Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle falls short on many counts — the most being Robin Williams' warmth
With Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the standalone sequel to the much beloved Robin Williams adventure Jumanji (1995), life, in a way, would come a full circle for an entire generation of audiences. Amongst the other ‘upgrades’ that the new version would unleash such as shifting the premise from a board game to an antiquated video game or getting Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, a ‘superman’ of sorts as the leading man for whom no adversity would be tough enough to smash his way through, the one thing that it would probably lack is the signature Robin Williams warmth. Jumanji was also one of the earliest films that endeared Robin Williams to the Indian audiences and holds a special place in the hearts of many who grew up in the 1990s and saw Williams cut across the age spectrum to a so-so idea of a film and transformed it into a cult classic.
Robin Williams. Facebook
Although Williams had been a much established actor by the time he featured in Jumanji, thanks to his hit 1980s’ sitcom Mork & Mindy and films such as Good Morning Vietnam (1987) and Dead Poets Society (1989). He transformed into a major force largely after providing the voice for the Genie in Disney’s Alladin (1992). The 1990s was a great decade for Williams — beginning with The Cadillac Man (1990), he took a serious turn in Awakenings (1990) and The Fisher King (1991), a truly groundbreaking performance, and attained global recognition with Alladin, where his ‘blistering improve’ made all the difference.
Up until Aladdin, animation films, which was largely a Disney domain, never laid stress on using stars as the voice for characters. Unlike a Phil Harris or George Sanders in The Jungle Book, Williams’ Genie had so many pop culture references that it widened the canvas. Williams infused not just new blood into the Disney universe but also a whole new sensibility that attracted newer audiences beyond the traditional age groups that Disney seemed to focus on. Mrs Doubtfire (1993) followed in quick succession and with that came a ‘face’ to the talent that we had ‘heard’ in Aladdin. Williams was now a bona fide superstar in a country like India where Hollywood stars largely meant an Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Richard Gere or Harrison Ford. For some inexplicable reason, Williams with his blazing joie de vivre, which was once again visible in his cameo in Nine Months (1995), became a favourite among a major chunk of the younger audiences that had hopped on to the bandwagon with Aladdin.
One of the reasons why Jumanji held a special place for young Indians in the mid-1990s was also because it was the first film that featured Williams as the leading man after they ‘discovered’ him. Most of the reviews of the film — based on a book where a board game came alive, the players endangered by evil monkeys, giant insects, and rampaging animals — were not kind. In fact, Janet Maslin in The New York Times called Williams’ scraggly hair covered middle-aged man who is trapped in the game for 26 years as the film’s scariest effect of all. Even the film’s special effects were not at par with Jurassic Park (1993), which by then had come to become the industry standard but the sheer romance of a game coming to life along with Williams’ presence captured the fancy of the viewers. The sentimentality of the original Chris Van Allsburg's illustrated book got a reassuring nudge, thanks to Williams whose chutzpah made it rise over its shortcomings or trappings and in the end, nothing mattered.
Still from the 1995 film Jumanji. Facebook
In 2014, Robin Williams took his own life following a lifelong battle with depression. Even though he was largely known as a funny man, Williams concealed his depression from others or preferred not to make a big deal of. When he burst into the hospital room of Christopher Reeve, his former classmate at drama school, pretending to be a Russian doctor similar to the one he played in Nine Months he was hiding his own pain at watching one of his closest friends fighting for life. He didn’t stop even after Reeve discovered his identity and tried giving back some moments that they might never share again. In Patch Adams (1998), the film that seemingly inspired Munna Bhai MBBS (2003), Williams played a character that healed people but with methods brushed off by the medical community and rubbed off his own persona on the character.
Poster of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Facebook
In the day and age where studios are more than eager for reboots to cash in on the magic of the original film, the new Jumanji does not hide its desperation. It is clearly intended to aim for the younger audiences with its concept than attract the nostalgia of the original and that is why Williams would be missed more. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle seems to be falling short on most accounts and lacking much more than the brilliance of Robin Williams, who despite the rather frightening imagery, a somewhat incoherent story, and insipid special effects made the original Jumanji a journey of a lifetime
