HONOLULU, Hawaii (Reuters) — A sequel to the 1995 Robin Williams classic ‘Jumanji’ is being released and cast members are eager to point out that the film is not a remake or reboot but a continuation of the original story.
Speaking on the set in Honolulu, Hawaii, the film’s star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson addressed worries by fans of the original telling Reuters “I get it. It kind of triggers things in people and I think we’ve created a story that’s fresh. It honors and pays homage to Robin’s character that he played, Alan Parish, very well and that was actually the number one thing that I wanted to make sure was in the script.”
His co-star Jack Black addressed the issue by saying “I like to tell people it’s in the game because the Robin Williams one, they’re playing this board game where the jungle escapes into the real world but in our movie, we all get sucked into the game and the whole movie takes place essentially in the jungles of ‘Jumanji’ and that’s the main difference between our films.”
Most of the film was shot in the jungles of Hawaii which, according to Johnson, adds something to the feel of the film.
“Today’s audience they’re very savvy and we all can tell that’s a soundstage or that’s real and in this case the landscape of Hawaii has just been beautiful, the backdrop of Hawaii has just been beautiful and the jungle and everything that the jungle brings has been phenomenal.”
Unfortunately for the cast and crew, one of the downsides of setting the production in a jungle was the insect infestation with many of the cast and crew suffering painful bites.
The film’s storyline appears to be very different from the first film. In the original, two children unleash the jungle into their house and hometown by playing an enchanted boardgame. In “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”, four high school students – a geeky girl, a cheerleader, a jock and a bullied boy – get sucked into a Jumanji video game where they have to survive the jungle but in avatars that are completely different from their characters.
Johnson plays the bullied boy, Karen Gillan plays the geeky girl, Kevin Hart the jock and Jack Black plays the social media-loving cheerleader.
“Well it’s become very normal to see Jack playing a popular 16 year-old girl,” said Karen Gillan. “I think of him like that now and with Dwayne playing this nerdy bullied kid in school and he does that so convincingly so no matter what he looks like he seems like that person so it’s been way more convincing than I thought it was going to be. That’s how I think of them as people now.”
“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” will hit cinemas on December 22.