FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW

Review of Jumanji: The Next Level (Henry Jackman/Various)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you have a soft spot for Henry Jackman and team's music for the previous entry in the franchise, this sequel offering more memorable exotic flair and cheeky villain's material.

Avoid it... if you are still waiting for these Jumanji scores to shed their over-reliance upon Alan Silvestri and other sources of inspiration, their originality still suspect.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Jumanji: The Next Level: (Henry Jackman/Various) Will there be any limit to the number of times audiences want to watch a group of people getting sucked into the Jumanji game to face wild animals and mysterious villains? Apparently not, as the 2019 film Jumanji: The Next Level, the fourth of the franchise and the immediate successor to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, can attest. With a greater production role for lead actor Dwayne Johnson, the Jake Kasdan movie raking in an estimated quarter billion dollars of net profit and ensured yet another franchise entry to come. The same youths from the 2017 movie return, and they are joined by old curmudgeons played by Danny Glover and Danny DeVito, whose side storyline manages to reel in Bebe Neuwirth to reprise her role from the original 1995 movie. The players of the game have to battle a new villain for their mission in Jumanji: The Next Level, this time switching avatars more regularly in their pursuit of a magic neckless that ultimately leads to an improbable airship battle. There is more sappy sentimentality in this film than the prior one, diminishing but not replacing that story's emphasis on teenage interpersonal angst. After Henry Jackman and his assistants replaced James Newton Howard on Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the lead composer returns with new collaborators: Jeff Morrow, Anthony Willis, and Kazuma Jinnouchi. The previous score dropped James Horner's approach for the 1995 original and went overboard in its emulation of Alan Silvestri's style. For the most part, it was a solid but unremarkable adventure work, its narrative well stated but its themes anonymous and mixing unimpressive in parts. In the case of Jumanji: The Next Level, the composers stray even further down the Silvestri path, more clearly taking inspiration from the three Night at the Museum scores, and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb with its David Arnold Stargate connections in particular due to the desert setting of this sequel. The general formula is the same, the orchestra joined by occasional choir and the core set of themes pretty omnipresent. Whereas the ethnic interludes of the prior work were minor blips, they come to define the middle portions of this entry, their extension from Stargate to Maurice Jarre's Lawrence of Arabia in "A Whole New World," "The Oasis," "We Need Camels," and "Ancient Feud" coming close to parody territory. In the end, the result is about the same: a workmanlike score with a decent narrative but few truly exemplary features to occupy your memory.

The two main themes from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle return for Jackman and his crew, Jumanji: The Next Level revealing them to be more connected in structure than the previous score exposed via their spotting and execution. Sharing opening bars, the fanfare and friendship themes are put to frequent use here, especially the latter idea as it addresses the deeper character set. The fanfare still heralds some of the action highlights, though listeners will be disappointed that "The Jumanji Suite" is identical to the same track in the previous score. This theme influences the ethnic "The Oasis" and "A Flame From the Past," dissolves into sneakiness in "Captured," takes a more decisive action stance in "Bravestone to the Rescue," and returns to flute-happy suite form in "Beyond the Clouds," this time with choral accompaniment. The friendship theme receives the same contemporary styling in "Hanging Out" and "Home at Last" (a "Back to School" reprise) and translates into the melodramatic character theme within the game, introduced again in the middle of "The Reluctant Adventurers," opening "Who's Who?" and "The Quest Begins," and shifting to action mode in "Flightless Fury" and "Attack of the Mandrills." The tentative and tender renditions of the idea accompany the reconciliation in "Olive Branch," switch to nice solo brass at the end of "Beyond the Clouds," emulate the previous score's "An Older Friend" swell in "A Fond Farewell," and closes out the score in "Home at Last" as it segues back to the acoustic guitar version. The rowdy Bravestone rhythmic motif peeks through in "New Powers" but is otherwise absent. In "Bravestone to the Rescue," Gustav Holst replaces Silvestri as the driving motivator. Several suspense undulations do return from the predecessor, though, as do the rambunctious solo drums announcing the arrival in the game. The obvious and best new element in this work is the fresh villain's theme introduced fully in "The Tale of Jurgen the Brutal" that utilizes the sound effect of a screaming woman as a motific calling card. After ominous shades in "A Flame from the Past," the humorous screaming returns in "An Unexpected Friend," "Cliffhanger," "Multiplayer," "Chaos at the Palace," and "Bravestone to the Rescue." Mysterious in "Captured," the theme makes a defiant stand in "The Battle of the Zeppelin." Overall, the music for Jumanji: The Next Level is on par with Jackman and crew's prior outing, striving for Silvestri action and Andrew Lockington fantasy but not quite achieving either. The cheeky exoticism for the desert and scream-worthy villain's theme do elevate it enough to earn a higher rating, though the choir still seems undermixed when applied. A solid compilation of highlights from both scores is definitely merited.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 61:24

• 1. The Jumanji Suite (3:18) • 2. Hanging Out (1:10) • 3. Going Solo (1:25) • 4. The Reluctant Adventurers (1:57) • 5. Who's Who? (2:37) • 6. The Tale of Jurgen the Brutal (1:47) • 7. The Quest Begins (0:48) • 8. A Whole New World (2:37) • 9. Flightless Fury (2:57) • 10. The Oasis (1:35) • 11. A Flame From the Past (1:40) • 12. An Unexpected Friend (2:44) • 13. The Jumanji Berry Tree (2:53) • 14. New Powers (1:23) • 15. We Need Camels (1:05)

• 16. Ancient Feud (1:14) • 17. A Perilous Crossing (1:34) • 18. Attack of the Mandrills (5:03) • 19. Olive Branch (2:16) • 20. Captured (1:02) • 21. Castle Infiltration (1:19) • 22. Cliffhanger (1:36) • 23. Multiplayer (1:49) • 24. Arranged Marriage (3:11) • 25. Chaos at the Palace (1:22) • 26. Bravestone to the Rescue (1:22) • 27. The Battle of the Zeppelin (2:07) • 28. Beyond the Clouds (2:15) • 29. A Fond Farewell (3:37) • 30. Home at Last (1:41)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes a list of performers and a very short note from the composer.

Copyright © 2020-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Jumanji: The Next Level are Copyright © 2019, Sony Classical and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/26/20 (and not updated significantly since).