Picture Review 004 Jumanji Continuation (Sequel?) with Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson

Jumanji 

(Sony Pictures Entertainment) 

Emerging July 28, 2017

It's not an exaggeration to give the wrestler-cum-actor-cum-movie star the title of "franchise Viagra," (pardon the inappropriate but totally fitting nickname) because when he showed an interest in any project being developed in Hollywood, it would give it an immediate precedence over others with only just his name attached to it and being pushed into production straight away, as soon as there is enough free time on his schedule.

It's good and bad at the same time when there are a dozen of franchises out there that he is involved in but just a couple of them were actually currently being shot and in pre-production [Doc Savage and Shazam compared to Jumanji and Baywatch]. Speaking of which, his current project is deep in shooting in location and an official picture has been released to give the public a teaser of what's to come:

As the first look of the movie itself, it's a standard fare as far as an official studio image goes, with an introductory shot of the main characters in their jungle getup and different stances that represent their characteristics and roles in the team dynamic: the scaredy cat Moose Finbar [Kevin Hart], the fearless 'smoldering' leader Dr. Smolder Bravestone [Dwayne Johnson], the fierce fighter Ruby Roundhouse [Karen Gillan] and the worried expert Professor Shelly Oberon [Jack Black].

With their names being too cartoony to be the real names of the characters in the movie (hopefully), their costumes look to be fitting for the occasion except for the less than conventional and appropriate attire of the sole female lead. Disregarding the main plot reason in the eventual movie to justify their existence in an actual jungle (with a possible plot of them being inside the Jumanji board itself instead of the surroundings of where they played being affected), any weakness or just inconsistency in their marketing department would be heavily scrutinized especially if it's a followup to the beloved classic with a prominent role of a recently deceased comedian/actor.   

The almost artificial way they are presented here could be a foreshadowing on what kind of characters they really are, especially in the context of the powers of the board itself from the first movie and how much they add and alter for this latest iteration. Just going with only this picture without any context at all, it could have been a good first step forward to introduce this project but instead it stumbled and almost lost its footing. With that being said, the main actor's sincerity and admiration could be seen with this post on his Instagram and at least we know he would done right by it.

- IMDb - wiki -

Cast
Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, 
...

(\Genre - Adventure, Family, Fantasy)

+ Highlights: a great ensemble of cast that could geared to a more comedic take on the premise, the powerful force that is the Rock that would make anything watchable, 

- Lowlights: the awkward photo session, the skimpy unpractical outfit, the still unknown direction this reboot(?) is going, the burden of honoring the memory of Robin Williams, the clout of the most recent flop Zathura that was a spiritual successor of Jumanji