Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 20, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 44 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
17
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerDec 18, 2017
In the end, the filmmakers have given us one of the most fun movie-going experiences I’ve had this year. Huge kudos go to Johnson, Hart and especially Black for providing some truly entertaining performances for kids of all ages. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoDec 20, 2017
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is both a fulfilling reinvention and adventurous video game quest that’s far funnier, and unexpectedly exciting, than you could hope for from an evolved reboot with explosive fantasy character. Read full review
80
Screen DailyKim NewmanDec 8, 2017
It’s an entertaining, engaging, colourful picture in its own right with decently-handled action-adventure set-pieces and sly comedy, detouring from the expected thrills and spills into body-hopping comedy drama. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerDec 21, 2017
Kasdan injects this all with vigor and breezy humor. Read full review
75
Washington PostJane HorwitzDec 21, 2017
It’s the characters, not the convoluted plot or digital magic, that make “Welcome to the Jungle” such fun. For a high-concept Hollywood special-effects movie, that’s quite a concept indeed. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzDec 20, 2017
This is a likable, funny diversion, and sometimes more than that. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJody MitoriDec 20, 2017
The real fun of “Jumanji” lies in the casting. The towering Johnson and scrappy Hart play especially well off each other. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 20, 2017
A tremendous improvement over the tepid 1995 original, this quasi-sequel brings humor, fun performances, and a canny understanding of late 1990s-style video games to a party that never takes itself seriously. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla MeyerDec 19, 2017
The film’s best moments show the characters bonding as teens, “Breakfast Club”-style, within their new bodies. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTom RussoDec 19, 2017
The group’s thematically, comedically broad inversion of the source material is consistently entertaining, and squeezes in some nicely played character growth to boot. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonDec 19, 2017
The Jumanji reboot Welcome to the Jungle is a happy surprise — a movie that turns out to be good (almost clean) fun, and is much more interested in character and comedy than special effects. Read full review
75
TheWrapDave WhiteDec 8, 2017
Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle is the Christmas tentpole release that aims to please and succeeds, a funny family entertainment product that subverts more expectations than it was obligated to contractually. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJan 4, 2018
The movie has amusingly broad performances; good, bloodless scares (the characters die horribly — but have multiple lives); and self-empowering life lessons too bland to be specious. You could do far worse. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekDec 18, 2017
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has a pleasant, affable spirit, and Johnson is wholly charming. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 14, 2017
This sequel turns out to be a comedy of manners, of all things, and an agreeable one, a movie that will get you laughing and suck you in. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeDec 8, 2017
The film's main appeal is in watching familiar actors pretend to be ordinary kids grappling with their new selves. Read full review
70
IGNAlex WelchDec 8, 2017
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle brings audiences back to its classic fictional world with a fun, updated new twist on its well-worn story. So even if some of its subplots and emotional throughlines don’t quite click, the action-packed fun and humor should still make it worth your price of admission. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallDec 21, 2017
The Jumanji sequel nobody demanded is fun. Kind of. Sort of. It’s a close call. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeDec 19, 2017
Fast-paced, frequently funny, and consistently entertaining. Read full review
65
UproxxAmy NicholsonDec 21, 2017
Give Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle credit for not wholly insulting the audience’s intelligence. The entire script is centered on these cliches embracing their cliché new bodies, cocooning stereotypes inside stereotypes like nesting dolls. Read full review
65
Vanity FairHillary BusisDec 9, 2017
The film strikes a nice balance between serviceable, not-overly-slick action scenes—we’ve come a long way from those shoddily animated monkeys—and comedy that’s actually rooted in character, rather than cheap references or stereotypes. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenDec 20, 2017
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is reasonably clever and reasonably diverting. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 19, 2017
Black is expectedly hilarious, but the beauty part of his performance is that, instead of exaggerating or patronizing this Instagram princess, he finds her vulnerable heart. Read full review
60
Time OutCath ClarkeDec 21, 2017
Welcome to the Jungle is mostly great fun, with Jack Black outrageously entertaining as a teenage girl. But we need to talk about Karen. As Ruby Roundhouse, Gillan is stuck in less clothes than one of Rihanna’s backing dancers. It’s a dig at the hypersexualization of women in video games, apparently. If so, perhaps the male director (or one of the four male writers) can explain how fixing the camera on a skimpily dressed female character makes the point. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 21, 2017
In its present form – hyperactive, dopey, and hammered into shape like a Hollywood sitcom – it’s a passable school holiday jaunt. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 19, 2017
One of the most pleasant surprises of this year's jam-packed holiday release schedule, and easily the season's must-see family film. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshDec 18, 2017
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a one-joke movie, relying on the subversion of physical stereotypes, but thanks to impeccable casting and fun performances, that joke is very well-executed. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 8, 2017
It’s a likeable film which borrows liberally from everything and everyone, and if it’s put together by numbers, well, then it is done capably enough. Read full review
58
The PlaylistWill AshtonDec 19, 2017
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is, at once, invigorated and underdeveloped, both rousing and slightly underwhelming. Read full review
58
The Film StageJordan RaupDec 10, 2017
The adventure rides on the charisma of the ensemble, who milk the body-switching situation for all it is worth. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerDec 19, 2017
In the original Jumanji, young characters are caught inside a board game come to life; in the new sequel, it's a video game they adventure within – a rigid construct of one-note humour, special-effect shenanigans, relentless quest-based action and sledge-hammered messaging. Read full review
50
The New York TimesGlenn KennyDec 19, 2017
The performances by Mr. Johnson, Mr. Hart and Mr. Black seem informed by the conviction that if they amuse themselves, they will also amuse others. They are not entirely wrong, but they are also not sufficiently right. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsEthan SacksDec 18, 2017
With its video game upgrade, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle manages to match the silly fun of its predecessor — even without Williams — and that’s no small achievement unlocked. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyDec 8, 2017
Welcome to the Jungle isn’t a bad movie. It’s a diverting, mildly amusing, competent bit of big-budget studio product. And maybe those are the stakes we’re now playing for these days. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichDec 8, 2017
The mildly amusing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is further proof that even the stalest whiff of brand recognition has become preferable to originality. Only part of the blame for that belongs to the studios, but after cannibalizing themselves for much of the last 20 years, Hollywood has clearly eaten their way down to the crumbs. Read full review
45
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Dec 26, 2017
Kasdan isn’t known for pulling off big budget action properties. He does his best here to create a kinetic pace, but the execution is always flat and dull. Read full review
42
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonDec 20, 2017
If you’re willing to lean into the movie’s complete and utter stupidity, Jumanji might just stumble through its languorous two-hour runtime on sheer charm. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelDec 21, 2017
It’s a lazy, thoroughly unoriginal bit of storytelling, but it has just enough cheeky humor and bass-thumping action scenes to be a potential crowd-pleaser. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlDec 20, 2017
The material is often weak, but the stars earn their paychecks. Read full review
40
Total FilmNeil SmithDec 8, 2017
The action’s passable and Gillan makes a decent fist of an underwritten character. Otherwise, this Jumanji makeover’s a losing game. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 21, 2017
The whole affair feels corporate, cooked-up-by-committee. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithDec 11, 2017
The film is unable to reconcile a desire to ridicule its own artifice with constant attempts to foster genuine empathy and dramatic tension. Read full review
30
VarietyOwen GleibermanDec 8, 2017
It’s like watching the lamest Indiana Jones sequel ever imagined, minus Indiana Jones. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiDec 19, 2017
Who’s the audience for this movie? It’s not smart, scary or funny enough for adults and older teens, and it’s inappropriate for young kids. Read full review
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