And with movie stars like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan cast as the game’s various avatars, the film has a lot of fun subverting the usual personas of each actor, whether it's The Rock taking on a nerdy, uncomfortable high school dork (Alex Wolff) or Jack Black playing a superficial, pretty popular girl (Madison Iseman). This results in each member of the main ensemble being played by two different actors, as the portrayals are split between the characters’ actual teenage selves and their adult video game avatars. They take on the physical forms of the avatars they had each selected from Jumanji’s opening menu. A strategy that proves to be successful for the game when a group of unfortunate students all get sucked into the game one day while serving detention together.
Set in the modern day, the film opens with an unexpectedly fun twist, as the dangerous Jumanji board game transforms into a video game, so that the more tech-reliant children and adults of today may be more easily sucked into its world.
