Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Year: 2017
Summary: In Brantford, New Hampshire, in 1996, the young Alex Vreeke is given the Jumanji board game by his father, after finding it on a beach one year earlier. Uninterested, Alex sets it aside, but finds it transformed into a video game cartridge after being entranced by the game's drum beats later that night. Opting to play the game, he finds himself sucked inside; his family abandon their home following his disappearance.
Twenty years later, in 2016, four Brantford High School students - Martha Kaply, Bethany Walker, Spencer Gilpin and Anthony "Fridge" Johnson - are sent to clean up the school's basement as detention for their behaviour. While serving it, Fridge discovers Alex's discarded video-game system, which he and Spencer decide to play, encouraging the girls to join them. While picking playable characters, they are unable to select the first one, instead choosing the other four. Upon starting the game, each is sucked into Jumanji, landing within a jungle in the forms of their chosen game avatars - Spencer as muscular explorer and archaeologist Dr. Xander Bravestone; Fridge as diminutive zoologist Franklin Finbar; Martha as commando and martial arts expert Ruby Roundhouse; and Bethany as male cartographer and paleontologist Professor Sheldon Oberon.
While coming to terms with their situation, the group each find themselves with three marks denoting lives on their arms, with Bethany losing her first after being eaten by a hippopotamus. Spencer deduces that if they lose all three, they will die in real life. The group encounter non-player character Nigel Billingsley, the game's guide, who provides them with the game's narrative and their characters' backstories. The group learn that their goal is to end a curse on Jumanji, brought about by corrupt archaeologist Professor Van Pelt, after stealing a magic jewel called "the Jaguar's Eye" from its shrine, gaining control of all the jungle's animals. Nigel hands Spencer the jewel, after stealing it from Van Pelt, instructing the group to return it to a statue at the shrine and call out "Jumanji", in order to "lift the curse" and leave the game, before driving off.
While coping with their avatars, "weaknesses" and Van Pelt's men, the group encounter Alex, operating the fifth avatar - pilot Jefferson McDonough - who takes them to a jungle house built by Alan Parrish, the game's previous player. Upon realising his identity, all are equally shocked upon learning how long Alex has been trapped in the game, Alex having believed himself to have been trapped for merely months. With a common goal, the group vow to help Alex return home with them. Dealing with further problems while heading for the shrine, the group co-ordinate to overcome the challenges given by the game, eventually reaching the shrine, where Van Pelt has them surrounded with a pack of jaguars and his own men. Working together, while the others act as distractions, Spencer and Martha outmaneuver Van Pelt with the game's mechanics, returning the jewel to the statue - upon uttering the game's name together, the group destroy Van Pelt and return home.
Returning to the school basement, the group find Alex is not with them. Upon leaving school later that day, they become confused at finding the formerly dilapidated Vreeke home restored and decorated for a Christmas family gathering. An adult Alex soon greets the group, recognising them, and explains that when the game ended, he was returned to 1996. He reveals that he is now married with children, having named his eldest daughter after Bethany out of gratitude for her saving his life. The following summer, the four have become firm friends after their experiences in the game, with Spencer starting a relationship with Martha. When the group hear the drumbeats of Jumanji coming from the game cartridge, Fridge crushes it with a bowling ball to prevent anyone else from playing it.
Twenty years later, in 2016, four Brantford High School students - Martha Kaply, Bethany Walker, Spencer Gilpin and Anthony "Fridge" Johnson - are sent to clean up the school's basement as detention for their behaviour. While serving it, Fridge discovers Alex's discarded video-game system, which he and Spencer decide to play, encouraging the girls to join them. While picking playable characters, they are unable to select the first one, instead choosing the other four. Upon starting the game, each is sucked into Jumanji, landing within a jungle in the forms of their chosen game avatars - Spencer as muscular explorer and archaeologist Dr. Xander Bravestone; Fridge as diminutive zoologist Franklin Finbar; Martha as commando and martial arts expert Ruby Roundhouse; and Bethany as male cartographer and paleontologist Professor Sheldon Oberon.
While coming to terms with their situation, the group each find themselves with three marks denoting lives on their arms, with Bethany losing her first after being eaten by a hippopotamus. Spencer deduces that if they lose all three, they will die in real life. The group encounter non-player character Nigel Billingsley, the game's guide, who provides them with the game's narrative and their characters' backstories. The group learn that their goal is to end a curse on Jumanji, brought about by corrupt archaeologist Professor Van Pelt, after stealing a magic jewel called "the Jaguar's Eye" from its shrine, gaining control of all the jungle's animals. Nigel hands Spencer the jewel, after stealing it from Van Pelt, instructing the group to return it to a statue at the shrine and call out "Jumanji", in order to "lift the curse" and leave the game, before driving off.
While coping with their avatars, "weaknesses" and Van Pelt's men, the group encounter Alex, operating the fifth avatar - pilot Jefferson McDonough - who takes them to a jungle house built by Alan Parrish, the game's previous player. Upon realising his identity, all are equally shocked upon learning how long Alex has been trapped in the game, Alex having believed himself to have been trapped for merely months. With a common goal, the group vow to help Alex return home with them. Dealing with further problems while heading for the shrine, the group co-ordinate to overcome the challenges given by the game, eventually reaching the shrine, where Van Pelt has them surrounded with a pack of jaguars and his own men. Working together, while the others act as distractions, Spencer and Martha outmaneuver Van Pelt with the game's mechanics, returning the jewel to the statue - upon uttering the game's name together, the group destroy Van Pelt and return home.
Returning to the school basement, the group find Alex is not with them. Upon leaving school later that day, they become confused at finding the formerly dilapidated Vreeke home restored and decorated for a Christmas family gathering. An adult Alex soon greets the group, recognising them, and explains that when the game ended, he was returned to 1996. He reveals that he is now married with children, having named his eldest daughter after Bethany out of gratitude for her saving his life. The following summer, the four have become firm friends after their experiences in the game, with Spencer starting a relationship with Martha. When the group hear the drumbeats of Jumanji coming from the game cartridge, Fridge crushes it with a bowling ball to prevent anyone else from playing it.
