Do You Want to Play A Game? JUMANJI 2 Speculation


A classic movie from my childhood, Jumanji, a film about a board game that’s turns gameplay into reality, still fascinates me today as it did when I was younger, only for different reasons this time. Although Jumanji was underrated by critics at the time of its release, Jumanji is actually an interesting and original, Twilight Zone-type picture, with a gripping story, terrifying villains, and a sympathetic hero who spent most of his years trapped within the game itself, until players 3 & 4 were able to get him out.

As the plot plays out, you meet different and creepy jungle creatures including lions, a man-eating plant, big-ass spiders, and a hungry crocodile. The movie ends up with an ending many would consider a cop-out. As the four main characters finish the game, everything goes back to normal, although back to 30 years ago when the main character first played the game. All the character development created throughout the movie and everything turns back to normal, with only two characters knowing everything that really happened, but the ending actually makes sense, as the Jumanji game was never finished, and life went on until new players found the board game 30 years later. It would make sense that once the game finished, everything goes back to normal which, prior to the game being played, was 30 years ago.

There has been talk, as recently as November of 2013, about a sequel to Jumanji, or even a reboot, which is unnecessary, but a sequel would be interesting. Some things I would like to see addressed in a sequel are:

Who created Jumanji?

20140715-205518-75318926.jpg

I picture the main villain, Van Pelt, being created by a Witch Doctor to resemble an unsuspecting players worst fears. Since Allen was the first one to roll the dice, Van Pelt took on the form of his father. One of the points of the game is to overcome obstacles in your life. Much like the Saw games, but friendlier.

 

How did the game end up in New England?

20140715-205519-75319632.jpg

All I can imagine is on a dark and gloomy night as it was raining in 1800-something, a man on steering a horse carriage raced desperately trying to get rid of something, which happens to be the game Jumanji. The man looses control of the carriage and crashes. The game flies out of the carriage and slides into a gutter. The man historically laughs as he runs away from the crash site.

 

How can the game be destroyed?

20140715-205520-75320049.jpg

With how dangerous the game can actually be, it would stand to reason that the new players of the sequel would try to find a way to destroy Jumanji once and for all so that no one else can be hurt by it. As one of them ends up inside Jumanji, as Robin William’s Allen Perish in the first movie, they search for a way to stop the game, meeting up with the games creator, The Witch Doctor, who explains the purpose of Jumanji gives help to the new player, who is released and tells his friend they must finish the game first before destroying it. However, as they “burn” the game, the main characters believe they put an end to Jumanji, only for the viewers to see the game is still intact underneath a pike of ash, with the tribal sound playing, closing the new film.

 

These are all my predictions, and I’m sure there is money to be made and a whole new audience to pull into the world of Jumanji. The only thing is, someone who really sees the potential in the board game movie could really do great things with Jumanji without needing to reboot the film series.