Jumanji 2017

I think the original Jumanji provides an interesting take on the origins of boardgames as they were originally moralistic teaching tools. Snakes and Ladders for instance the role and move mechanics teaching you to 'accept your fate' as well as the heavenly virtues depicted as ladders and vices as snakes, the number of each changing as the game has passed from culture to culture.

Jumanji teaches all the characters how to grow as people, face their fears etc. While the game is pretty malevolent in it's actions, are the players may ultimately not be in much real danger so much as one player finishes the game (which is not particularly long if their able to finish in four turn each).

Not sure the "Grow as a person" part works as much without the time skip (And even the game sort of glosses over how weird it must be for them to have memories of entire lives they didn't live, Or in the case of Sarah, knowing history before it happens). And yeah, you face your fears. Or get PTSD. One or the other.

I think surviving a game of Jumanji (or not) would turn me into the kind of Captain Planet villain who seeks to burn down jungles out of spite.

EDIT: I've always wondered about the game's origin. Like, Van Pelt's existence (and the fact he's on the box) implies the game can't be much older than the end of the 19th century / early 20th century (Prolly the later based on the spiked pith helmet, not earlier than the mid 19th century based on the Lever action rifle).

edited 11th Jul '17 5:54:51 AM by Ghilz

Well Sarah's line on the bridge about forgetting to be an adult could imply that the previous timeline's memories are starting to fade, negating the ptsd element somewhat. They still remember Judy and Peter as that allows them to give them their happy ending by saving their parents. Their reward for 'growing as a person' during the game.

I was thinking that the prologue of the movie was set in the first half of the 19th century, which implies the game is much older. So I would guess the game itself evolves according to the time frame. Maybe even the African jungle setting is up to change.

... now I'm thinking it's an early version of Assassin's Creed.

Second half, actually. 1869.

If we're going to accept this movie as canon (which it will be unless it receives enough backlash to kill it without receiving enough to stop another one being made) the game seems to evolve over time.

edited 12th Jul '17 12:48:41 PM by Journeyman

Or it simultaneously exists in different forms.

I wished the trailers explained just bit more about those motorcycle riding mooks.

The Van Pelt Gang.

I still think a cursed a RPG book would've been better.

Imagine character sheets that filled out themselves based on your personality.

Eh, it's easier to see a stuck-up cheerleader archetype playing a video game that shows you everything than an RPG game with dice.

Sure, but it wouldn't have been hard to justify if they did it right. Like the character sheets start filling themselves out the second everyone sits down. Convincing her to just take a seat is easy enough, and then she's trapped with the rest of them.

When the hell are we going to get more footage?

I still have questions as to how the game works this time.

All I can infer is that this game is probably an RPG of some kind seeing how it demonstrated how some of the characters are slower than others and some are stronger. If it is an RPG, can the main characters read the stats of their avatars?

Maribeth Monroe is in this. Man, if I wasn't going to see it already...

Plus Nick Jonas (who i really liked in Scream Queens), and Rhys Darby who i always enjoy.

Bobby Cannavale (who should totally play "The Mooch" someday soon) is the main villain, so that should be good.

When can we expect more preview footage?

The "pick a pre-made character with their own special abilities" actually reminds me more of modern board games like Pandemic or Eldritch Horror than a video game.

That's actually a good point. It'd be neat to see Jumanji reimagined as, like, an Elder Sign or similar style of tabletop game.

In terms of Jumanji's origins, the Evil Wiki has the full story from the original book.

TL:DR it started out as a harmless game, but then got cursed.

A tabletop game slowly coming to live and taking over the real world is such a neat idea that I'm surprised there hasn't been a movie based on it yet. I guess because tabletops aren't mainstream enough for Hollywood to care, beyond a few adaptations in the 80's/90's.

edited 29th Aug '17 11:27:59 AM by KnownUnknown

New trailer:

Damn it, that last joke was actually kinda funny.

That was a much better trailer. It did a better job of selling the movie as Video Game-y. I particularly liked the arbitrary cake weakness. If your game stats say don't touch that thing that heals the other characters, don't touch it. It doesn't matter if it makes sense.

So yeah, it outright says that the Jumanji board game evolved into a video game, even picking up from The Stinger of the first film. That confirms our theories on that matter.

I do hope that the rules of the game are well established, the trailers are focusing more on the gimmick of the game avatars and humorous character interactions and less on the adventure stuff.

....Fuck, this actually looks funny.

I wonder if the Jumanji world they travel to is he same as the Jumanjibworld Alan travelled to, since it's the same game having evolved.

Probably not, unless Alan simply never came across that enormous, bustling city.