Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle / YMMV

Adorkable: Martha, due to her awkward attempts at flirting and general behaviour around Spencer.
Alternative Character Interpretation: While Nigel's narration shows that Van Pelt didn't heed his warnings, has Van Pelt always had a list for power and control over Jumanji through the jewel or is his being drawn to the jewel through its own hypnotism and/or his possession of it what ultimately drove him into a Face–Heel Turn?
Aluminum Christmas Trees: Jumanji has a loading screen even though it's on a cartridge. Several cartridge-based games actually had loading, especially towards the end of '90s-era console lifespans when format limitations became more prominent, as in Acclaim's Batman Forever game and Mickey Mania for the Super Nintendo.
And You Thought It Would Fail: Many people predicted commercial failure for the film, seeing it as yet another unnecessary Hollywood reboot/sequel to a nostalgic 90s franchise, as well as Sony Pictures' poor track record with their films in the mid-2010's. However, it became a huge success for Sony, grossing over $900 million worldwide and still being in theatres four months after its original release. It ended up being the fifth-highest grossing film of 2017, beating out every Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe film from 2017 to get there, and continued to top box offices into February. It also became Sony's highest-grossing film outside of the Spider-Man franchise, having not only surpassed the 2002 Spider-Man film to become their highest grosser domestically (holding the title until Spider-Man: No Way Home outgrossed it in 2021) but also becoming their highest grosser worldwide^note until Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019.
Applicability: Bethany's reaction to finding herself in a man's body inside the game: it isn't played as gross or disgusting, instead she adapts pretty quickly, and the scenes about the biological differences are more about her being excited by the novelty. Additionally, no one (not even Alex, who has never met in the real world before) has a problem in considering her a girl despite her looks, and the scene where she teachs how to be feminine and seductive is played completely straight. Intentional or not, this resonates particularly well with trans audiences, ending up being an example of acceptance and support, instead of the usual transphobic undertones gender-swap plotlines often bring.
Ass Pull:
- Bethany saves Alex's life by giving him CPR, and in the process transferring one of her remaining lives to him. Nothing indicates prior that this could be done, it isn't known how she did this (she doesn't even realize she's doing it), and it never comes up again. This makes sense by game logic as a lot of multiplayer games let you borrow lives if you run out, but it was never established to be part of this game.
- Spencer suggests that he and Martha stay in the game despite not showing any indication of wanting to stay beforehand, aside from being the most enthusiastic player and a brief worry that Martha only likes him in his Bravestone persona and not actually Spencer himself.
Cliché Storm: The Jumanji game is chock full of video game tropes played completely straight, which is justified by the circumstances of how it came to be. The Jumanji board game transformed into an old-school game cartridge just to be played, so it probably didn't put much effort into its plot or characters, an Excuse Plot and Flat Characters will do. Besides, it did this in 1996 — video games that had well-written and interesting stories were the exception more than the rule.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Nigel has gained some love from fans, despite being a two-scene wonder. Being played by Rhys Darby helps.
Even Better Sequel: This film has a 77% of Rotten Tomatoes compared to the original's 50%, with critics citing its charismatic cast, inventive use of the video game premise and "Freaky Friday" Flip, and bigger emphasis on rapid-fire comedy and character development.
Fanfic Fuel: The potential is there: just replace Spencer and co. and Alex with whoever other characters you wish.
He Really Can Act: Nick Jonas as Alex's avatar.
Ho Yay: Bethany Walker and teenage Alex crushing on each other and flirting while still in their male game avatars (Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon and Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough respectively) and being unfazed by it.
- After saving Alex (Nick Jonas) by transferring her second life to him, he hugs her gratefully, then walks away. Fridge then points out to Bethany that she's visibly aroused.
  Bethany/Shelly: Oh my god, these things are CRAZY!
- As Spencer/Bravestone's back is to the group, Bethany/Shelly takes in the view from behind and murmurs appreciatively, "Damn. That is a man, right there."
Jerkass Woobie: Fridge. He's introduced as a dismissive Jerk Jock who looks down on his childhood "friend" Spencer, using the other teen's hope that they can be friends again to get him to do his homework for him. When they get caught, Fridge not only places all the blame for this on Spencer, but he also later goes on to give Spencer a Breaking Speech about his already massive inferiority complex. Though to his credit, it's also suggested that Fridge, while talking to his mother, feels as if he's under a great deal of pressure to succeed. Though it doesn't justify his cruel behavior towards Spencer, it seems to indicate he might be jealous of Spencer's intellect.
Memetic Mutation:
- "Smoldering Intensity."
- "ZOOLOGY BITCH!"
Moral Event Horizon: Van Pelt crossed this in the game's backstory. He enlisted Nigel's help in getting him to the jaguar statue, simply so he could steal the jewel for himself. When Nigel stole it back from Van Pelt, Van Pelt furiously shot at Nigel as he fled and ordered his goons to get him back the jewel at any cost, even if it means killing innocent people to do it.
Narm Charm: Some of the character descriptions, like Prof. Oberon being described as "curvy" and called "Shelly" to disguise his identity as an overweight man, or the "u" in "Mouse Finbar" being stylized to look like an o, come off as overly heavy-handed ways to draw Bethany and Fridge. But since this is Jumanji, it may very well be self-aware enough to craft character profiles on the fly in technically true terms to lure in players.
Older Than They Think:
- The '90s animated series also had all the players sucked into the game, and interacting with several human inhabitants of Jumanji who were implied to not be real people and operated on videogame logic to some extent (e.g. being restored in the next game to their previous state, after being seemingly killed or suffering the destruction of their property).
- Zathura briefly touched upon the thought of Jumanji getting neglected by kids who don't care for jungle-themed board games.^note
One-Scene Wonder: Colin Hanks as the adult Alex.
The Problem with Licensed Games: In a bit of irony given the movie is a successful attempt at making a cinematic narrative out of video game convention, Jumanji: The Video Game (released shortly before Jumanji: The Next Level) is a low-effort game that doesn't even have a plot, only successive levels of simple and repetitive gameplay.
Retroactive Recognition: Rose Weissman once again plays the overbearing mother, this time to Spencer.
Rewatch Bonus: Watching the film a second time will show you that, indeed, Fridge's avatar's name is "Mouse." The "u" was so stylized it was easy to misread as a second "o".
Spiritual Adaptation: An immersive open-world video game wherein you cannot log out unless you clear it, your statistics pop out in front of you in hologram panel with a swipe, and if you die in it, you die in real life? This iteration of Jumanji is essentially a Lighter and Softer version of Sword Art Online.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many fans were up in arms about Jumanji being a video game instead of a board game, though a number of them calmed down once it was revealed that that boardgame version does appear, and that it becoming a video game was due to it adapting itself to the time period.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- The mosquito that downs Alex is a lone, normal-sized mosquito, rather than the giant variety that attacked in swarms in the first film.
- Alex says that his second death was when he picked the seaplane at the vehicle shed and he was shot down by a plane piloted by monkeys. The movie has neither dogfights, nor monkeys, nor dogfights with monkeys.
The Woobie:
- Alex. He's been trapped in Jumanji for what, for him, seems like a few months, is on his last life, has only NPCs (non-player characters) for company (and thus no one to really talk to due to how they only have programmed dialogue) and lives in constant worry of mosquitoes (one of his weaknesses) and the knowledge that if one bites him, he could die in the game. And then, after failing twice to get past the transportation shed, he realized he was doomed and resigned himself to not going any further until Spencer, Fridge, Martha, and Bethany showed up. It turns out he's been in the game for 20 years, and he is clearly shocked to hear that. Spencer promises him that they will win the game so he can get home.
- In the original timeline, Alex's parents. We don't see his mother (Alex mentions his parents when talking to Bethany, so his mother's probably alive, but she's never seen), but his father in the original 2016 is clearly a broken shell of his former self after his son disappeared without warning, no sign of him, and no sign if he's even still alive. What's worse is that it's all his own fault for bringing him the Jumanji game in the first place, and he doesn't even know it. Or, even worse, maybe he does.

YMMV / Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

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