Jumanji: The Next Level / YMMV

Alternate Character Interpretation
- Just how much of Spencer's decision to repair and enter the game again was his own? It's long been indicated that Jumanji can exert some degree of mental/magical influence over people (in a More than Mind Control sense), and Spencer is adamant that despite his insecurities he is unsure just why he did what he did. Then in the stinger the repairman seems outright entranced as the Jumanji drums start up again and seemingly compel him to touch the game.
- To a lesser extent, was Spencer suicidal? He knows that you can die in Jumanji for real but went back anyway after the talk with his grandfather. After all, the way his friends go to his house to find him is played out as a suicide intervention. It seems that losing his first life snapped him out of it, and he sounds more like "afraid of dying" Spencer.
- Is Jumanji an evil thing, trapping people in a deadly game of survival adventure? ...Or is it a benevolent thing that traps you in a game that has never actually killed anyone permanently onscreen and seems to make the players confront their own personal demons, making their lives better for having played it?
Angst? What Angst?: Alex seemingly has no problem going back into the game to help rescue Spencer, risking his adult life with a wife and children to do so. Could be seen as justified by not only the fact it's repaying Spencer for helping to save him, but Alex has had a couple decades to cope with the trauma of being in Jumanji and is much more experienced this time around. Plus, he knows that time would reset so that anyone outside the game would forget.
- While Word of God apparently says that Jurgen is really a player himself, was he then totally lost in his avatar to the point that he believed he was him or did he take the opportunity to revel in becoming a bloodthirsty, murderous overlord over and over again at every chance he got while then becoming totally independent of the game as a result?
Anti-Climax Boss: Despite being a powerful warrior who is able to toss Bravestone around like Bravestone does to others, once Jurgen gets the Jumanji Berry smashed on his chest, he's rendered powerless and doesn't even fight back as Bravestone starts beating him up.
Esoteric Happy Ending: Milo chooses to stay in Jumanji, citing that since he's dying, he may as well spend the time he has left in a buggy computer game. This is treated as bittersweet but acceptable because his wife passed on many years ago, has no children, Eddie is the only person who will miss him given by Eddie's tearful reaction, and Cyclone still has three lives. No one shows angst about it in the end. On the other hand, he just vanished from his life the way that Alex did, leaving behind debt, paperwork and possible acquaintances who knew him. Not to mention the game is glitchy, meaning anything can happen to him.
Even Better Sequel: Audiences tend to agree that Next Level is better than the second film, with opinions ranging from considerably to only a bit, citing that the writing is more interesting, the comedy is more solid, and that the glitch from reality characters to player characters makes things more interesting.
Evil Is Cool: Jurgen makes a much bigger impression than Van Pelt did in the first movie, being an imposing and brutal warlord played by Rory McCann. Even though he ends up being an Anti-Climax Boss due to his Kryptonite Factor.
Harsher in Hindsight: It can be pretty cringe-inducing seeing Kevin Hart going through the same violent slapstick as the first film, given the horrible back injury he suffered shortly after filming wrapped.
He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: A partial case with Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of AV Club, as despite many comments agreeing that the film isn't as great as its predecessor, the comments are also utterly baffled by his acting like the very idea of a movie sequel is something unheard of and that it’s completely unreasonable to expect people to watch the previous film before this one.
He Really Can Act:
- In the previous film, Kevin Hart had a typically loud and manic comedic role. In this film, he spends most of his screentime playing Milo, a rambling old man with a much slower pace, and he does a pretty convincing job.
- Awkwafina usually plays similar sorts of aggressive, snarky ladettes. In this film, she instead plays Spencer and Eddie when they're in Ming Fleetfoot's body. She gives a fairly convincing performance as both an awkward, nervous teenage boy and a cranky old man, even though both are nothing like her usual roles.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Fridge is adamant they are never coming back to Jumanji again, except... there's a sequel in development.
Ho Yay: Eddie and Milo are Like an Old Married Couple, and quickly start admiring their new young bodies upon entering the game.
- To say nothing of Ming/Eddie loudly complimenting Cyclone/Milo's massive horse dong.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Switchblade is established early on as an old enemy of Bravestone's and one that frightens Eddie-as-Bravestone. He could easily have been The Dragon and returned during the climax for a showdown, with Bravestone or with Ruby Roundhouse, or even both. But he never appears again after his one scene.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- The idea that Jumanji is broken and glitching means that anything could happen. Aside from a few instances of New Rules as the Plot Demands, the only apparent instance of a glitch the players encounter is the water that lets them switch characters, which glows and sparks green like Jumanji's magic. Any other effects of potential glitches are left up to viewer interpretation of events.
- Martha and Fridge switching avatars has a ton of potential, with Martha's reaction to being in a male body differing quite a bit from Bethany's and Fridge dealing with being a woman, but it's only for a single scene. This is also the only time Karen Gillan gets to join the fun of doing something different than in the last movie.
- Dwayne Johnson confirmed that Jurgen the Brutal is an Avatar, like the protagonists, as is implied in the film by his strengths and weaknesses being shown like all the heroes' Avatars. This could have made him an interesting Shadow Archetype to Spencer, but it's left as a potential Sequel Hook instead of present in the film.
Trapped by Mountain Lions: Once Alex is in the game as Seaplane, his only role after showing up is to traverse a poison dart trap to rescue Milo (as Cyclone). Doing this costs him both of his spare lives, which stands out as every other character lost their lives to separate obstacles.
Unexpected Character: Yes, Nora at the end is that Nora, right down to the same actress.

YMMV / Jumanji: The Next Level

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