Metacritic reviews

It is, most importantly, amusing and creative. It may not follow its storylines to the most logical conclusions, and it may not reinvent the action movie as we know it. It’s still an enjoyable blockbuster sequel that tries to infuse the original idea with a couple new ideas, while setting the stage for more exciting adventures to come.

Jumanji: The Next Level is a blast. Instead of relying solely on its proven premise, we get to know more about the kids and the adults playing the game. There are still moments of silliness, but there is also a whole lot of heart here.

Even if The Next Level doesn’t set a new high score, it still proves this franchise isn’t out of lives just yet.

More often than not, effects-driven blockbusters get dumber as the series goes along, but Jumanji: The Next Level invents some fun ideas to keep things fresh.

The primary avatars -- Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black -- seem to be having an awfully good time with all this silliness, which is mildly infectious, even when the movie sags.

The pleasures of Jumanji: The Next Level are not visual or story-based, as they revolve around the ability of each of our stars and their abilities to do impressions.

What gives Jumanji its likability is that it has the emphases and comedy beats of an animation, but also the performance technique of live action – and the occasional reshuffling of avatars and players lets the actors show off a little bit further. Jumanji’s next level is rather satisfying.

It doesn’t have the surprise factor of the last film and sometimes feels rough around the edges, but The Next Level pushes its body-swap antics even further to deliver just as many laughs.

"The Next Level” attempts to find a balance between winking jokes about video gameplay and the price of immortality (no, really), settling back into the charm of the film it’s tasked with following up. It’s not the most original kind of magic, but there’s potency there, more than enough to keep audiences hanging around for at least one more round.

A large part of the first film's pleasure came from watching adult actors, very sure in their screen personae, pretend to be children who were awed (or disgusted, as the case may be) by their new bodies and abilities. This time around, that getting-to-know-you phase is much less fun.