this film.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 2:25): A basic compilation of funny moments from the shoot with, unsurprisingly, a healthy dose of Kevin Hart.
• Music Video (1080p, 3:35): "Jumanji, Jumanji" by Jack Black and Nick Jonas. A humorous tongue-in-cheek performance like only Jack Black can deliver. If only all music videos were this fun!

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a rare hit of a movie that actually builds on a franchise, takes it in the right direction, and creates its own identity without negatively impacting the original. It's very funny, spurred on by a great script and a perfectly assembled cast; few movies are this purely fun anymore, and Kasdan and Sony got it absolutely right. Sony's UHD gets it absolutely right, too, with fantastic video and audio presentations and a nice little collection of bonus content. Highly recommended.