#smoulder bravestone

[incorrectjumanji]

Mouse (bitterly looking at Shelly and Seaplane): Please. They think they're so great just cause they know each other's allergies? You know what I'm allergic to? Bravestone: Yup. Them? Mouse: Totally. Mouse: And also cake. You should know that, if I eat a piece of cake, I could die

[hitchell-mope]

Good film. The Alex and Bethany thing wasn’t needed though. Apart from that it was great.

[adventuresinjumanji]

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

Given the fact that Mouse Finbar and Shelly Oberon have things like "zoology" and "paleontology" in their strengths but Bravestone does not, we can therefore assume that Bravestone is, in fact, a medical doctor. In this essay I will

[merthurians-prat-and-idiot]

Saw Jumanji next level tonight!! (Well last night bc its 3am now lmao) It was good!! The actors are seriously amazing! You believe that they're so different from who they are (which is acting but sometimes the whole different body thing doesn't work & is just cringe and bad but they're v good about it!) It was a great story, kept you in the whole time & man oh man are they all so attractive & compelling like whattt 😂

[wrestlingatthemovies]

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle

A sequel to the classic 90s adventure film about a board game that comes to  life except this time the Jumanji game gets a modern twist as a video game. When a ragtag group of teenagers on detention discover the game they are sucked into it and take the bodies of their selected avatars.

One of the game's avatars is played by former WWF, WWE and WCW Champion The Rock. Smoulder Bravestone who's special skill is to ... well ...smoulder ...is the heroic character; strong and tough unlike the boy who inhabits his body.

Featured Wrestler:

The Rock as Spencer / Smoulder Bravestone

Wrestle Rating:

4 out of 5 exploding cake weaknesses

A modern take on a much loved tale that's similar enough to please fans of the original while offering something completely new at the same time. Yet another role that seems like it was tailor made for the Brahma Bull; effortlessly showing off his, size, strength, charm and comedic timing. 

[briangroth27]

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Review

I’ve always liked the original Jumanji and was pleasantly surprised by the sequel! The trailer sold me on the premise, but I wasn’t prepared for how much fun this movie would be. Both the young and adult casts were excellent, the adventure in this revamped Jumanji is exciting without feeling at all like a retread of the original, and the whole movie is a total blast!

Full Spoilers...

The young cast was solid, doing a great job of grounding their characters in the real world, while the adults adopted their characteristics and teen bewilderment at what was going on in the video game perfectly. The kids’ drama is fairly routine: Spencer Gilpin’s (Alex Wolff) a nerd being bullied into doing homework for his former friend (and current high school football star) Anthony “Fridge” Johnson (Ser’Darius Blain), Bethany Walker (Madison Iseman) is obsessed with her phone and her looks, and Martha Kaply (Morgan Turner) is a loner, refusing to conform to PE class. While the young actors definitely made these characters feel like real people instead of clichés, the writers could’ve added more depth to them, particularly with Spencer’s crush on Martha. I got the feeling that he’d liked her for a long time, but I’m not sure seeing her refuse to participate in PE was enough to fully sell that attraction (or her rebellious nature) and I would’ve liked to see more. Fridge also could’ve used a bit more depth in the writing.

Once the kids were trapped inside the game, the adult cast ran with what the teens established to incredible success. I’ve long thought Dwayne Johnson would be perfect as DC Comics’ Shazam/Captain Marvel—a ten year old boy who can turn into an adult superhero—and this movie’s premise is close enough to that to prove me right. He was hilarious as “Dr. Smolder Bravestone,” Spencer’s chosen character in the game, because even though he suddenly had an idealized body and was super-capable in this virtual world, he was still a kid. Things like trying to force himself not to cry in the face of their outlandish situation and the totally unattractive first kiss he shares with Martha’s avatar (Ruby Roundhouse, Karen Gillan) felt totally real and made for great comedy. I did think it was odd Bravestone didn’t have any weaknesses, but I liked that Spencer’s weaknesses showed through his virtual visage. His reluctance to go back to normality was understandable, given all he could do and be in Jumanji, and I liked that the movie gave Johnson a moment to play that uncertainty. Ruby’s “dance fighting” was a funny send-up of the current female action hero combat style and Martha’s reaction to the sexualized and scantily-clad video game character she found herself inhabiting felt realistic and appropriate. I also liked that she didn’t stand on the sidelines while the guys fought the villains. I do wish Martha had gained an appreciation for exercise from her adventure—physical activity is important, no matter how dumb kids might think it is or how awkward PE might be—but I liked the confidence she gained from her adventure and I also thought the moments of her bonding with Bethany in the game were well done.

It was great that they gave Bethany some depth in terms of explaining her addiction to her phone and Instagram. They did play her complaints and freak-outs about being in the jungle without her phone a little broadly, but it worked and Jack Black built on the foundation Iseman laid down to sell every ounce of her personality as Professor “Shelly” Oberon. Her reactions to suddenly having a penis were pretty hilarious too. I was pleasantly surprised that while she initially balked at being in this situation (and that body), she was quick to suggest solutions to the puzzles the gang had to get through to win the game and escape. She contributed instead of being a constant stuck-up stick in the mud like I thought she’d be, and that was a great choice on the part of everyone involved. I liked that she even got to solve the final puzzle too; that was a nice bit of redemption for the puzzles she didn’t solve. She also got a great selfless moment when it came to sacrificing one of her lives to save Nick Jonas’ Jefferson McDonough. I was really glad they didn’t have them kiss or let their attraction extend beyond longing gazes: even if he didn’t realize it, he was 20 years older than her and I think she was still a minor, which would’ve been gross.

I liked Kevin Hart as Fridge’s virtual alter ego “Mouse” Finbar, but I felt like he was the least developed in both his forms (despite both actors getting a lot of funny material and preforming what they were given well). Dramatically, his strongest moment came when arguing with Spencer on the edge of a cliff, but it felt like he and his insecurity about succeeding academically could’ve been explored a little deeper. Now that I think about it, however, his avatar’s encyclopedic knowledge of animals and his glee at being able to tame/command them during the climax is sort of an answer to that; I just wish we’d seen that inspire him to double-down on his studies in the real world. His fight with Spencer culminates in the weirdest choice in the movie for me, when Bravestone knocks him out of a helicopter to create a distraction. Mouse has the life to spare, so it was (coldly) logical, but Spencer never really has to answer for doing exactly what Fridge had nearly done to him earlier. I thought that should’ve had bigger consequences. Nick Jonas was well-cast as a daring pilot who was overwhelmed with fear of losing his last life and got some strong dramatic moments when he realized how long he’d been in the game and when he nearly died. I liked that he got a happy ending thanks to the teens changing time for the better by giving him his life back; this movie didn’t need a bittersweet ending of him exiting the game in the present, having missed such a huge chunk of his life. Bobby Cannavale’s Russel Van Pelt was menacing enough as the villain, but didn’t get much to do to put him over the top. Animals crawling throughout his body was a cool, creepy, and well-executed idea, though.

It was awesome that the kids had to work together as a team using both their strengths and weaknesses to win the game and none of them could just power through and do it alone. I loved the hidden treasure/classic jungle adventure vibe of the movie too. The filmmakers did a great job of making this feel like it belonged in the world of the original Jumanji (complete with a nice shout-out to Robin Williams’ Alan Parrish) while maintaining an entirely fresh feel with the video game concept. The video game format was translated exceptionally well, covering so many aspects like cutscene exposition, non-playable characters who repeat instructions and have limited ability to converse, the small number of lives players got in games of the 80s/90s (and co-op players sharing them), each character’s specific strengths/weaknesses, the ever-growing map as each level is beaten, the ease of dying with one hit from an enemy, and more. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the video game structure so accurately and perfectly translated as it was here (even Wreck-it Ralph gave its in-game characters minds of their own, making them more like actors than NPCs). The pace is quick, the jokes land much more often than not, the CGI animals look good, and the action is solid. I was also genuinely surprised that the movie actively fights the urge to set up a sequel, instead having the kids smash the game so no one else can get trapped in it (even if the extremely impressive box office success of the film means another one is inevitable).

Despite areas where they could’ve fleshed out the characters a bit more, this is an extremely fun and satisfying film! The chemistry of both casts and the comedic and adventure elements easily smoothed out any shortcomings for me. Welcome to the Jungle is an absolute blast and I definitely recommend it!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

[incorrectjumanji]

Mouse: Ok, I'll be back soon. Mouse: If Bravestone calls, tell him I died but make sure you really sell it. It's a funny thing we're doing. Seaplane: Seaplane: How is that funny?