Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (4 Stars)

It's not often I sit in the cinema laughing out loud. I'm English, I'm reserved. But sometimes I can't help myself. This film fulfilled all my expectations. I expected it to be silly but funny. It was. It was also very intelligent.

This is a sequel to "Jumanji", which was made in 1995. I can see my readers cringing already. Delayed sequels suck. Usually it's a film that was complete in itself, but decades later something is tagged on to squeeze more dollars out of older nostalgic cinema goers. I don't doubt that that was the reasoning behind "Welcome to the Jungle". It could have been a disaster, but it was saved by a clever script and the brilliant cast. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart are an incredible comedy duo who should never split up. Jack Black is a brilliant comedian, especially when his comedy is subdued. I only know Karen Gillan from "Doctor Who" and "Guardians of the Galaxy", so I was pleasantly surprised that she could handle a comedy role so well. I can't help feeling that she would be the perfect choice for Beverly Switzler in a new Howard the Duck film.

The film is about a cursed artefact called Jumanji. In the first film it appeared as a role-playing game. If I remember correctly, role-playing board games were still common in 1995, but their popularity was ebbing. Young people were more interested in game consoles. "Welcome to the Jungle" begins in 1996, and the game (or the demon behind it) realises it can't tempt people any more, so it transforms itself into a Nintendo game. It only found one player, and the game was left unplayed ever since.

Somehow the Nintendo console with the game still inserted found its way into the cellar of the nearby high school, where it remained gathering dust for the next 20 years. Nobody was interested, until four 16-year-olds in detention are sent into the cellar to clean out the rubbish. They're bored, so they're willing to try out even an ancient game console. Whoosh! They're sucked into the game itself, an adventure in which they have to return a magic jewel which was the eye of a giant jaguar statue. They're not allowed to leave the game until they succeed.

In the high school scenes the children are the dull stereotypes that we expect from American teen comedies: the football player, the nerd, the unattractive outsider girl and the beautiful but shallow in-girl. When they enter the game the film shows its strength. The in-game characters, the avatars, are the opposite of their real world personas, in both appearance and abilities. The kids have to struggle to deal with their new selves.

Anyone who's played computer games, especially computer adventure games, will recognise the intelligence of the screenplay. I've played many adventure games in my life, especially the Sierra adventure games before the days of the Internet, but also recent Internet games. Whether the progress is linear or non-linear, one thing has to be done before others are possible. The players can't just walk directly to the jaguar, they have to take a roundabout route to find articles they need for their journey. On the way they have to solve puzzles. The Non Player Characters keep on repeating the same questions until the correct answer is given. This is hilarious.

But I repeat once more: the film wouldn't have succeeded without the actors. The chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart can carry any film.

When the first photos of the film were released there were complaints about Karen Gillan's costume being unpractical, outdated and sexist. Some people just don't get it. That's the point. In the real world women wouldn't wear a costume like that in the jungle because they would be mosquito bait, but it isn't the real world, it's a computer game. It's a retro computer game from the 1990's. What did games from the 1990's deliver? Sexy looking female characters to attract teenage male audiences. Covering Karen up would have been out of character and spoilt the film.