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Jumanji: The Next Level Final Trailer: Bethany is a Horse, Of Course
Sony has released a brand-new trailer for Jumanji: The Next Level. The Jumanji fantasy adventure franchise came roaring back to life with 2017's Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a partial-reboot that went on to become Sony's highest-grossing film ever, and even challenged Star Wars: The Last Jedi's reign over the box office. The studio wasted little time green-lighting a followup after that, with cast members Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, and Nick Jonas returning alongside director Jake Kasdan and writers Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg.
Titled The Next Level, the third Jumanji movie overall follows follows high schooler Spencer (Alex Wolff) from Welcome to the Jungle as he repairs the enchanted Jumanji video game cartridge and re-enters its world, much to the consternation of his friends (Madison Iseman, Ser'Darius Blain, and Morgan Turner). However, the trio's efforts to rescue Spencer are complicated when - as seen in the first trailer - they're accidentally joined by Spencer's grandad Eddie (Danny DeVito) and his companion Milo (Danny Glover). Things only get zanier from there, as the new trailer emphasizes.
The second and final trailer for The Next Level dropped online today, and just in time for it to play with all the big movies releasing between now and the film's arrival in mid-December. You can check it out in the space below.
Although it doesn't dive all that deeper into the plot than its predecessor did, the final trailer for The Next Level confirms the world of Jumanji has changed since the events of Welcome to the Jungle, pitting its players against brand-new threats and settings. It appears the Jumanji sequel toys with the notion of video game mechanics even more than the previous movie did, as Jumanji starts glitching despite Spencer's attempts to repair it, resulting in players not getting to choose their avatars and Bethany (Iseman) ending up trapped in a horse (for a while, anyway). The other major change is the dynamic between Johnson and Hart's avatars, Dr. Bravestone and Franklin Finbar, who are now being controlled by Eddie and Milo, giving rise to plenty of Grumpy Old Men-style shenanigans along the way.
Refreshingly, there's still a lot the marketing hasn't revealed about The Next Level, including why Spencer went back into the game to begin with, and how Awkwafina's mystery character (who, by the look of things, helps the heroes at some point) fits into the story. Kasdan and his crew are clearly trying hard to walk the line between simply rehashing everything that worked in Welcome to the Jungle and using the same formula as that film did, but with enough new ingredients to keep things interesting. So far, though, they appear to be doing a decent job of changing things up just enough to ensure Jumanji: The Next Level makes for some light-hearted entertainment this winter holiday season.
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) release date: Dec 13, 2019
