Jumanji 2 heads into the jungle with Ser'Darius and Madison

IT WAS A decade staple, up there with manufactured boy bands and big, pre-smart (dumb?) mobile phones. The 1995 Christmas picture Jumanji blew away audiences young and old with its revolutionary effects and perfect Robin Williams performance and remained essential festive viewing for many years thereafter. Even today it stands up as a classic family adventure movie.
There's an old saying among observers, "why remake a good film? Remake the bad ones." Thus when we heard of Jumanji returning for a second installment this December, we feared it could fall victim to "Poor Reboot Syndrome" which has recently claimed such classics as the Baywatch TV show, Robocop and Ben-Hur, which is genuinely one of the worst films we have ever seen.  
Though if you call Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle a re-imagining you have got the very wrong end of the stick. Yes, this movie has the game at its core and there are a couple of references to the original, but Jumanji 2 answers those questions we all wanted to know: what happened to Williams' Alan when he was sucked into the board for 30 years? Where did he go? In short, it is a stand-alone film with new characters and it is currently being very well received.
The movie begins where the previous edition left off. It's 1996 and Jumanji is brought into a home, discovered by a father jogging on the beach. Handing it to his son, the game is initially ignored, the son preferring his electronic entertainment. Overnight the board game turns into a video game console. When the son plugs it in, he disappears into the console's cartridge. Fast-forward 20 years and four high school students, Spencer, Bethany, Anthony aka "Fridge" and Martha are sent to detention where they discover the console and plug it in. They awaken to find themselves in the Jumanji jungle except each has turned into an avatar - Spencer into Dr. Smolder played by Dwayne Johnson, Bethany into Professor Sheldon (Jack Black), Fridge into Franklin "Mouse" Finbar (Kevin Hart) and Martha into Ruby (Karen Gillan). From there the tale ensues.
We caught up with up and coming stars Ser'Darius Blain and Madison Iseman who play Fridge and Bethany in the film's real world scenes before Jumanji's gala screening at the Dubai International Film Festival. Sitting in the Mina A'Salam hotel we spoke about the movie and what it was like knowing such recognisable names as Kevin Hart and Jack Black would be playing a version of their characters.         

You must have watched Jumanji when you were kids, what's it like being in it?
Ser'Darius: Of course. I'm a couple of years older than her (Madison), so I think I might remember it a little better! Being in a movie like this, you dream about it and you never think it can really happen, so when it does it's unreal. My first thought was, 'oh god I hope I don't suck.' Once I saw it all my fears were quelled in that moment.

Madison: I watched the first one. I remember it! I was really young and it actually scared me. With this one, seeing it all come together, you can't even describe the feeling.  

How would you describe your characters?   
Ser'Darius: My character is a walking conundrum. I get sucked into Kevin Hart's body. I'm six feet five and Kevin is five, three. That's hilarious in itself. I thought I was turning into The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)! But there are similarities. He's got a big heart. So does Fridge and he just needs his genius to be released. Kevin taps into that part in the game.  

Madison: Bethany is this self-absorbed, phone-obsessed, exaggerated version of a popular teenage girl. Nothing like me! It wasn't too hard to tap into, though. When I first found out I was turning into Jack Black I wasn't really sure how they were going to do it, but it's really cool and my favourite thing to do is go around and say, 'Jack Black plays my character.' It's surreal and to hear him play a sassy teenage girl is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. We got to do a lot of work on the character together.  

How much of the original movie is in this, in your opinion?
Ser'Darius: We do pay homage to it and there are little nuggets throughout the movie, but we do establish our own version. The writers did a really great job with that. It stands on its own. I think the action element of this one is what pushes it over the top. You have the biggest action star in the world right now in The Rock and the biggest comedians with Kevin and Jack.

Madison: It's exciting to take this iconic story twenty years into the future and see that there is so much love for the original and people want more from the universe. In the first one Jumanji comes to the real world and in this one we get to see what's inside the game.

What do you think it offers an international audience?
Ser'Darius: I think humour is international and people want to de-stress the same way. You can watch things blow up and laugh.  

Madison: Like the first, it's a great family movie! You're on the edge of your seat the whole time.  

What were your stand-out memories from the set?
Madison: It was right at the beginning during the table read. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I walked in and I was sat between Jack Black and The Rock. I still have to process everything that happened.

Ser'Darius: Getting a flight to Hawaii for work.that don't suck! When we heard each person as their character for the first time we knew we were involved with something amazing.

How much improvisation went in to the picture?
Ser'Darius: I never stick to the script! No, I do but there was such a lot of liberty. We were allowed to have fun and make our own way through it. My character and real personality weren't too far off for the most part, so I could be myself at times.

Madison: We were able to watch playback from the big stars who would be playing us, so that was great. It made sure we were all on the same page. Everyone was so on their character.

What can we expect next from you guys?
Ser'Darius: I just finished a film with Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris called The Last Full Measure. It's a Vietnam biopic and will be out next year.

Madison: I just got back from Toronto where I did an independent film called Riot Girls. Female empowerment, that's what it's all about! I'm excited.
david@khaleejtimes.com