While this Wednesday comes out a reboot of Jumanji, worn by Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jack Black, it is customary to make a return on the first of the name, released in 1996 under the direction of Joe Johnston, with the incomparable Robin Williams.
A life-size adventure film
Joe Johnston, who distinguished himself a few years ago with Captain America – First Avengers, became known through the prism of films for young people, including Honey I shrunk the kids. With Jumanji, however, the filmmaker has managed to get out of this box that was adorned with him by making a timeless and intergenerational entertainment.
What marks in Jumanji is this ability to make the fantasies of a child real. All the games imagined by our children's minds who face lava, wild animals, steep cliffs, etc … are materialized here. Joe Johnston made real all the inventive imagination that was born in our naïve minds. In the manner of Toy Story , it is a whole world imagined by a child's mind that materializes before the eyes of the spectator, a fantasy satisfied in the manner of Steven Spielberg's films. It is this ability to amaze that gives Jumanji this dimension of cult film, a bit like Spielberg in his films. This gap between the real world and the fictional world, which convinces viewers that the latter can take precedence over the former. The spectators forget their worlds to rush entirely into this fictional creation that allows this kind of work to enter the memory. Like Jurassic Park, the world of Jumanji superimposed on ours becomes brighter, more sumptuous, more dangerous but therefore much more exciting compared to the reality of the viewer. This ability to transcribe the game is Jumanji's strength. Helped by sublime scenery, animals of all kinds, animated by good old animatronics.
And of course: Robin Williams
Obviously, Jumanji owes a lot to Robin Williams, once again unmatched. In his character who slightly loses the ball, Robin Williams slips with conviction and emotion into his role. Stuck in the game, Alan Parish (Robin Williams) could have quickly become an annoying character. The gap between the two worlds is clear, and the character is totally disconnected from reality. This offers some comic elements, but also a certain criticism of our ever-changing society. Too rapid changes that do not allow time for humanity to acclimatize. The dramatic stakes could have ended there, the character becoming the father figure for the children, who in turn will help him adapt to the outside world.
But Joe Johnston offers the character a subtle and interesting background. The villain is played by Jonathan Hyde, who also plays Alan Parish's father. This double identity creates a real dramatic and emotional vector for the character, for this young child who has fled the norms of society thanks to Jumanji, and who sees decades later, always evil in the father figure. Robin Williams manages to capture the emotionality of this character and all his subtlety, to draw the portrait of a man destroyed, but who still retains hope.
Adventure film for young people, Jumanji nevertheless offers its share of good humorous lines and especially a concept of the most saving. A true kid's fantasy, the feature film achieves the feat of offering a life-size game for young and old.
